Joanna Grossman, PhD

Joanna joined AWI in 2014 and oversees the organization’s campaigns, litigation, and legislative advocacy pertaining to horses—both wild and domestic. She also lobbies on our farmed animal priorities.

Joanna holds an AB from Princeton University and studied as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Oxford before earning her PhD from Harvard University. While completing her doctorate, she worked on legislation impacting animal welfare at the Humane Society of the United States, at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and for Congressman Jim Moran, former chair of the Animal Protection Caucus.

Joanna has been a vegan for almost two decades (and a vegetarian for even longer). In graduate school, she wrote her dissertation on how Shakespearean drama advances an anti-speciesist outlook and emphasizes the kinship between humanity and other life forms.

Joanna shares her home with her husband, three kids, and two rescue dogs. Her hobbies include running, watching football, and maintaining an encyclopedic knowledge of animated sitcoms.