Pooja Paode

Biography

Pooja’s research interests center on two related lines of inquiry, united by the conviction that advancing social welfare requires attending to broader economic and political systems. First, how do social welfare systems shape health, economic, and political outcomes for multiply marginalized disabled people? Second, how does the concentration of private actor power limit collective action and policy reform across both disability and economic policy domains?

At UW-Madison, Pooja has worked as a Project Assistant for the Institute for Research on Poverty studying the experiences of applicants to Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance system. Currently, she works as a Project Assistant for the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work’s Assessment and Evaluation Committee. Pooja has completed requirements for a minor in Political Science.

Pooja has a decade of experience in health policy, community organizing, and policy evaluation and advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels. Before returning to graduate school in 2024, Pooja was the founding Program Director for Scottsdale Community College’s Community Health Worker program and served as the Associate Director for Cambridge Local First, a nonprofit supporting resilient local economies, during which she served as Co-Chair of the national Small Business Rising Coalition.

Interests: disability and social welfare policy, political economy of the U.S. welfare state, policy feedback and political participation, advocacy ecosystems, health equity