Judy Stavisky, MPH, M.Ed brings a lengthy career in public health to Arcadia. She served as the National Executive Director of Friends of the Children, a multi-state mentoring program that matches children K-12 with paid professional mentors.  During her tenure there, she executed a four-site National Institutes of Health funded randomized controlled trial. Friends was featured in The New York Times and The Nation.

As a Senior Program Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Judy managed a portfolio of $100 million of public health investments that supported vulnerable populations. She directed the foundation’s annual search for champions of local health challenges (Community Health Leaders) and developed an academic enrichment program for rural, low-income and historically minoritized students by building pipelines of competitive candidates for the health professions (Summer Health Professions Education Program).

Judy developed a plan to expand school-based health centers to include mental and dental health (Caring for Kids). To build civic engagement, Judy and her colleagues connected thousands of volunteers to the homebound in 500 communities throughout the country (Faith in Action). She provided seminal funding for research on corner stores and their capacity to offer healthier options in Philadelphia (The Food Trust) and supported technology investments connecting isolated communities with job opportunities via the Internet (One Economy).

Prior to joining RWJF, Judy served as Vice President of Health Services for AmeriHealth Caritas, a large Medicaid & Medicare health plan. She testified at a US Congressional Committee featuring the plan’s pioneering support for low-income members. Through a team of nurses and social workers making home visits to hundreds of pregnant women, the health plan achieved a 30% reduction in poor birth outcomes resulting in savings of $11.5 million over five years. The plan also launched a citywide violence prevention program with an emphasis on arts, culture and music that resulted in violence reduction in three targeted Philly zip codes.

Judy developed a teen pregnancy prevention program while work at Greater Philadelphia Health Action, a Federally Qualified Community Health Center and helped create school-based health clinics at Philadelphia’s Bartram and Ben Franklin High Schools.  Author of two books: In Plain View: The Daily Lives of Amish Women, (2022) and Do It Better! How the Kids of St. Francis de Sales Exceeded Everyone’s Expectations (2018), Judy will support our students’ journey to find their place in the world of public health.