Rebecca Kislak is a mom, lawyer, advocate, and since 2018, State Representative. As a lawyer for Medical-Legal Partnerships in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, she supports healthcare teams who support patients who are experiencing legal issues that impact their health, and has represented clients in matters involving housing, school, disability and more. As an advocate, she’s fought to expand access to health care, and for policies that advance economic justice and equal rights for all Rhode Islanders. As State Representative, she has been championing public schools to empower student, parent and teacher voices, and pushing for more improvements and resources from our state. She has been working hard to introduce and support important legislation to protect our environment, and has worked actively to increase access and transparency in state government. 

As State Representative, Rebecca has:

• Championed building decarbonization, pesticide regulation, e-bikes and other environmental legislation;
• Advocated for Providence Public School students, families and teachers;
• Collaborated with community advocates, teachers and the RI Department of Education to pass legislation that will better support families seeking individualized educational plans (IEPs) for their children with disabilities, and will kick-start a look at modernizing the IEP process.
• Fought for budgets that work for people – with increased funding for housing, transit, healthcare and our schools; 
• Passed legislation to support the LGBTQ+ community, as a sponsor of the RI Parentage Act and legislation to increase access to PEP and PrEP, important HIV prevention mediation, and as a co-sponsor of the Provider Shield Act, protecting healthcare providers who provide abortion care and transgender healthcare, and a law ensuring access to gender-neutral restrooms wherever there are single-stall restrooms.

Rebecca is an attorney with years of experience in legal services and health policy. She currently serves as a Law and Policy Consultant for MLPB and is an adjunct professor, teaching health policy classes at Rhode Island College and at the Brown School of Public Health. She has worked at Legal Services offices in Worcester, Mass. and Providence. She has used her legal skills to advocate for families at Hasbro Children’s Hospital through Rhode Island’s Medical-Legal Partnership at Rhode Island Legal Services. She also served as Policy Director and Counsel at the Rhode Island Health Center Association.

Rebecca is married to Dr. Joanna Brown and they have two children.