Jeanette G. Elstein

Jeanette Elstein joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in 2017. In her role, Jeanette supports the goal of ensuring that all families—no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they make—have the resources they need to foster healthy development from their child’s earliest years. In working toward this goal, she focuses on efforts to change mindsets and transform systems and structures so that all families and children are valued, treated with dignity, and have the resources they need to flourish. “I support efforts to build greater public and private investments in families and children; to reach a day when decision-makers start with the lens of what’s best for the well-being of every family and child,”  says Jeanette.

Previously, Jeanette served as project manager for the Positive Psychology Center in Philadelphia, where she oversaw three grant-funded research initiatives: the World Well-Being Project, the Prospective Psychology Project, and the Positive Soldier Health Project. In addition, she collaborated on several research studies about post-traumatic growth, and the link between creativity and well-being. She also served as a program evaluation intern with Get Healthy Philly, a community-based Philadelphia Department of Public Health initiative that helps Philadelphians enjoy lives free from disease, disability, and premature death.

Jeanette holds an MPH in public health and a BA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. In her MPH studies, she focused on nutrition and food policy. She volunteered at the Psychology of Eating and Consumer Health (PEACH) lab, based out of the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, doing research on menu labeling. She also performed independent research on the framing of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax in Philadelphia.

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Jeanette now lives in Philadelphia where she has held volunteer positions with the City of Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Youth Engagement, and the Bread and Roses Community Fund. In addition, she teaches multiple exercise classes for Les Mills BODYCOMBAT© and BODYPUMP©, and enjoys travel and the theater.