Mayra Alvarez, M.H.A., is a legislative assistant for Senator Richard Durbin, the Majority Whip of the U.S. Senate and the senior Senator from the state of Illinois. Ms. Alvarez helps to develop Senator Durbin's legislative agenda for health issues. She works on a broad range of issues including healthcare coverage; government sponsored health programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP; small business health; healthcare workforce; minority health and health disparities, and children's health. She previously served as a Legislative Assistant for Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis, chair of the Health Task Force for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Prior to working in the office of Ms. Solis, Ms. Alvarez was a David A. Winston Health Policy Fellow in the office of then-Senator Barack Obama. She completed her graduate education at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her undergraduate education at the University of California at Berkeley. Ms. Alvarez is originally from southern California.