Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey Encourages Grads to Make Health a Priority
Risa Juanita Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science and was the speaker for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign commencement ceremony on May 16.
In her remarks to the Class of 2015, Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey said that regardless of the program from which they were graduating, all of them were going into health care. Health, she told them, is not only about curing illness, choosing the right food, exercising. “It’s the bedrock of your personal fulfillment. It’s the backbone of our nation’s prosperity. It’s an essential part of everything we do,” she said. She went on to say that graduates were going out into the world at a time of great urgency and unprecedented opportunity.
“We need you to change the conversation, not just join it,” she said. “We need you to push, and instigate, and revolutionize. It’s your turn to ensure that the well being of our nation’s children is a matter of fact, not a matter of chance.”
She acknowledged that health depends in part on the choices individuals make. But, she said, the choices people make depend on the choices they have. She told the graduates, “It’s your turn to be the employers, the policy makers, the educators, and the artists who will provide society with the desire and the means to make the healthy choice the easy choice.”
Dr. Lavizzo-Mourey has more than 30 years of experience as a medical practitioner, policymaker, professor, and nonprofit executive. Under her leadership, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has researched, evaluated, and implemented transformative programs tackling the nation’s most pressing health issues, with the goal of building a national Culture of Health. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health.