Lynn Rosenthal

Lynn Rosenthal is an American policy maker, activist, and consultant on gender-based violence, sexual assault, and domestic violence who served in both the Obama and Biden Administrations. Vice President Joe Biden appointed her to be the first ever White House advisor on violence against women in 2009. Rosenthal later served as the deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Population Affairs and the director of the Office of Adolescent Health. At the Department of Health and Human Services, Rosenthal was the director of sexual violence and gender-based violence. Rosenthal worked as president of The Center for Family Safety and Healing. Rosenthal also had worked as the director of Violence Against Women Initiatives for the Biden Foundation in 2017.

Education and Background Born and raised in New Mexico, Rosenthal holds a bachelor's degree in social work from Florida State University and a Master's degree in public administration from Ohio University.

Activism Rosenthal began her career working on reproductive halth as a health educator, clinic administrator, and community organizer in Florida. She then became the director of a local violence shelter and rape crisis center in Florida. Rosenthal has specialized knowledge about the links between domestic violence and housing, state and local collaborative community responses, federal policy, and survived-centered activism.

From 1988-1992, Rosenthal represented North Florida Women's Health & Counseling Services, an outpatient women's health center providing reproductive health care. While congruently serving as the executive director, Rosenthal acted as the clinic's media spokesperson.

While serving as the executive director of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Rosenthal took on the role of media spokesperson. She coordinated the collaboration of over thirty domestic violence centers from July 2008 to June 2009. Rosenthal represented the Coalition in the New Mexico State legislature. Specifically, the president thanked Rosenthal for leading the IRC in addition to her life's work to end gender-based violence and sexual violence. In other advocacy work, Rosenthal began working as the Director of Sexual and Gender-based Violence at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2022. Her responsibilities include leads the department to implement the National Plan to End Gender-based Violence.

Consulting As a consultant in Washington D.C., Rosenthal focuses on collecting knowledge and bringing innovation together to build movement-based organizations. Schools, government agencies, and services providers are the focus for Rosenthal's policy developments. Her goal is to improve responses to domestic violence and sexual assault and end the conditions allowing the violence to occur.

Publications

"Availability of Family Violence Services for Military Service Members and Their Families" RAND Corporation, November 25, 2019. "Lynn Rosenthal: A Call to Action.” In West Wingers: Stories from the Dream Chasers, Change Makers, and Hope Creators Inside the Obama White House, 2018.