Sheila Burke serves as a senior public policy advisor at Baker Donelson in Washington, DC. She previously served as an adjunct lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2000 to 2025, and as executive dean of the school from 1996 to 2000. Previously, she was chief of staff to former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (1985-1996), a professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Finance (1979-1982), and deputy staff director of that committee (1982-1985).

Ms. Burke is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Academy of Nursing. She served on the adjunct faculty at Georgetown University and was a Distinguished Visitor at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown Law Center. In addition to CHCS, she has served on the boards of the Commonwealth Fund, Abt Associates, Ascension Health, and Chubb Limited. She also served as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (2000-2007) and on the Kaiser Family Foundation board (1999-2008), including as chair (2005-2008).

Ms. Burke holds a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of San Francisco, and worked as a staff nurse in Berkeley, California.