Q & A
APractice of
Promoting Health
Montclair ’ s Dr . RichardBesser brings a lifetime of expertise to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
WRITTEN BY CINDYSCHWEICH HANDLER
In his last job as chief health and medical editor at ABC News , Montclair ’ s Dr . Richard Besser broke stories that guided viewers inmaking better decisions about their health .
Now that heisthe recently named president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton , he oversees an organization that helps produce the kinds of headlines he used toreport . We spoke with him about what it ’ s like to make the news instead of broadcasting it , and asked for his thoughts on how grants from RWJF ’ s $ 10.5 billion endowment should be put to use .
Dr . RichardBesser
On the ABC Nightly News , you reached upwards of 12 million people . What attracted you to working atafoundation ? My whole career has been focused on public health for people around the world , and I ’ ve come to realize over time that there are many ways to have animpact onpeople ’ s lives . Ispent time as aresearcher at a university , was at the CDC [ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ] for 13years , and at ABC for almost eight , trying topractice public health on-air . Now I ’ m taking the skills I gained and looking to see another way of trying to improve health . I want to bring the intensity of my background to amore thoughtful , longer range approach . This is my first job in more than 20 years that isn ’ t really crisis-driven . And I ’ ve always loved jobs with steep learning curves .
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COPYRIGHT 2017 FLYNN LARSEN . COURTESY OFTHE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION
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