Matthew Cortland

Senior Fellow, Data for Progress
Senior Advisor, Little Lobbyists
previously: Policy Director, Ady Barkan's Be a Hero

[they/them]

Matthew Cortland

Matthew became a lawyer by necessity. Now they use their training in public health and law to help others.

When Matthew was an undergraduate, their health insurer tried to kill them — and a lawyer saved their life. That was the moment they realized the power of the law to save and improve the lives of chronically ill & disabled people. So they pursued a top-shelf education in policy and power, and how to wield it.

Over Matthew’s career, they’ve helped individuals, driven public comment campaigns, and designed and launched public health messages that reached millions of Americans on a shoestring budget. They’ve consulted on a wide range of policy and messaging projects for members of the House, Senate, and executive branch from the White House to HHS and SSA.

They have extensive experience in polling, education, messaging and influencing, advocacy, liaising with groups of professionals (e.g. pediatricians), and of course policy and advocacy on the Hill.

And their background means they give a great interview.

Their press clips include , , , , and .

CV at a Glance

Areas of focus:

  • Public health policy, especially for disabled & chronically ill Americans
  • Polling and influencing public opinion on public health policy
  • Driving action from the public (e.g. commenting campaigns)
  • Communicating and messaging public health information to the public
  • Interfacing with and advising electeds and government officials on public health policy and its impacts

Organizations worked with:

  • Ady Barkan’s Be a Hero (Policy Director)
  • Data for Progress (Senior Fellow)
  • Little Lobbyists (Senior Advisor)

Hill experience:

Collaborated with and advised members of Congress (House and Senate), Democratic presidential candidates, officials at the White House, HHS and SSA on policy, messaging, and action.
Details available upon request.

Education

Matthew’s graduate training in public health is from Boston University, and legal training is from George Mason University School of Law.

Press Clips

Disability Rights Florida 30th September 2024 You First Podcast: Data & Disability - with Matthew Cortland Truth or Fiction? 26th May 2023 ‘Eugenicist Victim Blaming’: Disability Experts Criticize Story Painting COVID-19 as Near ‘Endemic’ - by Arturo Garcia MSNBC.com 22nd May 2023 Opinion | It’s time to stop comparing Dianne Feinstein to John Fetterman - By Eric Garcia HuffPost 22nd May 2023 The Important Difference Between SNAP And Food Stamps – By Arthur Delaney WGBH 17th May 2023 Immunocompromised patients feel unsafe as Boston hospitals drop universal masking - by Sarah Betancourt Boston Business Journal 12th May 2023 MGB changes new mask policy after protests from disability advocates - by Cassie McGrath Prevention 20th March 2023 What Invisible Disabilities Are - and Why They Matter by Lizz Schumer STLtoday.com 20th March 2023 Parents of patients at St. Louis transgender center fear privacy breaches, file complaints - by Colleen Schrappen HuffPost 8th March 2023 New York Mayor Asks Shops To Require Customers To Remove Masks Upon Entry – By Shruti Rajkumar NPR 7th March 2023 NYC Mayor Eric Adams is telling stores to have customers remove their face masks – By Bill Chappell Truthout 3rd March 2023 Republicans Pressured Walgreens Into Not Selling Abortion Pills in States Where They’re Legal - By Sharon Zhang Time 31st January 2023 Without Evusheld, Immunocompromised People Are on Their Own Against COVID-19 - By Jamie Ducharme The Philadelphia Inquirer 31st January 2023 What does the end of the pandemic public health emergency mean for you - By Jason Laughlin The Philadelphia Inquirer 6th December 2022 Disabled Philadelphians fear Musk’s Twitter purchase will cost them a unique digital haven - By Jason Laughlin HuffPost 25th October 2022 Biden Urges Americans To Get Vaccinated Ahead Of Winter COVID-19 Surge - by Sanjana Karanth In These Times 16th August 2022 Monkeypox Is a Workers' Rights Issue - by S.E. Smith The Washington Post 8th August 2022 Abortion bans complicate access to drugs for cancer, arthritis, even ulcers - by Katie Shepherd & Frances Stead Sellers Bloomberg.com 4th August 2022 Telehealth Has Failed ADHD Patients, But They Aren’t Giving Up - By Ike Swetlitz Los Angeles Times 31st July 2022 This DIY box helps clear indoor air of the coronavirus. Why aren't more people using them? - by Emily Alpert Reyes STAT 22nd July 2022 As new variant spreads, a crucial drug to protect the most vulnerable goes vastly underused - by Jason Mast NPR 14th July 2022 Many try to return to normal from COVID, but disabled people face a different reality - By Shruti Rajkumar The Atlantic 27th June 2022 America Is Sliding Into the Long Pandemic Defeat - By Ed Yong POLITICO 25th June 2022 Biden officials to keep private the names of hospitals where patients contracted Covid - by Rachael Levy The Washington Post 6th June 2022 How long covid could change the way we think about disability - By Frances Stead Sellers ABC News 27th April 2022 No Americans should die of COVID-19 with treatments available, experts argue - By Arielle Mitropoulos Vox 22nd April 2022 How to think about masking on planes, trains, and buses right now - By Rachel Wilkerson Miller The Daily Beast 21st April 2022 Biden Can Still Navigate the Politics of Mask Mandates, But It Won’t Be Easy - by Wajahat Ali ABC News 15th April 2022 As COVID-19 cases rise, disability advocates say CDC isn't doing enough - By Arielle Mitropoulos Time 15th April 2022 Disabled Americans Push to Keep Accessible Pandemic Policies - by Abigail Abrams Los Angeles Times 10th April 2022 Back to normal? For this family, the COVID-19 threat hasn't gone away - by Emily Alpert Reyes Scientific American 31st March 2022 A Simple Solution Would Make COVID Antivirals More Accessible, Pharmacists Say - By Sara Reardon POLITICO 24th March 2022 CDC updates Covid-19 guidance to allow patients wear N95s - by Rachael Levy KFF Health News 17th March 2022 It Was Already Hard to Find Evusheld, a Covid Prevention Therapy. Now It’s Even Harder - By Hannah Recht 1A 17th March 2022 What does a 'return to normal' mean for the immunocompromised? POLITICO 13th March 2022 As masks come off, vulnerable Americans feel left behind - by Adam Cancryn & Sarah Owermohle POLITICO 28th February 2022 Health workers’ vaccine mandate undone by religious exemptions - By Rachael Levy and Megan Messerly PBS.org 24th January 2022 Amanpour and Company | Immunocompromised Americans' Terrifying Reality During COVID | Season 2022 | PBS NPR 14th January 2022 Disability rights advocates meet with CDC director Walensky The Christian Science Monitor 27th October 2020 For those with disabilities, shift to remote work has opened doors (video)