As Vice President of Programs at the New York Health Foundation (NYHealth), Avital Havusha, M.P.H., oversees and develops the Foundation’s programs and priority areas, Healthy Food, Healthy Lives and Primary Care, as well as its Special Projects Fund and focus on Veterans’ Health. Avital plays a leadership role in developing and implementing the Foundation’s goals and strategies and in ensuring quality and accountability of its grantmaking. She promotes synergy across all of the Foundation’s grantmaking, contributes to the Foundation’s proactive policy agenda, and builds partnerships with other foundations and stakeholders.

Prior to joining NYHealth, Avital held a number of leadership roles in the public health and health care sectors in New York State. At the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC), Avital oversaw operations, strategy, project execution, and business development for PCDC’s capacity-building and technical assistance programs, supporting primary care practices to provide patient-centered and coordinated care. At Public Health Solutions, Avital oversaw and managed large-scale health and human service programs in the areas of food and nutrition, reproductive health care, maternal and child health, and health care access. Earlier, at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, she played a lead role in coordinating the department’s response to federal and State health care reform and was a member of the leadership team that developed the Take Care New York policy agenda. Avital has also held roles at Yale University’s School of Public Health and at an anti-hunger organization in Massachusetts.

Avital holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master of Public Health degree from Yale University, with a concentration in health policy and administration.