Our updated principles are rooted in equity. They are an accounting of what we aspire to be as a Foundation. —Richard Besser, RWJF President and CEO
Many years ago, when I first started working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, I heard a talk by one of our most respected leaders in which he proposed a pledge to the American people for the agency. It spoke to responsibility and values. I was so struck by its concise clarity that I have carried a copy of it to every other job I’ve had. Every time I settled into a new office, I would tape the pledge to the wall in a spot where I would be sure to see it every day. So you can imagine how heartened I was when I joined RWJF one year ago and learned that our staff was in the midst of updating the Foundation’s guiding principles to align them more directly with the vision of building a Culture of Health in America.
