Valerie Hurt Bonham ’87, Vice President and General Counsel, The Kennedy Krieger Institute

After graduating with a law degree from UVA, Valerie spent four years as an Associate for a law firm in Washington, DC, Mintz Levin.  She moved from there to the Office of the General Counsel in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she worked most closely with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Over seventeen years in public service, Valerie served two years as the first Executive Director for the President’s Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues during the Obama Administration, and as Deputy Director in the Office of Research Support and Compliance in the Office of the NIH Director and as a Senior Advisor in the NIH Director’s office, where she interacted with members of Congress and other senior officials across the government. After leaving public service, Valerie worked as a Counsel in the law firm of Ropes & Gray, again in Washington, DC, representing universities, medical centers, and other research institutions.  Valerie recently began services as Vice President and General Counsel for the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a world-renown, Baltimore-based non-profit that provides education, clinical care, and research for children, adults and families with special needs, rare diseases, and neurological and musculoskeletal challenges. She is Kennedy Krieger’s first General Counsel since its founding in 1937.  Uniquely positioned as a counselor with meaningful experience in government and the private sector, Valerie is a frequent author and sought-after speaker.  She is admitted to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia and before the Supreme Court of the United States.  Valerie has three children ranging in age from 12 to 21, two friendly dogs and one grouchy cat.  She and her husband reside in Bethesda, Maryland with their children and will soon be moving to Annapolis, Maryland.

Education: 

• Rice University: B.A., Ethics and the History of Public Policy and Law
• University of Virginia School of Law: Juris Doctorate