Sandra Lynne Fryhofer was the first student awarded the Joey Hanzich Memorial Fellowship in 2011. Through the fellowship, she was able to do summer research for her senior thesis on the development of state-based exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, which involved an internship at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, D.C. With the help of the fellowship, in addition to her internship, she was able to travel to conferences, such as the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, to hear directly from local leaders about how states were progressing in developing insurance exchanges. She was also able to do primary research at HHS about the regulatory process relating to the establishment of insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act and how HHS actively partnered with states and provided flexibility to help states build these new infrastructures. In 2012, Sandra Lynne graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with an AB in Government and Global Health and Health Policy and a citation in Spanish. While at Harvard, she also served as Managing Editor of the Harvard Health Policy Review and as Captain of the Harvard Women's Volleyball Team.
After graduation, Sandra Lynne returned to HHS, where she got her start as a Joey Hanzich Memorial Fellow. Currently, Sandra Lynne serves as Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of Health Reform at HHS, focusing on Affordable Care Act implementation and delivery system reform. Prior to joining the Office of Health Reform, she was Assistant to the Deputy Assistant to the President for Health Policy at the White House, Special Assistant to the White House Liaison at the Department of Health and Human Services, and the health care researcher for the 2012 Obama for America campaign.