State Representative Vandana Slatter (D, 48th District, Position 1) is a former Bellevue City Councilmember, community leader, public school parent, and biotech and healthcare professional.
A Doctor of Pharmacy (UW), Vandana has worked for the past twenty-plus years at leading biotechnology companies, including Amgen and Genentech, bringing multiple parties together, making sense of complex information, and achieving safe and efficient solutions to best serve patients. She is a licensed pharmacist in the State of Washington.
While obtaining her Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Washington, the same professional postgraduate degree held by many city managers and non-profit leaders, Vandana served as an intern to U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell. She was appointed to a 4-year term on Washington State Board of Pharmacy by Governor Christine Gregoire in 2007. She also served on the Foundation Board of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington. In 2009, Vandana traveled with the Center for Women and Democracy (CWD) to Morocco in a delegation led by State Senate Leader Lisa Brown and in 2015, to Iceland as part of the organization’s mission to advance women’s leadership locally, nationally and globally. She has also traveled to China representing Bellevue, with the Trade Development Association, and a delegation of NW political and business leaders.
Vandana served on the Overlake Hospital Foundation’s Board of Trustees and has helped raise funds supporting the Cancer Center at Overlake and mental health programs on the Eastside. Vandana is also a past board member of the Children’s Institute for Learning Differences, a school serving children with special needs.
In 2017, she was appointed as the State House Representative for the 48th Legislative District. As a representative she has sponsored and passed legislation to help homeless youth access government services, improve collection of educational data, and create a tax exemption for low income housing. She has also sponsored legislation to reduce Washington’s greenhouse gas emissions to those consistent with the Paris Climate Accord and to develop regional air travel through electric or hybrid-electric aircraft.She is co-chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology (ScItech) Caucus and a member of the Members of Color Caucus (MOCC).
Vandana is also a graduate of the University of British Columbia (B.Sc. Pharmaceutical Sciences).
