Mary A. Pittman, DrPH, is president and chief executive officer of the Public Health Institute (PHI). A nationally recognized leader in improving community health, addressing health inequities among vulnerable people and promoting quality of care, Pittman assumed the reins at PHI in 2008, becoming the organization’s second president and CEO since its founding in 1964. Her primary focus has been guiding the development of a strategic plan that builds on existing PHI program strengths to achieve greater impact on public policy and practice in public health. “In a changing environment, strategic planning is an ongoing process, not an end product,” she said.

Pittman’s overarching goal is for PHI to become known for leadership in creating healthier communities. To this end, PHI continues to work closely with the state on many programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. What’s more, she advocates that all PHI projects take the social determinants of health into account to better address health disparities and inequities.

Pittman is recognized as an influential voice in health practice and policy. Under Pittman’s leadership, PHI has emphasized support for the Affordable Care Act and the Prevention and Public Health Fund, the integration of new technologies and the expansion of global health programming. Other top priorities are: increasing advocacy for public policy and health reform, and addressing health workforce shortages and the impacts of climate change on public health. Under Pittman, PHI has created Dialogue4Health.com, the online platform for conferencing and social networking, and has been recognized as a preferred place to work. She strives for PHI’s independent investigators to work together to achieve a synergy in which the sum of their contributions is greater than the whole.

Pittman has deep, varied and multi-sectoral experience in local public health, research, education and hospitals. Before joining PHI, Pittman headed the Health Research and Educational Trust, a Chicago-based affiliate of the American Hospital Association, from 1993 to 2007. Previously, she was president and CEO of the California Association of Public Hospitals and a director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Pittman has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and two books. In July of 2020, her career in public health was featured in Forbes Magazine, where Pittman discusses what it takes to lead through the most complex and confounding public health crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic.  She has been recognized as one of the most influential Bay Area women leaders by the San Francisco Business Times, and selected by the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health as one of 16  public health women leaders for her work in addressing health inequities.

Pittman has served on the PHI board of directors since 1996. She also serves on numerous boards and committees, including the World Health Organization’s Health Worker Migration Global Policy Advisory Council and the National Patient Safety Foundation’s board of governors.

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