Magda Schaler-Haynes, JD, MPH

Magda Schaler-Haynes is Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Her scholarship and teaching focus on intersections of constitutional law and health policy including public health law, reproductive healthcare, abortion law, and pandemic response.

Professor Schaler-Haynes' career spans over two decades in health law and policy, including multiple roles in public service at state and federal levels. From 2017-2022, she served in the administration of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, most recently as Senior Advisor at the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. Based in the Division of Consumer Affairs which houses the majority of healthcare professional licensing boards, Schaler-Haynes was a member of the COVID-19 emergency response team and led initiatives focused on health equity; nondiscrimination; scopes of practice; provider supply and emergency licensure; maternal mortality and morbidity; reproductive healthcare including abortion; consumer protection; telehealth; and end of life care. She previously served as the Director of Policy and Strategic Planning at the New Jersey Department of Health, where she oversaw the Department's policy portfolio, strategic planning, the Office of Health Information Technology and the Office of Vital Statistics and Records. Until 2015, she served on the staff of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) as Special Advisor for healthcare and women's issues. From 2008-2011, she served as Senior Health Policy Advisor at the New York State Insurance Department where she managed multiple health reform initiatives.

As an independent consultant, Schaler-Haynes provided strategic services to clients on high stakes policy issues ranging from price transparency and benefit design to amicus briefing management for the Center for Reproductive Rights in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, the successful 2016 U.S. Supreme Court challenge to Texas' abortion clinic shut down law. As adjunct faculty at Columbia from 2008-2022, she taught courses in public health law; reproductive rights; and abortion policy. Schaler-Haynes was a visiting scholar at the Australian Health Policy Institute at the University of Sydney from 2005-2006. She began her career as an associate in the Health Care Department at the Proskauer firm in New York from 2001-2005.