Meshie D. Knight

Meshie Knight joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2015 as a program associate working to improve the value of the nation’s healthcare and public health systems. Meshie views her role as an opportunity to use her background and education and a passion that’s rooted in her deep personal experiences to shape a health system that is efficient, equitable, and committed to improving the health and well-being of all.

Previously, Meshie served as a program and development associate for the Universal Health Care Foundation (UHCF) where her work included grant management, program development, and supporting policy initiatives designed to transform healthcare in Connecticut. As consultant with the Connecticut Choosing Wisely Collaborative, Meshie helped establish a multi-stakeholder collective to promote shared decision-making between patients and providers. She earlier served as a communications assistant with the Center for Children’s Advocacy, a non-profit law and policy organization. There, she advocated for systemic changes in the education, juvenile justice, health and child welfare systems on behalf of vulnerable children in Connecticut.

Meshie earned a BA from Howard University and an MA from Trinity College. She is a 2012 graduate of the Connecticut Health Foundation’s Health Leadership Fellows Program.

A native of the island of Jamaica, Meshie now resides in Plainsboro, N.J. She describes herself as an experimental cook who loves to travel, try new foods, and enjoy the outdoors: running, biking, hiking. She organized Black Girls Run! Hartford, a local chapter of a national organization that encourages and inspires African-American women to lead healthy lifestyles. She calls it her “passion on purpose."