Risa Lavizzo-Mourey
Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, who departs the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation this month after nearly 14 years as President and CEO, will join the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) as the institution’s 19th Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, effective January 1, 2018.
A world-renowned expert in health policy and geriatric medicine, Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey has served the foundation since 2003 and, for 15 years before that, as a Distinguished Professor and Administrator at Penn. She will be the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Population Health and Health Equity Professor with joint faculty appointments in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy in the Perelman School of Medicine, the Department of Health Care Management in the Wharton School, and the Department of Family and Community Health in the School of Nursing.
Penn cited Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey and the foundation for its devotion to health, including its billion-dollar initiative to reverse the nation’s childhood obesity epidemic, the support of programs to help people obtain better health care, the foundation’s Commission to Build a Healthier America and its landmark 2009 report “Beyond Health Care,” focused on recommendations to improve health at the local, state, and federal levels.
In her previous tenure at Penn, Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey was Sylvan Eisman Professor of Medicine and Director of the Institute on Aging. She began her career at Penn in 1986, after earning an MBA at Wharton in Health Care Administration while completing Penn’s Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars program, and during her tenure served as Associate Executive Vice President for Health Policy, Associate Dean for Health Services Research, and Chief of the Division of Geriatric Medicine.
At the federal level, she was Deputy Administrator of what is now the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality and has worked on the White House Health Care Reform Task Force, co-chairing the working group on quality of care. She has served on numerous federal advisory committees, including the Task Force on Aging Research, the National Committee for Vital and Health Statistics, and the President’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey is master and former regent of the American College of Physicians, where she chaired the committees on ethics and human rights. She is a member of the American Philosophical Society.
Contact: Jordan Reese
Phone: 609.627.6322
Email: jreese@rwjf.org
Michael J. Koch
UniHealth Foundation (UHF) appointed Michael J. Koch as President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Koch will be responsible for overseeing all grantmaking and administrative functions of the foundation and will report directly to the Chairman of the Board and CEO, Mr. Bradley C. Call.
Mr. Koch has more than 25 years of experience in the health care industry. Prior to joining UHF, Mr. Koch was Co-Founder and Executive Director of CaliforniaKids Healthcare Foundation. Under Mr. Koch’s leadership, CaliforniaKids provided more than 90,000 children in 33 counties access to preventive and primary health care services.
Prior to CaliforniaKids, as a Strategic Planner for Blue Cross of California, Mr. Koch worked closely with leadership in the development and implementation of the company’s financial and operational strategies, integral to the company’s successful financial turnaround.
Contact: Barbara Bishop
Phone: 310.991.9141
Email: Barbara.bishop@bbprinc.com
Ann Barnum
Ann Barnum, Vice President, Community Strategies, will retire on May 5th. Ms. Barnum has been with Interact for Health for more than 18 years and has played a critical role in its success and development.
Ms. Barnum joined the foundation in 1999 and managed the substance use disorder and healthy choices about substance use priority areas until 2015. Her expertise and vision helped the foundation start the ASAP (Assistance for Substance Abuse Prevention) Center in 2000. At that time it was the only program of its kind in the nation, unique in that it connected people in communities to evidence-based prevention frameworks, practices, and programs. It paved the way for much of the work the foundation now does in health promotion.
Another of Ms. Barnum’s lasting legacies is the work she did with Janice Bogner, Former Senior Program Officer for Severe Mental Illness, to improve the criminal justice system. Between 1999 and 2008, the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati awarded $12 million in 99 grants to improve the health of people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders in the criminal justice system.
Ms. Barnum has been a key leader in tackling the current opioid epidemic. Years ago, she led a program called NIATx that improved addiction treatment agencies by engaging and retaining clients and implementing billing systems. Through this rapid change tool process, the agencies began to report that more clients were using opioids. Ms. Barnum, always the catalyst to improve the health of the region, began to ask more questions and convene groups to talk about how to prevent overdose deaths.
For the past two years, Ms. Barnum has led the Community Strategies team through strategic planning that will guide Interact’s work for years to come. Please join the Interact team in congratulating Ann on a significant career.