Liana Cassar

Cassar was born and raised in Connecticut,^[1] and graduated from John Jay High School in Katonah, New York. Following this, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Connecticut and served as a Community Development Worker in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica from 1992 to 1995. She also completed her MPH at Boston University and MBA from Simmons College.^[2]

Cassar has worked in various health care and public health sectors in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She has served as co-chair of the Barrington Democratic Town Committee and as an Advisory Board Member for the Center for Health and Justice Transformation.^[2] Earlier, she was a strategy and Operations Consultant to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island and served as a strategic business consultant for AthenaHealth. From 2006 until 2008, Cassar served as the Chief Operating Officer for Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island.^[3]

In January 2018, Cassar announced her bid to replace Joy Hearn as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives representing District 66.^[1] She defeated John Chung in the primary and Republican Rhonda Holmes in November's general election to win her first election.^[4] Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in North America, Cassar announced legislation to lift the ban on abortion coverage for state employee health plans and ensure that abortion care is covered by Medicaid.^[5] Following this, she was appointed to the Health, Education and Welfare Committee while continuing to work with the House Committee on Small Business.^[6] In October, Cassar announced her bid for Rhode Island House Speaker against Nicholas Mattiello.^[7] She eventually dropped her bid in December after the majority of the House voted for Joe Shekarchi.^[8]