Tawsif Anam (MPA ’13) has served as regional director for the office of Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson for the past 10 years, and has experience working in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors in the U.S. and overseas. In addition to his role in the U.S. Senate, since receiving his MPA from the La Follette School in 2013 Anam has worked for the United Way of Dane County and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. While at La Follette, he held roles at the Wisconsin Medical Society, the Wisconsin Legislative Council, and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Anam has had over 100 opinion pieces published in news publications around the country.
“The mission I follow is to help people,” Anam says, “Every day, I utilize my knowledge and skills, as well as the legal authority and resources available to the congressional office, to provide the best possible constituent services to the people of Wisconsin in a timely manner.” As a trained health policy analyst, Anam serves as the statewide contact for Medicare and Medicaid in his office, working to address the challenges that senior citizens face. “The best part of the job is to be able to solve constituents’ problems and to deliver good news to the people we serve,” Anam says.
Tasked with work involving both politics and policy, Anam says that the La Follette School has given him a great advantage in his current professional environment. When faced with issues involving topics such as healthcare, energy, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, and immigration, he leans on his policy education. “Policy issues, in this day and age, are complex,” Anam says. “Being equipped with the knowledge and skills I gained at the La Follette School of Public Affairs allows me to conduct in-depth analysis of policy issues and to understand the political influences on policy making. Getting a Master of Public Affairs degree from the La Follette School is one of the most important things that happened in my life.”
Anam’s strong desire for public service dates back to his childhood. At a young age, Anam decided to gain a better understanding of how institutions function and interact with each other. Anam says that after coming to the United States from Bangladesh, his greatest challenge was understanding the American healthcare system. “Understanding simple health insurance terms such as deductibles, coinsurance, copay, out-of-pocket maximum, and prior authorization seemed confusing to me,” Anam says. “I felt an urgent need to understand the American health care system for my own personal needs.” To overcome this challenge, Anam chose to take an undergraduate healthcare policy course at UW–Madison, which led to studying health systems policy in graduate school. “From not understanding the American health care system, I went on to become a health policy analyst,” Anam says, “To this day, I am deeply engaged in health care policy in Senator Ron Johnson’s office, and it is a huge part of my life in public service.”
Now working for the U.S. Senate, Anam can be of service to the American people. In this leadership role, he is proud to have the ability to make a difference in the lives of those who need assistance. “I derive my inspiration from the wide range of people I meet every day while doing outreach in the state,” Anam says. “From small business owners to large employers, from active military service members to WWII veterans, from young college students to senior scholars in institutions of higher learning, from farmers to manufacturers, from public health educators to public safety and emergency response professionals, I am energized and inspired by the variety of people I meet. I am continuously learning from the interactions I have with people, and that inspires me to move forward.”
Alumni in the Spotlight
To celebrate La Follette’s 40th anniversary, we are highlighting alumni throughout 2024 who influence policymaking at the highest levels in government, nonprofit, and private-sector organizations across the country and abroad.