Sonnenschein Lawyer to Head Obesity Initiative

Sonnenschein senior counsel Larry Kocot will the be the interim leader of first lady Michelle Obama’s new health initiative, Partnership for a Healthier America. The focus of the initiative is childhood obesity. The Partnership for a Healthier America wants to facilitate collaboration between public and private entities to provide information about and improve accessibility to healthy food in school and communities, as well as increase opportunities for exercise.

Kocot was contacted in mid January by the first lady’s office. He says of his new position, “A lot of times as an attorney you don’t find work this gratifying, to work on a pro bono project that is so important to the nation. It’s such a partisan world in Washington, but this hits a nonpartisan chord.”

Kocot is a former senior advisor to the administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In this role he worked with the pharmaceutical industry to develop the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, Part D. Currently he is the deputy director at the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform with the Brookings Institution. He also served as the general counsel to the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.