Rodney Whitlock, PhD

Rodney Whitlock was born and raised in Salem, Virginia.  He graduated from Roanoke College in 1987.  He spent two years at Appalachian State University as an assistant coach with the Men’s Soccer Team, earning a Master’s Degree in 1989.  From 1989 through 1994, Rodney was in the political science program at the University of Georgia.  He completed his doctorate in political science in March of 1998.

Rodney met Charlie Norwood in the summer of 1994 and handled debate prep during the Congressman’s first campaign.  After the election, he joined Congressman Norwood’s staff and moved to Washington because he really couldn’t think of a good reason not to.  During his years with Congressman Norwood, he managed the Patients’ Bill of Rights, which passed the House in 1999 and 2001.  In February 2005, Rodney left Congressman Norwood to join the Finance Committee Staff as a health policy advisor for Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa.  He was lead Senate staffer for the Medicaid provisions of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006.  In 2007, Rodney worked on the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act that passed Congress twice and was subsequently vetoed twice by President Bush.  He spent 2009 and 2010 deeply engaged in health care reform legislation.  Late in 2010, he became the Acting Health Policy Director for Senator Grassley and shepherded the Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010 into law during his brief tenure.  He moved to Senator Grassley’s personal office in 2011 and served as Health Policy Director for Senator Grassley until retiring in 2015.  Rodney now serves as Vice President, Health Policy at ML Strategies, the consulting affiliate of Mintz Levin, where engages in policy analysis and legislative strategy.

In his spare time, Rodney teaches at The George Washington University in both the Department of Health Policy and the Graduate School of Political Management.  He has taught at the college level for 24 of the last 29 years.  He is also recovering antique air-cooled Volkswagen addict and a back-of-the-pack triathlete turned cyclist.  Rodney resides in Arlington, Virginia with his wife Sylvia, his son Matthew and daughter Samantha.