Monika Valdes Lupi is a Managing Director at the Kresge Foundation and a member of the HRiA Board of Directors. With more than 20 years of experience in public health, Monica leads the Foundation’s efforts to build equity-focused systems of health that create opportunities for all people to achieve well-being. She collaborates with other Kresge teams on efforts to lead with equity and partner with communities in their efforts to ensure access to safe and affordable housing, fresh food, clean air, and economic opportunities.

Monica also worked as a Senior Fellow with the de Beaumont Foundation where she advised on efforts to amplify and accelerate policy initiatives aimed at developing and advancing a health agenda on critical public health issues, such as tobacco control, racial justice, and health equity. She served as a Senior Advisor to the CDC Foundation (CDCF) in its COVID-19 efforts. In that role, she guided activities aimed at quickly identifying and supporting gaps and needs among state and local health departments in their response and recovery activities.

Previously, Monica was the Executive Director for the Boston Public Health Commission. Her portfolio included Boston Emergency Medical Services, the largest homeless services program in New England, school-based health centers, and other critical public health services. Monica also served as the Deputy Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where she led the day-to-day operations for an agency that included public health hospitals, several regulatory bodies, and numerous public health programs. She has led efforts for governmental public health at the national level as the first Chief Program Officer for Health Systems Transformation at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). Monica led ASTHO’s work on health equity, Medicaid and Public Health Partnerships, government relations, state health policy, and public health informatics. Monica has been appointed by the Biden Administration to serve on the Advisory Committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is co-chair of the Health Equity Work Group. She received her JD from the Dickinson School of Law, MPH from the Boston University School of Public Health and BA from Bryn Mawr College.