Shalini Wickramatilake

Shalini leads the health and human services portfolio within the County Practices and Innovations department at NACo. Prior to joining NACo, she served as a senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), where she focused on women’s mental health and substance use, as well as eating disorders. She has also held past roles such as associate director of intergovernmental affairs at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and policy director at the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health. Additionally, Shalini spent many years at the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Agency Directors (NASADAD), where she worked on substance use disorder policy.

Shalini earned her Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) and Master of Health Science degrees at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and her Bachelor of Arts degree from The George Washington University. She was born, raised, and currently lives in Fairfax County, Virginia, with her husband and two sons.