Michael Fraser

For over twenty years, Dr. Michael Fraser has served as a distinguished public health and healthcare leader. Fraser is currently chief executive officer of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). He assumed this role in August 2016 and ever since has led staff, members, partners, and public health leaders to further advance ASTHO’s mission as an advocate, voice and resource for state and territorial public health. He has worked tirelessly to transform ASTHO into a dynamic, relevant, and effective non-partisan membership organization representing all state and territorial health agencies.

Prior to joining ASTHO, he served as the executive vice president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Medical Society from 2013-2016. He served as CEO of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs from 2007 to 2013, where his leadership was recognized nationally by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Director’s Award in 2014. Fraser was also the deputy executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials from 2002 to 2007 and served in several capacities at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including positions at the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Spring 2015, he was admitted as a Fellow in the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, one of just a handful on non-physician Fellows in the nation’s oldest professional society.

Fraser has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Politico, The Hill, CNN, Bloomberg, MSNBC, Associations Now, Through the Noise, and other national and regional media outlets. He is a co-editor of the Public Health Guide to Ending the Opioid Crisis published by the Oxford University Press and a co-editor and author of the Handbook of Strategic Skills for Public Health Practice, to be published in 2021. Fraser was also nominated for a 2018 CEO of the Year Award from CEOUpdate Magazine by his colleagues.

Fraser is an affiliated faculty in the Departments of Health Administration and Policy and Global and Community Health at the George Mason University College of Health and Human Services. He is also a professorial lecturer in Health Policy and Management at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. His collaborative research and scholarship have been published in several academic journals including the American Journal of Public Health, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice.

Fraser received his doctorate in sociology and a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He also has a master’s degree in management with a concentration on management, strategy, and leadership from the Eli Broad School of Management at Michigan State University. Fraser received his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Oberlin College.