The David Gergen Summer Fellowship Program is a highly competitive program that supports trailblazing public service and leadership opportunities, enabling a select number of HKS students to gain meaningful, practical, hands-on experience and develop important networks through summer internships in government or nonprofit service.
By Ruhee Wadhwania
I enrolled at HKS to become a health care policy expert and fight inequality in our public systems as an advocate and leader. After I completed my undergraduate degree in public health and economics at UC Berkeley in 2020, my public service began in the District Office of Congressman Jerry McNerney in California’s Central Valley, an area with significant health disparities. Seeking to uplift these communities, I began working for the California state government, specifically with the University of California Health system, and drafted policies and legislation to improve statewide health outcomes and expand the health workforce. Last year, as an MPP student at HKS, I applied to the Gergen Fellowship to elevate my passion for advancing health equity to the federal level. I had the privilege of achieving this goal this summer as a Health Policy Fellow for the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Democratic Health Subcommittee.
At a time when our health care system is at its most inaccessible and the health of Americans is worsening, I pursued this opportunity with the Ways and Means Committee to gain critical skills to improve my country’s health through policy leadership. After graduating college into the COVID-19 pandemic and witnessing how people of color and low-income communities were disproportionately harmed, I was eager to support health care policymaking in an office centering vulnerable populations and fighting to increase access to care.
My summer was so enriching, affirmed my desire to continue working in the federal health care space, and exposed me to critical health policy issues that I had previously only explored on the surface. Through supporting the Committee’s 2025 Reconciliation work related to Medicare and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), I learned how Congressional Committees determine the impacts of legislative provisions on federal spending, how Medicare beneficiaries (older adults and adults with disabilities) might be impacted by Medicaid cuts, and how changing eligibility for enhanced ACA premium tax credits impacts plan costs.
"CPL’s investment in me as a public servant and future leader enabled me to successfully transition to federal government service and made me feel supported in my journey to improve health care accessibility in the United States."
Ruhee Wadhwania MPP 2026
I also had the privilege of attending and preparing for Committee hearings on topics including Medicare Advantage (MA) and digital health and wearables. I dove into prior authorization in MA and how it affects patient access to care, which prepared me to understand the significance of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ introducing prior authorization to fee-for-service Medicare this summer. I also supported the Committee’s priorities and oversight activities through stakeholder meetings and background research, enabling me to understand multiple perspectives that should be considered for effective and inclusive policymaking.
In my work experience and education, I learned about “Health in All Policies,” or the idea that all policy issues affect our health. Congress was the perfect place to see this concept applied, as I learned from staffers about how health considerations were integrated into policymaking for issues such as climate change, labor rights, and housing.
In addition to the work I performed this summer, I connected with and learned from leaders in public service who are fighting to make our public programs and our country more equitable. I attended a roundtable with reproductive rights advocates sharing stories of how the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision impacted women and their medical care. I heard from Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar about their experiences as the first Muslim women to serve in Congress and was inspired by their courage. I also met with several Massachusetts representatives, including the Ranking Member of Ways and Means, Congressman Richard Neal, and Ayanna Pressley, my own Congresswoman representing me in Cambridge.
CPL’s investment in me as a public servant and future leader enabled me to successfully transition to federal government service and made me feel supported in my journey to improve health care accessibility in the United States. I will remember the lessons from this summer (and the great frozen yogurt in the Senate Dirksen Office Building) for the rest of my career.
David Gergen Summer Fellowship Program
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