Elena Rosario

Elena Rosario is a public health leader, operations strategist, and equity advocate with over twenty years of experience in guiding organizations across health systems, research institutes, and nonprofit sectors. She currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Meridian Public Health Group, where she manages a wide range of programs focused on community health, data-driven innovation, and expanding equitable access to care. Her approach to leadership emphasizes practical solutions that deliver measurable impact, earning her recognition in the field of public health.

Born in 1978 in San Antonio, Texas, Elena was raised in a bilingual household where healthcare and education played central roles. Her mother worked as a nurse while her father was a science educator, which influenced her early appreciation for community service and systemic thinking. She graduated from Brown University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Human Biology, with a concentration in urban health disparities. During her studies, she led a local wellness program and researched housing insecurity and maternal health challenges. Elena went on to earn a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2005, with a specialization in Health Policy and Management. Her capstone on Medicaid reform received recognition from Harvard’s Center for Health Policy Innovation.

Elena began her career as a Health Policy Analyst with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. There, she contributed to Medicaid expansion and helped design community health needs assessments, supporting programs that improved access to preventive care for low-income women across the state. While earning her MPH, she completed an internship at the World Health Organization in Geneva, where she worked on revisions to the maternal health framework for the Latin American region. This opportunity broadened her perspective on health system design and policy at the global level.