Deborah Bae, MPA, who joined the Foundation in 2005 and works on the Health Insurance Coverage team, believes in RWJF’s enormous potential to change health care in America. As she notes: “No matter how big the problem, the Foundation can make a difference because we believe in our mission to help shape the future of health and health care in this country.”

Working in both a program and research capacity, Bae assists diverse organizations to plan and execute awareness campaigns, to expand health coverage at the state level, and to commission research and analysis on the factors that affect affordable and stable health coverage. In 2007, she researched and wrote the Foundation’s policy brief entitled “Introduction to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program” (SCHIP), which outlined the program’s success in reducing the number of uninsured children in the United States.

Bae has also assisted with the Foundation-sponsored Cover the Uninsured Week, a nonpartisan campaign to advocate for health coverage for all Americans. Now in its fifth year, the program is the largest nonpartisan mobilization in history seeking solutions for the nearly 47 million Americans who are uninsured.

Bae’s areas of interest also include the health and well-being of immigrants and the working poor.

Previously, Bae worked in the N.Y.C. Department of Health Bureau of Informatics and Data Services, helping to implement an electronic disease reporting system for all New York City hospitals and laboratories. She also was a microbiology laboratory research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania.

Bae received her MPA from New York University and her BA from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. Born in Philadelphia, she currently resides in New Jersey. She has traveled extensively in Asia, Europe, and the United States, and enjoys reading and running.