Denise Tomasini Joshi

Denise is an attorney, criminal justice reform expert, and specialist in issues related to marginalized and underserved populations. These include people with lived experience of mental health challenges, racial minorities, people who use controlled substances, individuals involved in the criminal legal system, and LGBTQ people at the intersection of these identities.

Tomasini-Joshi served as Chief of Staff at the Innocence Project in New York and has held the position of Division Director for the Public Health Program within the Law and Health Equity Division at the Open Society Foundation (OSF), overseeing a $12 million budget and grantmaking efforts across 16 countries. Previously, she served as Interim Co-Director of OSF’s Women’s Rights Program, Deputy Director of OSF’s International Harm Reduction Development Program, and Legal Officer for the Open Society Justice Initiative’s National Criminal Justice Reform program, where she helped establish Mexico’s first pretrial release program.

Tomasini-Joshi also distinguished herself as Associate Dean for Public Service and Executive Director of the Root-Tilden-Kern Program at the New York University School of Law; as a Policy Analyst for the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project at the Council of State Governments; and as an attorney with Columbia University’s Goddard-Riverside Tenant Assistance Project and MFY Legal Services. She holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, a Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University.