Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey (born September 25, 1954) is an American medical doctor and executive who served as president and CEO of the

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...

from 2003 to 2017. She was the first woman and the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

to head the foundation, which has an endowment of about $8 billion and distributes more than $400 million a year. She has been named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

several times, and one of The Grio's History Makers in the Making. She was elected a Member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 2016.

Education and early career

Born in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, in 1954, Risa Lavizzo-Mourey attended The Bush School and attended University of Washington and State University of New York at Stony Brookbut applied to medical school after her junior year her M.D. at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

and completed her internship and residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. In 1984, she was named a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, and received her Master of Business Administration degree in health care administration from the University of Pennsylvania's

Wharton School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

in 1986. She is master and former regent of the

American College of Physicians The American College of Physicians (ACP) is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of adults.Sokanu "What is an Internist?" Retrieved October 20, 2014 With 161,000 members, ACP is the largest ...

, where she chaired its committees on ethics and human rights.

Career

Lavizzo-Mourey joined the

in April 2001 as a senior vice president and director of its Health Care Group. Prior to joining the foundation, she served as director of the Institute on Aging, at the University of Pennsylvania; as well as chief of the division of geriatric medicine; Sylvan Eisman Professor of Medicine and Health Care Systems; and associate chief of staff for geriatrics and extended care for the Philadelphia Veterans Administration Medical Center. She also served in the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

as deputy administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Policy and Research (now known as the

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ; pronounced "ark" by initiates and often "A-H-R-Q" by the public) is one of twelve agencies within the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency is headquartered i ...

). Lavizzo-Mourey was a member of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

Task Force on Health Care Reform and served as a consultant to the

on issues of health policy. Lavizzo-Mourey has served on several federal advisory committees, including the Task Force on Aging Research, the Office of Technology Assessment Panel on Preventive Services for Medicare Beneficiaries, the Institute of Medicine's Panel on Disease and Disability Prevention Among Older Adults, and the National Committee for Vital and Health Statistics (where she chaired the Subcommittee on Minority Populations). She joined an impressive list of council members following an executive order by President Barack Obama for the installment of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition to take on the childhood obesity epidemic. In 2014, Lavizzo-Mourey was appointed a member of the Smithsonian's board of regents. She also served on the President's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. She recently completed service as co-vice chair of a congressionally requested Institute of Medicine study on

racial disparities in health care Race and health refers to how being identified with a specific race influences health. Race is a complex concept that has changed across chronological eras and depends on both self-identification and social recognition. In the study of race and ...

. In January 2018, Lavizzo-Mourey joined the University of Pennsylvania as the institution's nineteenth Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor. She is a member of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Health Incentives & Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) External Advisory Board.

Awards and recognitions

As of 2016, Lavizzo-Mourey is listed as the 97th most powerful woman in the world by ''Forbes''. *2019:

Sedgwick Memorial Medal The Sedgwick Memorial Medal, given by the American Public Health Association, was established in 1929 for distinguished service and advancement of public health knowledge and practice. It is considered the APHA's highest honor. The medal is esta ...

from the American Public Health Association.

Personal life

She is married to Robert Lavizzo-Mourey and has two adult children. Lavizzo-Mourey currently resides in

Glenside, Pennsylvania Glenside is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Cheltenham Township and Abington Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. It borders Northwest Philadelphia. The population was 7,737 at the 2020 census on a land area of ...

References

External links

Official profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavizzo-Mourey, Risa 1954 births American nonprofit chief executives American health care chief executives American women chief executives Harvard Medical School alumni Living people Members of the American Philosophical Society Physicians from Seattle Stony Brook University alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni 21st-century American women Members of the National Academy of Medicine