CHIR Welcomes New Faculty | CHIRblog

We are delighted to welcome two new faculty members: Madison Harden and Abigail Knapp

Madison Harden, J.D.

Madison Harden, J.D., is joining CHIR as an Assistant Research Professor and will focus on affordability and coverage for behavioral health services along with state level policies regulating private health insurance.

Prior to joining CHIR, Madison worked on state-level health policy in Maryland, focusing on balance billing, network adequacy, and other behavioral health care accessibility legislation. She supported these efforts during her internship at the Legal Action Center and as a student attorney with the University of Maryland’s Public Health Law Clinic. Madison also completed internships with Legal Services of Northern Virginia and Disability Rights Maryland. She currently volunteers as the Program Director of The Purple Tutu VA, a non-profit program which provides free ballet classes for children with Down syndrome. 

Madison earned her B.A. in English Literature from New York University and her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law. 

Abigail Knapp, M.P.H.

Abigail Knapp is joining CHIR as a Research Fellow. Her research will focus on health insurance access, affordability, and health care cost containment. 

Before joining CHIR, Abigail worked at Children’s National Hospital as an intern on the Community Mental Health CORE team. At Children’s National, she analyzed federal, state, and District policies related to behavioral health parity and network adequacy, and tracked ongoing legislative and regulatory developments impacting pediatric and perinatal mental health. She also completed internships with the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Reservoir Communications Group, and the Dearborn Department of Public Health. During her time at George Washington University, she was also a Field Interviewer for the CDC National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) study.

Abigail received a B.S. in Public Health Sciences from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Public Health in Health Policy from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.