Health Law and Policy Program

2025 Health Law and Policy Summer Institute Faculty

Asha Scielzo

Asha Scielzo serves as the Director of AUWCL's Health Law and Policy Program and as an Adjunct Professor of Law. In this leadership role, Professor Scielzo assists with development of the health law and policy curriculum, recruitment of adjunct professors, expansion of health law externships, career counseling, career panels and other programming. She advises the student-led Health Law & Policy Brief and Health Law & Policy Students Association. She founded and manages the annual WCL National Health Law Writing Competition and directs the annual Health Law & Policy Summer Institute. Professor Scielzo brings over 15 years of large law firm practice experience to the law school. As a practitioner, she concentrated her practice on health care regulatory counseling, with expertise in fraud and abuse and reimbursement considerations and their impact on day-to-day operations, corporate compliance and governance, and transactions.

Abigail Duggan

Abigail Duggan serves as a Chief of Staff in the United States House of Representatives. Prior to joining the House, Abigail spent 12 years in the United States Senate as a senior health policy advisor and Legislative Director. Before that, she spent time as a law clerk with DC Council's Committee on the Judiciary and worked at the nonprofit Justice At Stake. She has also served as an Adjunct Professor at American University's School of Public Affairs.

Originally from central New York, Abby earned her JD from American University's Washington College of Law and a BA from Johns Hopkins University. She and her husband live in Washington, D.C. with their son and dog. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering with Community Tax Aid D.C.’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and City Dogs & City Kitties Rescue and staying active with both her JHU and WCL alumni communities.

Abigail will be teaching Health Law Legislative and Regulatory Process.

Julia Reiland

As a former mental health practitioner, Julia Reiland provides a unique combination of legal and practical experience in the health care field. Drawing on this critical ground-level perspective, she advises health care organizations on complex business transactions and strategic partnerships, informed by her significant experience in joint ventures, affiliations, antitrust, governance and contracting matters. Julia also counsels providers on state and federal regulatory compliance, including licensure, reimbursement, enrollment, HIPAA and state privacy and participation issues. With a career concentration on Health Law and Bioethics, she has extensive experience with federal and state anti-kickback laws, the Stark physician self-referral law and HIPAA.

She is a frequent speaker on issues related to provider transactions and collaborations, fraud and abuse, privacy and security, and federal and state regulatory developments.

Julia will be teaching Health Care Business Transactions.