Regina LaBelle is a Distinguished Scholar and Program Director of the Addiction and Public Policy Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. She manages a project portfolio focused on the opioid epidemic, addiction policies, barriers to treatment for substance use disorders, public health approaches to drug policies, and how law can promote access to treatment and support recovery.
Before joining the Institute, LaBelle served as a political appointee in the Obama Administration’s White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). As ONDCP’s Chief of Staff and senior policy advisor, she oversaw the Agency’s efforts to address the opioid epidemic and other drug policy issues, including overseeing implementation of the National Drug Control Strategy.
LaBelle previously served as legal counsel to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, providing legal and policy advice to the Mayor on high-profile city initiatives. Regina was a Visiting Fellow at the Duke Margolis Center for Health Policy from 2017 to 2019. She received her JD from Georgetown University Law Center and BA from Boston College, and she is an active member of the Washington State Bar.