Richard Besser, MD, is president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), a position he assumed in April 2017. Besser is the former acting director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and ABC News' former chief health and medical editor. At RWJF, Besser leads the largest private foundation in the country devoted to building a comprehensive Culture of Health that provides everyone in America with a fair and just opportunity to live the healthiest life possible. In his role, Besser is a leading voice on the importance of health equity, advocating for racial justice, full inclusion of people with disabilities, and a COVID-19 response and recovery that prioritizes those most impacted. Besser received his Bachelor of Arts from Williams College, his medical degree from University of Pennsylvania, and completed a residency and chief residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. He continues to volunteer as a pediatrician at the Henry J. Austin Health Center in Trenton, N.J. He and his wife Jeanne, a food writer, have two sons, Alex and Jack.
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Asia Center
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