The Fund supports networks of state health policy decision makers to help identify, inspire, and inform policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund supports two state leadership programs for legislative and executive branch state government officials committed to improving population health.
The Fund identifies and shares policy ideas and analysis to advance state health leadership, strong primary care, and sustainable health care costs.
Keep up with news and updates from the Milbank Memorial Fund. And read the latest blogs from our thought leaders, including Fund President Christopher F. Koller.
The Fund publishes The Milbank Quarterly, as well as reports, issues briefs, and case studies on topics important to health policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund is is a foundation that works to improve population health and health equity.
Incoming Dean and Bloomberg Centennial Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Keshia M. Pollack Porter, PhD, MPH is a Bloomberg Centennial Professor and incoming dean (effective 8/1/25) at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she also serves as director of the School’s Institute for Health and Social Policy. Dr. Pollack Porter is an internationally recognized health equity scholar whose research advances policies that create safe and healthy environments where people live, work, play, and travel, with an emphasis on addressing structural drivers of health and promoting effective cross-sector collaborations. With a strong focus on promoting safe environments and identifying policy solutions that address structural drivers and social determinants of health, reduce disparities, and advance health equity, she spends a considerable amount of time directly engaging with policymakers to promote evidence-informed policy decisions and advance Health in All Policies at the local, state, and federal levels. Dr. Pollack Porter has published over 200 articles and is one of the co-authors of the book, Policy Engagement, a 2023 publication by APHA Press designed to provide practitioners with the tools to engage in the policy process. Since 2019, Dr. Pollack Porter has also directed the Health Policy Research Scholars–a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation–that trains doctoral students representing various disciplines as leaders in health policy who can advance health equity.
Dr. Pollack Porter completed her BA in sociology from Tufts University in 2000, her MPH in chronic disease epidemiology from Yale School of Public Health in 2002, and her PhD in health policy from Johns Hopkins University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in evaluation that was jointly sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and in 2006 joined the faculty at the Bloomberg School as the Leon S. Robertson Faculty Development Chair in Injury Prevention. Dr. Pollack Porter has received several accolades during her career including the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Advising, Mentoring, Teaching Recognition Award (AMTRA), which she has received three times; the APHA Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section Mid-Career Outstanding Service Award; the Daily Record’s Top 40 under 40 in Maryland; Baltimore Sun’s one of 50 Women to Watch in Maryland; Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni Award; and one of the Ten Most Influential Women Scholars in Health Promotion. In 2023, she was elected to the Tufts University Board of Trustees. The same year, she was also elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
