Michael Yonas, DrPH Vice President for Community Partnerships and Learning

Michael Yonas, DrPH, MPH, serves as vice president for Community Partnerships and Learning and is responsible for the developing and managing of the Foundation's public health research, prevention and intervention initiatives. Michael joined The Pittsburgh Foundation in 2014 and has served in multiple roles of increasing responsibility, accountability and service including senior program officer for research and evaluation and director of research and evaluation. His uses participatory approaches to address social determinants of health and factors influencing community violence, housing/eviction, chronic diseases and persistent racial disparities impacting the health and well-being of families and communities. Currently, Michael manages internal and external evaluation activities, the public health and medical research grantmaking portfolios and is responsible for implementing multiple mixed-methods participatory research initiatives to inform the Foundation's grantmaking, policy, convening and research agenda.

Michael earned his master’s and doctorate degrees of public health from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, his bachelor’s of arts degree in fine arts from Dickinson College, and post-doctoral training in participatory research and engagement as a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Post-Doctorate Community Health Fellow at the University of North Carolina. Michael is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. He is also a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician in Allegheny County, and lives in O’Hara Township with his wife, Alison, and two children, Zachary and Annie, and their beloved dogs, Bailey and Teddy.