Terri Tanelian

Terri Tanielian is Special Assistant to the President for Veterans Affairs. She is a nationally recognized expert in veteran policy as well as mental health policy. Most recently, she served as a Senior Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation where she led several landmark studies examining the needs of military service members, veterans, their families, and their caregivers.

She has expertise in suicide prevention, sexual assault prevention and response, and behavioral health. In 2019, she served as a RAND Congressional Fellow with the House Committee on Veterans Affairs where she informed evidence-based policy making designed to reduce veteran suicide.

She has also served on several national advisory committees related to improving mental health responses to disasters, terrorist incidents, and public health emergencies.  She has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications on topics ranging from improving access to and quality of mental health and substance use treatment, improving public health emergency preparedness and response, and improving support systems for veterans, military families, and caregivers. Born in upstate New York, Tanielian graduated from Boston University and received her Master of Arts degree from The American University.

Terri’s father served in the US Navy and Navy Reserves, and she grew up attending many family social events at The American Legion post where her father was a member in Hudson Falls, N.Y.