She is the founder of the American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation and the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.

In October 2017, Esquire[15] and The New Yorker[16] published critical articles outlining connections among Purdue Pharma, the larger Sackler family and Oxycontin's role in the opioid crisis.

[19] In response, Goldin noted that Elizabeth's father, Arthur, earned his fortune in significant part through marketing of tranquilizers, including Valium, that were widely abused.

Former New York Times journalist Barry Meier wrote in his book Pain Killer that Arthur Sackler "helped pioneer some of the most controversial and troubling practices in medicine: the showering of favors on doctors, the lavish spending on consultants and experts ready to back a drugmaker's claims, the funding of supposedly independent commercial interest groups, the creation of publications to serve as industry mouthpieces, and the outright exploitation of scientific research for marketing purposes.

"[23] Psychiatrist Allen Frances told The New Yorker in 2017 that "[m]ost of the questionable practices that propelled the pharmaceutical industry into the scourge it is today can be attributed to Arthur Sackler.