David Adler, DrPH, MPA, is the Associate Vice President for Policy at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In this role, he works across the Foundation, using policy to ensure that health is not a privilege but a right. Since joining the Foundation in 2008, Adler has worked on a variety of efforts to improve health. He originally joined the Foundation as a Communications Associate working to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. Adler’s subsequent roles included leading communications efforts for the Foundation’s coverage work and later serving as a Program Officer and Senior Program Officer, spearheading efforts to expand health care coverage and ensure that patient and consumer voices were represented in large-scale health system transformation efforts.

Before coming to the Foundation, Adler directed communications for The Food Trust in Philadelphia, where he helped to produce research reports that promoted increased access to healthy food in all communities. Adler’s early career included teaching adult literacy at Philadelphia’s Lutheran Settlement House and serving as a Program Coordinator of an initiative that allowed healthcare workers to advance in nursing careers as part of grant-funded program from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Adler received a BA from Swarthmore College, an MSt in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from the University of Oxford, an MPA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a DrPH in Health Leadership from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.