The Fund supports networks of state health policy decision makers to help identify, inspire, and inform policy leaders.
A bipartisan group of state health policymakers from both the executive and legislative branches who are focused on improving population health.
Networks of state officials, advocates, and others aiming to invest in and transform primary care.
A program dedicated to advancing state-based efforts to make health care more affordable for residents, employers, and states.
The Milbank Memorial Fund supports two state leadership programs for legislative and executive branch state government officials committed to improving population health.
A leadership development program for early and mid-career state government officials who are committed to improving the health of all people in their communities.
A leadership program for senior state government officials who are committed to improving population health.
The Fund focuses on creating an affordable health care system built on strong primary care and partnerships that improve health outcomes for all.
Improving state leaders’ ability to enact and implement evidence-based health policies.
Advancing policies that create a more prevention- and primary care-oriented health system.
Improving population health through policies that contain health care cost growth.
Our state health policy resources offer relevant data analysis and best practices.
The Fund publishes reports, issues briefs, and case studies on state health policy issues.
Short takes on health policy issues from Milbank staff and guest authors.
Insights from Milbank President Debra Lubar on state health policymaking.
Reported articles and Q&As on timely health policy issues, as well as foundation updates.
Milbank Memorial Fund and Milbank Quarterly webinars featuring state health policymakers and researchers.
Updates and expert contact information for reporters.
The Milbank Memorial Fund is a private foundation that works to improve population health and health equity.
Quarterly Topic
Quarterly Article
September 2026 Steven H. Woolf,
US life expectancy is shorter than in other high-income countries, and the gap has widened over time. More
June 2026 Ninez A. Ponce, Riti Shimkhada, Tara Becker, Susan Babey, AJ Scheitler,
Health equity depends on data equity: the representation of communities in the data used to identify disparities, target interventions, and hold systems accountable. More
June 2026 Yusra Murad, Kristina Medero, Chloe Gansen, Jasmine Sandate, Marissa Hallo, Sarah E. Gollust,
Building narrative power, a foundational strategy used in community organizing, involves dismantling dominant narratives that uphold inequity and constructing counternarratives that advance health equity and racial justice by reshaping how people make sense of the world. More
June 2026 Kellee White Whilby, Makeda Walelo, Heron Bondoc,
Racial equity impact assessments (REIAs) are used by local governments to integrate equity considerations into policymaking and decision-making processes by evaluating potential impacts of proposed legislation before enactment. More
Quarterly Opinion
March 2026 Alana M. W. Lebrón, Ruth Enid Zambrana,
Public health science gains in the last quarter century in the United States have been formidable due to a focus on structural and social determinants of health, thereby enhancing understanding of the role of inequitable policies in shaping health inequities and inequitable access to ameliorative resources. More
March 2026 Margaret H. Swenson, Lauren D. Boczkowski, Brad Riley, K. Noelle Broughton, Christopher J. Koliba,
Racial disparities—unequal outcomes between racial groups—persist in the United States, particularly with respect to health and economic outcomes. There has been increased focus on the ways in which upstream determinants of health contribute to these disparities; however, little is known about how forced inaction on these upstream determinants affects health and economic outcomes. More
February 2026 Harold A. Pollack,
I recently attended a National Institutes of Health (NIH) meeting concerned with criminal justice interventions. Speakers emphasized the importance of involving people with lived experience—which everyone understood to mean persons who have experienced arrest and incarceration. More
February 2026 Mark L. Rosenberg, Lawrence O. Gostin,
In our bitterly partisan age, where science and public health are distrusted, even denigrated, there is a better part of America. More
February 2026 Julianna Pacheco, Nicole Novak, Samantha Deragon, Stephanie Schmitt,
We broaden our understanding of community power by going beyond traditional measures of voting and voting rights. Our objectives are to (1) create county-level measures of community power that are more expansive than voting and (2) explore the descriptive and geographic patterns of community power. More
January 2026 Sara Rosenbaum,
The implications of the Department of Justice’s action to eliminate the “disparate impact” test, which provides the legal foundation for removing discriminatory barriers in public health and health care. More