Ally Perleoni ’11 is called to help. From maternal health and newborn hearing screenings to improved access to patient care and expanded graduate medical education, her advocacy work has been extensive. It speaks to someone who cares -- a lot and about a lot.

Perleoni's federal lobbying so far has resulted in securing the first two increases in Medicare-supported graduate medical education in nearly 25 years, obtaining $178 billion in COVID-19 relief funds for hospitals, and negotiating a favorable agreement to end surprise medical billing.

And she’s only getting started.

A College of Arts & Sciences alumna, Perleoni earned her 2011 degree with honors in political science and women’s and gender studies. Among other extracurriculars, she was president of the Mortar Board National Honor Society, was appointed to the President's Commission on the Status of Women, served on the Academic Integrity Council, and was a copy editor for the Cynic.  

After Burlington, Perleoni moved to DC, cutting her teeth on advocacy work through a master's degree in political science at American University, while simultaneously working with a Burlington-based health IT startup.

In building an advocacy agenda for the startup, founded by UVM alumni, Perleoni found her calling.

She’s since forged a path as a rising star in the health policy advocacy sphere, being named one of Modern Healthcare’s 40 Under 40 and winner of the Women in Government Relations' 2023 Excellence in Advocacy Award for Excellence in a Federal Issue Campaign. 

Five years at the American Academy of Pediatrics advocating on behalf of infants, children, and adolescents led to her current role as Director of Government Relations at the Association of American Medical Colleges. There, Perleoni is tasked with working within the parameters of our government "to deliver the types of policies that connect patients with access to the care they need."

She spends most of her days interfacing with members of Congress and their staff, advocating on policies with direct nationwide impacts on teaching hospitals and medical schools.

"I've spent the last ten years on the front lines of defining policy battles, like saving the Affordable Care Act from repeal in 2017, and smaller but deeply impactful ones, like ensuring universal hearing screenings for newborns."

While it can be "easy to get cynical in DC," Perleoni says, "I feel like the foundation I gained at UVM helped set me up well to think independently and evaluate impacts well beyond their obvious and immediate outcomes."

Her UVM Story

About her time at UVM, Perleoni '11 reflects: “I’ll never forget stepping on campus for the first time and just knowing that I needed to go to UVM – that I belonged there.”

Perleoni says she owes a tremendous amount to Professors Jack Gierzynski and Lisa Holmes. 

Prof. Gierzynski’s classes on elections and the media "provided me with foundational knowledge and the skills to evaluate information sources. The Vermont Legislative Research Service, also led by Prof. G was instrumental in teaching me how to research policy and present findings to legislators – something I do every day now!" 

Prof. Holmes, she adds, also "had a tremendous impact on me – in particular, her Constitutional Law class. Con Law might not be the most exciting legal topic for some, but I use what I learned in that class almost daily in my work."

"I certainly didn’t know it at the time, but UVM was setting me up well for a career in advocacy. There is something in the culture of UVM that drives passion and a desire to make a difference. Throughout the course of my education at UVM I constantly felt like I was being challenged intellectually and ultimately pushed to think well outside of myself."

She misses Burlington and UVM, noting that "There is a vibrancy to UVM and Burlington – a place brimming with people full of curiosity and passion."

Her favorite UVM memories include the first snowfall her freshman semester, resulting in an "epic snowball fight," as well as the first warm day of the year "when everyone heads down to North Beach to grill and hang out."

UVM is also where Perleoni met her husband, Luke. She recalls visiting the campus months after their engagement and climbing on the now-closed Williams fire escape under a "perfect evening with a clear sky and a classic Burlington sunset over the lake."

Cats Who Care

Above all, Perleoni is passionate about "working on behalf of folks who are changing the world and saving lives. I’ll never be a physician or come up with a cure for an obscure disease – but a big part of my job is making sure that the people who are doing those things have the resources they need to do it, and that the federal government does not stand in their way. The folks who are treating patients and doing research don’t have the time to go to Congress and petition their government to address issues facing themselves and their patients, so that’s where I come in."

It's challenging work, she admits – but that's exactly what she loves about it. "Some days I wish that getting good policy over the finish line wasn’t so difficult and fraught," she reflects, "and certainly our extremely polarized Congress and population do not help, but I’ve been able to get a lot of good work done over the years."

How she gets it done can be attributed to her passion. Advocacy, she says, "works best when you care about what you’re doing and the impact that your work has on other people."