She arrived at Penn as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar in 1984, earning an MBA from the Wharton School. So began Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey's remarkable career, applying her clinical, academic, policy, and management expertise at each opportunity. She made house calls and advised a President, and for 14 years, led the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the first woman and first African American to do so. Along the way, she led the division of geriatric medicine at Penn and its Institute on Aging; served on a federal level as deputy administrator of what is now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; advised the White House on policy and health care reform; and co-led the Institute of Medicine's groundbreaking report on racial disparities, Unequal Treatment. At RWJF, she thought big, and it paid off in successes in reversing childhood obesity, transforming health care systems, and building a culture of health. If you want to change the world, a good place to start would be to read her 2017 annual message as RWJF President and CEO, Seven Lessons I've Learned About Improving Health in America.

The next phase of career takes her back here, and as of January 1, 2018, she will join Penn as the 19th Penn Integrates Knowledge University Professor, with joint appointments in Medicine, Wharton, and Nursing. Welcome home, Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey!