Adrian Shanker (he/him) is a seasoned LGBTQI+ policy leader with specialized expertise in LGBTQI+ health policy, data equity, and access to care strategies. Adrian has worked at the municipal, state, and federal levels to advance policy for LGBTQI+ equity. Adrian was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and unanimously confirmed by the State Senate to serve as Commissioner on the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, the state’s civil rights enforcement agency where he served from 2018-2022. He also served the Wolf Administration as Commissioner and Health Committee Co-chair on the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQI+ Affairs. In the Biden-Harris Administration, he was appointed as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS and then was asked to join the administration in a full-time capacity as Senior Advisor on LGBTQI+ Health Equity for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he leads the LGBTQI+ policy portfolio for HHS and serves as a subject matter expert to ADM Rachel Levine, Assistant Secretary for Health.
Prior to his federal government service, Adrian served as executive director of LGBTQI+ community centers in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Marin County, California and served as board president of Pennsylvania’s state equality organization during the marriage equality fight. In Pennsylvania, he founded and developed Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center to a 1.6M agency with 24 FTEs, a 13,000 SF mortgage-free facility, and robust programs in community health, original research, positive youth development, fine art galleries, and a community archive. In that role, he created and broadly implemented the biannual Pennsylvania LGBTQ Health Needs Assessment in 2015, 2018, 2020, and 2022. In California, he led a 2.9M agency where he led an organizational rebrand, enterprise-wide technology upgrades, and the launch of a Training Institute as well executive leadership of programs including HIV case management, harm reduction, mental health, and supportive services for LGBTQI+ youth and older adults.
Adrian earned a Graduate Certificate in LGBT Health Policy & Practice from The George Washington University and a B.A., cum laude, in Political Science and Religion Studies from Muhlenberg College. City and State Pennsylvania included Adrian in their inaugural Pennsylvania Healthcare Power 100 list, he has been named a ‘Healthcare Hero’ by Lehigh Valley Business and twice named ‘Person of the Year’ by Philadelphia Gay News. Adrian has edited two anthologies, Bodies and Barriers: Queer Activists on Health and Crisis and Care: Queer Activist Responses to a Global Pandemic.
Photo credit: Libby Reyff
Image description: professional headshot of Adrian, a white man wearing a blue suit, white shirt, and wooden bowtie. He is standing in front of a redwood trees.