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.
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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.
Publication Topic
News Article
June 2026
In this interview about managing executive branch transitions in state government, Debra Farrington, Deputy Secretary for Health in the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, emphasized identifying priorities, engaging with legislators, and documenting relationships with community partners, so that important initiatives are understood as shared commitments. More
May 2026
In this edited Q&A and video with Milbank’s Morgan McDonald, MD, Jeff Lunardi—then interim Medicaid director at Virginia’s Department of Medical Assistance Services (Cardinal Care)—shares practical lessons on prioritization, nonpartisan leadership, and agency stability during a gubernatorial handoff. More
April 2026 Morgan McDonald,
Last month, Milbank National Director for Population Health Morgan McDonald, MD, and Morissa Henn, DrPH, Deputy Commissioner, New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, met to discuss how Henn has applied the principles of adaptive leadership to her work. More
March 2026 Morgan McDonald,
In January, Minnesota launched its paid family and medical leave program, making it one of 13 states with a statewide paid leave program in place or in process. For this Q&A, Milbank’s National Director for Population Health, Morgan McDonald, MD, talked with the legislation’s sponsors, Former Rep. Ruth Richardson, an alumna of the Emerging Leaders Program, and Sen. Alice Mann, MD, an alumna of the Milbank Fellows Program, about their motivations and approach to passing the bill. Both interviewees highlighted how their ongoing communication with each other and with the members of a large and diverse coalition — as well as their use of both storytelling and data — led to this investment in Minnesota’s families and businesses. (Watch a video of the interview at right.) More
October 2024 Marjorie Cortez,
The first time Utah state Rep. Steve Eliason was asked what he was going to do about a rash of youth suicides in his suburban Salt Lake County… More
August 2024 Joanne Kenen,
Not many people enter state government after a successful decades-long run in the private sector. Even fewer end up serving in both the state… More
July 2024 Joanne Kenen,
In Kentucky, state Rep. Kimberly Moser, a neonatal intensive care and flight nurse turned policymaker, managed to get sweeping legislation passed on both those issues after just a few terms in the legislature. More
April 2024 Joanne Kenen,
Dannette Smith was not a late bloomer. With a trailblazing mom — not many Black women were assistant school superintendents in a… More
August 2023
In this Q&A, Milbank Memorial Fund National Director of Population Health and Health Equity Morgan McDonald, MD, talks with Fred Baldwin, a… More
In a conversation with Milbank Memorial Fund president Christopher Koller, Fatmata Williams, director of medical administration at the Connecticut… More
