Whether she’s providing pro bono legal aid for pregnant teens, or advocating accessible health care and reproductive justice for women, Kinshasa K. Williams, a healthcare attorney, is typically at work on behalf of other people. And law is not the first career in which she’s championed those who lack access. Before going to law school, she was an Epidemiologist with the Louisiana Office of Public Health and with the United States Department of Health and Human Services, working to achieve higher standards of care in Louisiana’s family planning clinics.

Kinshasa is currently the Associate General Counsel for UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest single healthcare carrier. She helps the company maintain compliance with ever expanding healthcare regulations including providing legal support on matters that impact the company’s network of healthcare providers. Prior to UnitedHealthcare, Kinshasa practiced healthcare law with the law firms Powell Goldstein LLP (now known as Bryan Cave) and King & Spalding LLP.

In her spare time, Kinshasa volunteers with various organizations that deal with women health, access and justice issues, family violence and economic justice. Kinshasa has previously served as President of the Board of Directors of the Feminist Women’s Health Center.   She has been selected to participate in many community and leadership initiatives, including the Atlanta Women’s Foundation Destiny Fund, LEAD Atlanta, Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellowship Program, and UnitedHealth Group Leadership Program, just to name a few.

Kinshasa received her Jurist Doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. Prior to law school, Kinshasa received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and a Master’s in Public Health from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Says Marty Ellin, Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation Executive Director, “We are delighted that Kinshasa Williams has joined the AVLF Board of Directors! Kinshasa is a rare combination of talents: she is a first rate advocate, has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to public interest legal work, and she has real expertise in matters of specific interest to an important segment of the AVLF client community.” Welcome, Kinshasa!