Dr. Whitaker is a managing director of Continuum Health Group, a public health and health disparities policy firm based in Washington, DC. She is also a senior vice president in the health policy group at Venn Strategies, a government affairs firm in Washington, DC.  Shanta joined Venn and Continuum from her position at LMI as a Health Policy Consultant to CMS, where she served as a subject matter expert on Medicare and Medicaid Shared Savings Programs and worked extensively with Accountable Care Organizations.  Shanta has also been a senior health disparities analyst for the Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care, has served as an editor for American Journal Experts, and was a post-doctoral fellow with the North Carolina State Public Health Laboratory.  Shanta received her bachelor’s degree from Virginia Union University, a doctorate in microbiology from Yale University, and a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.