Year Honored: 2015
Biography
Rita Landgraf “spent her career fighting for health equity at the community, state, and national level.” From 2009 until 2017 she served as Delaware’s Secretary of Health and Social Services under Governor Jack Markell, where she “led the principal agency charged with keeping Delawarean’s health, ensuring they get the health care they need, and providing children, families, individuals with disabilities, and seniors with the essential services they depend on.” In that role, Landgraf was responsible for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and led the successful effort to the meet the U.S Department of Justice program of recovery and community integration of individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. Delaware was recognized by the DOJ as the first state to achieve significant transformation in that area within the 5-year time frame.
Starting in 2017, Landgraf has worked as a University of Delaware professor of Health Sciences. She has also served the university as the Director of the UD Partnership for Healthy Communities, “a cross-college, cross-state initiative.” As part of her commitment to addressing health equity issues and as a disability rights advocate, Landgraf has been a part of the Executive Advisory Board of The National Alliance on Mental Illness Delaware, Arc of Delaware, AARP Delaware, Democrat Governor’s Association Healthcare Advisory Council, Delaware Center for Health Innovation, ATTACK Addiction, and chaired Christiana Care’s Home Health and Community Services Program.
One of Landgraf’s students called her an ‘an innovator in the field of public health and public policy, who has made impacts across the state of Delaware,’ and in recognition of that, Landgraf has been awarded the Association of University Centers on Disabilities the ‘All Award for Leadership in State Policy for “spending a lifetime fighting for the rights of underrepresented groups.” She also has a place on the University of Delaware Wall of Fame (2011) and in 2015, was named the Girl Scouts Woman of Distinction.
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Sources and Additional Readings
Delaware Academy of Medicine. Delaware Public Health Association. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://delamed.org/about-us/board/rita-m-landgraf/
Public Health in Practice. University of Delaware. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2018/april/rita-landgraf-public-health-practice/
Secretary Rita Landgraf Archives. State of Delaware News. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://news.delaware.gov/tag/secretary-rita-landgraf/
YouTube. (2017, December 7). Claws & Wings-Rita Landgraf. YouTube. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMuuB4nruTc
- Collections: 2015