Drew Altman, PhD

Drew Altman is president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It develops and runs its own research, communications and journalism programs, often in partnership with outside organizations. The foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., the foundation also operates major facilities in Washington, D.C., including its Barbara Jordan Conference Center and broadcast studio. In late 1990, Altman joined the foundation and directed a complete overhaul of its mission and operating style. One of the nation’s largest private foundations devoted to health, the Kaiser Foundation is a trusted independent voice and source of research and information on healthcare in the United States, with a growing role in global health. It also is a leader in health policy, communications and journalism.

Altman is a former commissioner of the Department of Human Services for the state of New Jersey under Governor Tom Kean (1986-1989). Prior to joining the Kaiser Foundation, Altman was director of the Health and Human Services program at the Pew Charitable Trusts, vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and served in a senior position in the Health Care Financing Administration in the Carter administration.

Altman received his BA from Brandeis University and master’s in political science from Brown University. He earned his PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, did his postdoctoral work at the Harvard School of Public Health and taught at MIT before moving on to public service.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Institute of Medicine, and serves on the Governing Council of the Institute. He is an innovator in the world of foundations and a leading expert on national health policy who publishes and speaks widely on health issues.