TASH is thrilled to announce that Valerie A. Arkoosh, MD, MPH, the Pennsylvania Secretary of Human Services, will be the keynote speaker at our Thursday Opening General Session at the 2026 TASH Conference!
Meet Valerie A. Arkoosh, MD, MPH
Valerie A. Arkoosh, MD, MPH, was appointed to lead the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services by Governor Josh Shapiro on January 17, 2023.
Secretary Arkoosh leads a team of 16,000 who serve approximately 4 million Pennsylvanians through programs including Medicaid, CHIP, SNAP, Early Intervention and Child Care Works, and services that address the needs of individuals with intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities. Secretary Arkoosh focuses on embedding a whole-person, proactive, and preventive approach to service and care delivery, building supports and interventions that help Pennsylvanians achieve greater stability and better health.
Prior to state service, Secretary Arkoosh was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, served as Commission Chair from 2016 – 2023, and was Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.
Arkoosh has been deeply engaged in the national effort to achieve comprehensive health care reform. She served on the Board and as President of the National Physicians Alliance, a national non-profit organization of physicians, who, putting their patients before profits, joined a broad-based nation-wide coalition for reform.
Arkoosh is a graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine, received a Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and holds a B.A. in economics from Northwestern University. She performed her residency at Jefferson Medical College in Anesthesiology and Obstetrics.
You can read more about Secretary Arkoosh on the 2026 TASH Conference Opening General Session schedule page.
The 2026 TASH Conference will be held at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 3 – 5, 2026. This year’s Conference theme is Liberty and Justice for All. Visit the Conference webpage for the complete schedule, registration, hotel discounts and more.