08.17.22 — Mehreen Butt has joined Northeastern Law's Center for Health Policy and Law (CHPL) as managing director. A public policy attorney with more than 15 years of experience working in the social justice and public policy fields and on local, state and federal campaigns, Butt is knowledgeable in healthcare, poverty, sexual and reproductive rights, and immigrant and voting reform. She most recently served as associate director of policy and government affairs at the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. Previously, Butt held positions at Rosie’s Place, Tufts Health Plan and Health Care for All and was a researcher for the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture at the Massachusetts State House.
Butt was elected to the Wakefield Board of Selectman in April 2017, becoming the first Muslim-American woman elected to a board in Massachusetts. In April 2018, Wakefield voted to officially change the name to the gender-neutral Wakefield Town Council. Councilor Butt was re-elected in June 2020 and was voted chair by her colleagues in 2022. As a member of the board, she has successfully advocated for by-laws banning plastic bags, plastic straws and styrofoam, championed funding for a community garden and a rail trail, and secured a full-time social worker position and funding for Narcan and implicit bias training for public safety officers.
Butt received her JD from American University’s Washington College of Law and a BS in biology and English from Tufts University. In 2021, she was named among the Top Women of Law by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly and in 2019, she received the Women’s Bar Association’s Emerging Women Leader Award. She is also a board trustee for MelroseWakefield Health Care, an advisory member of the South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston, an elected member of the Democratic State Committee, where she co-chairs the Women's Outreach Sub-committee, and an associate member of the Wakefield Alliance Against Violence (WAAV). Butt is a member of the New England Muslim Bar Association and an alumna of both Emerge Massachusetts and the Woman’s Bar Association Women’s Leadership Program.
“I am so excited to be joining Northeastern Law and look forward to advancing the amazing work of the center, alongside faculty directors Wendy Parmet and Jonathan Kahn, and the many talented faculty, students and staff of the law school who are passionate about health policy and law,” said Butt.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have Mehreen join us,” said Professor Wendy Parmet, faculty co-director of CHPL. “She brings a wealth of experience and passion for health that will enable the Center to enhance its support for students, faculty, research and advocacy for health justice and equity.”
About Northeastern University School of Law
The nation’s leader in experiential legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law offers the longest-running, most extensive experience-based legal education program in the country. Northeastern guarantees its students unparalleled practical legal work experiences through its signature Cooperative Legal Education Program. More than 1,000 employers worldwide in a wide range of legal, government, nonprofit and business organizations participate in the program. With a focus on social justice and innovation, Northeastern University School of Law blends theory and practice, providing students with a unique set of skills and experiences to successfully practice law.
For more information, contact d.feldman@northeastern.edu