Raymond Baxter Joins CDC Foundation Board of Directors
ATLANTA – Raymond J. Baxter, Ph.D., has been elected to the board of directors of the CDC Foundation. Baxter is Kaiser Permanente’s senior vice president for community benefit, research and health policy.
As a member of Kaiser Permanente’s national executive team, Baxter leads the organization’s activities to fulfill its social mission, including care and coverage for low-income people, community health initiatives, health equity, environmental stewardship and support for community-based organizations. He also leads Kaiser Permanente’s work in research, health policy and diversity, and he serves as president of Kaiser Permanente International.
Baxter has a long and distinguished career in public health, hospital, long-term care and mental health programs, including heading the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. He also led The Lewin Group, a health research, policy and management consulting firm.
“Ray has been a long-time supporter and partner to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CDC Foundation,” said Gary Cohen, chair of the CDC Foundation board of directors. “We are so pleased to have him join the board. His passion and commitment for improving public health will help us in advancing CDC’s life-saving work.”
Baxter serves on the advisory boards of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and the Duke University Institute for Health Innovation, the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, the board of Archimedes, Inc. and is a member of the Institute of Medicine's Roundtable on Population Health Improvement.
In September 2006, Baxter received the CDC Foundation Hero Award for addressing the health consequences of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, and for his longstanding commitment to improving the health of communities. In 2001 the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health honored him as a Public Health Hero for his service in the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco.
Baxter received his Bachelor of Arts, Master of Public Affairs and Doctoral Degrees from Princeton University.
Established by Congress, the CDC Foundation helps the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) do more, faster, by forging effective partnerships between CDC and corporations, foundations and individuals to support CDC's 24/7 work to fight threats to health and safety. The CDC Foundation manages approximately 200 CDC-led programs in the United States and in countries around the world. For more information, please visit www.cdcfoundation.org.