FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 12, 2026
The Alliance for Health Policy Remembers Founder Sen. Jay Rockefeller
– Sen. Rockefeller co-founded the Alliance in 1991 with Sen. Jack Danforth as a nonpartisan forum for health policy education—a mission that continues 35 years later
Washington, D.C. — The Alliance for Health Policy today remembers former Sen. John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV (D-WV), a five-term senator who co-founded the organization in 1991 as the Alliance for Health Reform. Rockefeller died Friday in Washington, D.C., at age 89.
Rockefeller’s was a life of service and included time with the Peace Corps in the Philippines and the VISTA program in Emmons, West Virginia. He went on to serve in state government, including two terms as the governor of West Virginia. In the Senate, he served on the Finance Committee. But for many members of Washington, D.C.’s health policy community, a lesser-known achievement is the most personal one.
“Every week, I hear from a policy professional about how the programming Senator Rockefeller envisioned, championed, and made possible through the Alliance was instrumental in their career,” said Claire Sheahan, M.Sc., President and CEO of the Alliance for Health Policy. “Thirty-five years after Senator Rockefeller co-founded the organization with Senator Danforth, the Alliance is still delivering for the thousands of people in the community he built, who have come to depend on our organization as a trusted resource to deepen their understanding of complex health issues and grow as policy leaders.”
Rockefeller’s vision for the Alliance grew out of his experience chairing the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Comprehensive Health Care, known as the Pepper Commission, which issued its recommendations in March 1990. While viewpoints on those recommendations varied, Rockefeller came away convinced that ongoing, productive bipartisan dialogue was essential to addressing the most difficult health policy questions of the day. At the same time, policymakers, congressional staff, and the journalists covering health care were looking for reliable sources of information to help them navigate an increasingly complex system.
Joined by Sen. John “Jack” Danforth (R-MO), a colleague he greatly admired, Rockefeller launched the Alliance as an educational forum where members of Congress, their staff, and the media could build a shared understanding of health policy through an exchange of facts, experiences, and differing perspectives. The Alliance held its first briefing in 1992 to a packed room of staffers and reporters, and it quickly became a trusted resource on Capitol Hill by bringing together experts from across the political spectrum.
“We approached the task through in-person briefings that attracted scores of Hill staff—both parties, both House and Senate. Senator Rockefeller himself chaired most of those briefings,” said Ed Howard, a former senior staffer and the first Executive Director of the Alliance. “He cared deeply about the Alliance’s mission—encouraging attendance at the briefings, helping recruit the brightest minds and important health care players as speakers and board members, and even pitching in to help raise resources to fund early activities. I was privileged to work with Senator Rockefeller, a man who embodied integrity, hard work, and a commitment to lighten the health care burden of the vulnerable.”
Now known as the Alliance for Health Policy, the organization continues the work Rockefeller and Danforth began, strengthening the health policy community by advancing its knowledge, network, and skills. Through changes in Congress and administrations of both parties, the Alliance has remained a reliable, neutral forum for health policy education. At the same time, its programming has evolved to meet today’s moment.
“Senator Rockefeller believed in the power and the necessity of congressional staff to become informed, navigate complexity, and ultimately contribute to better health policy,” said Sarah J. Dash, MPH, former President and CEO of the Alliance for Health Policy. “Today, true to his original vision, the Alliance stands as one of the most trusted independent health policy organizations in Washington, D.C., thanks to its unique focus on strengthening the skills and knowledge of congressional health policy staffers. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to have contributed to the senator’s vision for this important organization and its ongoing role in the national health policy discourse.”
Through its “Incubate to Educate” program model, the Alliance keeps the tradition of bringing multiple perspectives to the table. In the Incubate phase, the Alliance listens to and convenes a cross-sector community of experts to surface insights, identify knowledge gaps, and co-design educational frameworks. In the Educate phase, the Alliance translates what it learns into trusted, unbiased education grounded in what policymakers actually need to know. Alliance programs drew more than 1,300 attendees in 2025, and the organization offers more than 50 hours of free, publicly available education each year.
That work increasingly centers on the next generation of health policy leaders. The Alliance’s Bipartisan Learning Communities (BLC) Congressional Fellowship and the annual Health Policy Academy give congressional and federal agency staff a running start on expertise that would otherwise take years to build on the job. The fellowship’s network now includes more than 50 alumni, and rates a 100% trust level among fellows who participated in its inaugural year.
“On behalf of the Alliance Board of Directors and Emeritus Council, we join the health policy community in mourning Senator Rockefeller,” said Liz Hall, Alliance Board Chair. “Senator Rockefeller always asked how a health policy would improve health care access and outcomes for his constituents in West Virginia. That focus on real people, together with his belief that the toughest health care challenges are best met through informed, bipartisan conversation, is part of his lasting legacy. Today that legacy lives on in the more than 50 early-career congressional staff from both parties who now call themselves Alliance Fellowship alumni. His approach is as relevant today as it was in 1991, and we are committed to carrying it forward.”
Recognizing the breadth and depth of the Senator’s impact, the Alliance has created a place for members of the health policy community to share their memories of Sen. Rockefeller and his impact on their work. Stories and reflections can be submitted here.
About the Alliance for Health Policy
The Alliance for Health Policy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of health policy issues. Through educational events and resources, the Alliance informs policymakers, the media, and the public about health policy issues and promotes evidence-based solutions.
For media inquiries related to this press release, please contact Carolyn Sobczyk at csobczyk@allhealthpolicy.org.