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Shereen Arent is executive vice president, government affairs & advocacy of the American Diabetes Association, the nation's largest voluntary health organization leading the fight to Stop Diabetes.

Ms. Arent provides strategic direction and oversight of the American Diabetes Association's advocacy efforts, which focus on increasing federal and state funding for diabetes prevention, research, and treatment; preventing diabetes and improving the availability of accessible, adequate, and affordable health care; and eliminating discrimination against people with diabetes at school, work, and elsewhere in their lives. Ms.?Arent joined the American Diabetes Association in 1999 as the founding staff member of the Association's Legal Advocacy efforts. As managing director, she developed and coordinated a nationwide campaign to eliminate discrimination against people with diabetes in employment, education, correctional institutions, and places of public accommodation utilizing the four step approach of education, negotiation, litigation, and legislation. Through the collaboration of volunteers and staff, these efforts have ended the blanket bans that kept people with diabetes out of entire categories of jobs, made schools a safer and a fairer place for students with diabetes, and protected the rights of people with diabetes in places as diverse as rock concerts, airplanes, and police custody. 

Prior to joining the American Diabetes Association, Ms. Arent established the first Equal Employment Opportunity office for the Architect of the Capitol, an agency of Congress, and was a partner at two public interest law firms, Youngdahl & Youngdahl in Little Rock, Arkansas and Newman & Newell in Washington, DC, where she focused on workers' rights. She also served as law clerk to the Hon. Phyllis A. Kravitch, United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Ms. Arent earned an AB degree from Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, and a JD degree from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She was a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School for the 2003-2004 academic year.