Central Team

Emily Lazowy, MA, is a program manager with a passion for bridging research, education, and advocacy to improve health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness. With a background in health communication and program development, she focuses on creating opportunities for collaboration between researchers, students, and practitioners to drive meaningful change.

At the Initiative on Health and Homelessness (IHH), Emily has helped shape Harvard’s first academic public health program focused on health and homelessness. Her work includes coordinating research efforts, developing educational programming, and expanding the Initiative’s reach through strategic communications. Before joining IHH, she worked in Harvard Chan School’s Department of Health Policy and Management, supporting faculty and department-wide projects related to research administration, event planning, and communications. Drawing on experience in communication studies and project management, she is committed to making complex issues more accessible and fostering connections that lead to lasting impact.

Jeff Olivet is a nationally recognized leader in public health and homelessness policy, with a focus on integrating housing, healthcare, and racial equity. As Executive Director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (2022-2024), he led federal efforts to address homelessness as a public health crisis, advocating for policies that prioritize prevention and holistic support. He now serves as a Senior Advisor to the Initiative on Health and Homelessness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and consults for various organizations.

With over three decades of experience as an outreach worker, advocate, researcher, and public speaker, Jeff has led national initiatives to improve access to mental health and substance use treatment, address social determinants of health, and advance racial equity. As former CEO of the Center for Social Innovation (C4 Innovations), he spearheaded programs that reshaped healthcare and homelessness systems.

A dedicated advocate for marginalized communities, Jeff has worked alongside policymakers, healthcare providers, and people with lived experience to design more inclusive support systems. His research and training efforts emphasize housing as a critical component of health, breaking cycles of homelessness and trauma. He holds a B.A. in English and French from the University of Alabama and an M.A. in English from Boston College.

Annmarie Sasdi is the Senior Advisor for Policy and Partnerships for the Initiative on Health and Homelessness. Previously, she was the Director of Policy and Partnerships for the Program in Global Public Policy and Social Change in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Before that, she served as the senior director for new program development at the Harvard Kennedy School Division of Executive Programs, where she worked with faculty across Harvard to design training programs for senior public officials and policymakers. Her portfolio included policy areas such as climate change, cybersecurity, global health security, and early childhood development.

She was also a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, researching immigration and low-wage labor. Prior to her academic roles, she spent 25 years in financial services, most recently as an executive director in investment banking at Goldman Sachs International in London.

Annmarie holds a master’s degree (MCRP) from the Harvard Kennedy School and a B.A., honors, from Princeton University’s School of Architecture and Urban Planning.