Dive Brief:
- Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey announced that she will step down as president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation after serving in the role for nearly 14 years.
- Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey was the first woman and the first African-American to hold the position of president and CEO at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
- Over the course of her tenure as president and CEO, Dr. Lavizzo Mourey has launched initiatives to combat childhood obesity and to simplify enrollment in the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Dive Insight:
Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey was appointed president and CEO of the $10 billion private health foundation in January 2002. She announced that she will exit as soon as a successor is named.
As the head of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey held a prominent role among healthcare movers and shakers. She appeared on Forbes list of the most powerful women in the world eight times and on Modern Healthcare’s list of the most influential people in healthcare nine times.
Under her direction, RWJF created the Commission to Build a Healthier America, which issued a landmark report, “Beyond Health Care,” in 2009. This lead to her decision to launch the Culture of Health in America initiative, which aims to make health improvement a shared value across society.
