Faith Mitchell
Faith Mitchell
Institute Fellow
Health Policy Center
Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy
  • Profile
  • Outside Affiliations
  • Faith Mitchell is an Institute fellow at the Urban Institute working with the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy and the Health Policy Center. She is also developing Urban’s American Transformation project, which will look at the implications—and possibilities—of this country’s racial and ethnic evolution. Over several decades, her career has bridged research, practice, and social and health policy.

    Previously, Mitchell was president and CEO of Grantmakers In Health, a DC-based national organization that advises, informs, and supports the work of health foundations and corporate giving programs. Before that, she held leadership positions at the National Academies (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine), the US Department of State, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the San Francisco Foundation.

    Mitchell has a doctorate in medical anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. She has written or edited numerous policy-related publications and is the author of Hoodoo Medicine, a groundbreaking study of Black folk medicine, and The Book of Secrets, Part 1, a semifactual supernatural thriller. She cochairs the advisory group for the John A. Hartford Foundation and Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative and serves on the advisory committee of the National Collaborative for Health Equity, the editorial board of Health Affairs, and the boards of directors of Community Wealth Partners and The Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation.

    Research Areas
    Health and health care
    Nonprofits and philanthropy


    Outside Affiliations
    The Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation
    Member, Board of Directors (Chair beginning 2023)
    Healthcare Georgia Foundation
    Advisory Panel Member
    Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Age-Friendly Health Systems Advisory Group (John A. Hartford Foundation)
     Co-Chair
    National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Board on Health Care Services
    Member
    National Collaborative for Health Equity
    Advisory Committee Member
    Health Affairs
    Member, Editorial Board
    Community Wealth Partners
    Member, Board of Directors
    Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California San Francisco
    Member, National Advisory Board
    Leon Lowenstein Foundation
    Consultant
    Body

    Urban experts are permitted and empowered to work and affiliate with outside organizations, whether serving on boards, volunteering their time, or providing advice and counsel. And Urban welcomes visiting scholars, nonresident or affiliated fellows who work for other organizations. These outside affiliations enrich our perspectives and our learning environment. We also require all paid and unpaid experts to disclose their affiliations to Urban leadership and follow rules governing their engagement to ensure transparency for audiences and independence of experts.