Changelab Solutions

History

Changelab Solutions (Changelab) is a think tank and activist organization that supports left-of-center policies in the name of public health. Changelab claims to brings together public health, medical, and legal experts to research, write, and advocate on government regulation restricting the tobacco, alcohol, and food industries. ²

In 1994, future Changelab Solutions founder Marice Ashe joined the Public Health Institute (PHI) to run the Public Health Trust and manage $200 million in cy près awards from a pharmaceutical advertising settlement. ³

In 1996, PHI joined with UC Berkeley School of Law and created the Technical Assistance Legal Center (TALC) to provide legal counsel and assistance for implementing ongoing policies to curb tobacco use. ³

In 2006, Ashe combined TALC with Planning For Healthy Places (PHLP) (another PHI initiative, since renamed Build Healthy Places Network). In 2008, with $10 million in funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the group began an anti-obesity initiative. ³

In 2010 PHLP separated from PHI and in 2012 re-branded itself Changelab Solutions as part of an effort to become national in orientation. ³

Organization

Changelab Solutions claims that it provides services to all levels of government and organizations that include research and analysis, policy and strategy development, training and capacity building, individualized coaching, and development of sales materials designed to communicate complex issues to a wider audience. ⁴

Topics that Changelab claims it advises on include good governance, healthy neighborhoods, child-care and schools, tobacco prevention, food and beverage, and health care. Specific programs include limiting sugary drinks, reducing the number of alcohol retailers, restricting school discipline, and making their interpretation of health a top governmental priority. ^{4 5 6 7 8}

Changelab is backed by a cooperative agreement with the CDC and funding from left-of-center organizations such as Kresge Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, California Endowment, and John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation. ²

Advocacy

ChangeLab Solutions’ health policy advocacy is based on the assertion that there are “systemic factors” that cause health inequity. To address this purported issue, it advocates for redistributionist policies based on what it claims are the five main factors of health inequality: structural discrimination, income inequality, unequal opportunity, unequal political power, and exclusionary government. ⁹

To address “structural discrimination,” ChangeLab Solutions advocates for “policies, cultural norms, and institutional practices” to address issues associated with race, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status. It opposes policies and norms it argues result in “privileges associated with whiteness.” ChangeLab provides resources on its “Structural Discrimination” webpage including videos, articles, and guides that argue regulators and companies should be required to make decisions based on ethnic and socioeconomic demographics. ¹⁰

To prevent “income segregation” and through its opposition to “structural discrimination,” ChangeLab Solutions advocates land-use policies and housing subsidies to require localities to consist of an equal number of individuals of all income levels. In support of its “institutional practices” advocacy, it also advocates for employers to engage in “equity analysis,” to host anti-bias trainings, and to mandate cultural sensitivity trainings. ¹⁰

ChangeLab Solutions’ income-inequality advocacy supports subsidizing housing, food, transportation, health care, childcare, and wages to address poor health outcomes amongst lower-income individuals. It advocates increased funding and reduced requirements for supplemental income programs, Social Security, disability insurance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and tax credits. It also advocates increasing the minimum wage, mandating sick and parental leave, and creating community programs for “priority populations.” ¹¹

ChangeLab Solutions argues “unequal opportunity” causes lower health outcomes among select demographics through alleged disparities in educational outcomes, post-secondary participation, and job availability. As a result, it advocates increased funding for schools and education programs in low-income areas and social-emotional policies that address the “wellness” of students. It also advocates for regulating penalizing students based on their socio-economic status, health records, academic records, and for presenting purported “psychosocial challenges.” ChangeLab Solutions also supports policies that would require “trauma-informed” discipline and restorative justice policies. ¹²

To address poor health outcomes that it claims are related to “unequal political power,” ChangeLab Solutions advocates eliminating election integrity laws as it argues they inhibit ethnic minorities and other groups from voting. ¹³ It argues that this politically discrimination leads to poorer health outcomes, compounding discrimination. In a 2022 op-ed, ChangeLab Solutions’ leadership argued that if they had adequate political representation, minority groups would be able to enact taxes on sugary drinks, increases in the minimum wage, rent control, and mandated employee benefits including sick leave. The op-ed adds that litigation should be pursued against any federal legislation that pre-emptively restricts lower-level “progressive policies.” ¹⁴

In June 2025, former U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), who then served as House Homeland Security Committee chairman, and subcommittee chairman Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) initiated an investigation of nonprofit organizations allegedly using federal grants for potentially engaging in human trafficking and aiding illegal immigration, ChangeLab Solutions co-signed a letter alongside 600 other nonprofit organizations denouncing the investigations. The letter also accused Green and Brecheen of “weaponizing” their Congressional authority to advance a “political agenda.” ¹⁵

DEI Initiatives

ChangeLab Solutions health policy advocacy is based on the assertion that alleged racial discrimination, poverty, and social factors are the primary cause of poor health outcomes. It reported in its 2020-2025 Strategic Framework that equity is a “core tenant” of its recruitment, and in response, it ensured that over 60 percent of its staff and board members were ethnic minorities when the report was published. ¹⁶

Leadership

Marice Ashe is the founder of Changelab Solutions and has also worked as an attorney. ¹⁷

Sarah de Guia is the CEO of Changelab Solutions and is an attorney who previously served as executive director for the left-of-center California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN). ¹⁸

Carla Jackson was, as of 2026, the chief operations officer for Changelab. Previously she was grants and development manager at Meta House. ^{19 20}

Shauneequa Owusu is the chief strategy officer for Changelab. She was previously the director of strategic partnerships and community engagement for the left-of-center funded New York Academy of Medicine. ^{21 22}

As of 2026, Lydia Isaac was board chair of ChangeLab Solutions and as vice president for health equity and policy for the National Urban League. Prior to the National Urban League, Isaac was a faculty member for the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Previously, she served as associate research professor and executive director of the Health Policy Research Scholars program at George Washington University, overseeing curriculum development. She also worked as a director of policy and health systems analysis for New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. ²³

Lindsay F. Wiley, JD, MPH was formerly the board chair for Changelab and as of 2026 was a member of the board of directors. She is also a professor of law and the faculty director of the Health Law and Policy Program at UCLA School of Law. Wile is also the US rapporteur for Lex-Atlas: Covid-19, a health advocacy group sponsored by University College London, King’s College London, and the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. Previously, she was the founder and is the co-chair, as of 2025, of the Health Justice, the Engaging Critical Perspectives Initiative (co-sponsored by the Health Law and Policy Program at American University Washington College of Law), ChangeLab Solutions, the St. Louis University Institute for Healing Justice and Equity, and the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine. Prior to Changelab, she was the president and board member for the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics as well as formerly a member of the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists. ²⁴