Jeffrey Sanchez (politician)

Jeffrey Sánchez (born July 18, 1969) has been a Democratic member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 2003. Sánchez represents the Fifteenth Suffolk/Norfolk district, which is made up of the Boston communities Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and Roslindale, as well as the Precinct 5 of the Town of Brookline, MA.

Sánchez was born in the Washington Heights area of New York City and raised in the Boston neighborhood of Mission Hill. He went to the University of Massachusetts Boston where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Legal Education. Later, Sánchez attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he received a Master in Public Administration (MPA) in 2011 and was a Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston Rappaport Urban Scholar.

Before running for the House of Representatives, Sánchez served as Mayor Thomas Menino’s liaison to the Hispanic community for six years. In 2000, Sánchez led Boston’s efforts to count the population for the census. Prior to this work, Sánchez worked in San Diego as a financial management advisor and investment banker.

Sánchez was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2003. In his second term, he served as Vice-Chair of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. In February 2009, Sánchez was appointed to the Joint Committee of Public Health by Speaker Robert DeLeo and has worked on issues related to affordable housing, healthcare access and quality and youth development initiatives. On July 9, 2013, Sánchez, in response to a nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis stemming from a compounding pharmacy in Framingham, MA, released legislation reforming state oversight of the pharmaceutical compounding industry of Massachusetts. Sánchez's legislation has been hailed as a "national model"by several industry experts and academics.

Sánchez is a resident of Jamaica Plain, where he lives with his wife and two children.