Sallie Anne George
Program Officer
Sallie Petrucci George, M.P.H., program officer, works in several key areas that support the Foundation’s health care workforce efforts in communities nationwide. Included in her portfolio are: a program that recognizes the extraordinary contributions of community leaders who have improved health and health care in their local communities; a national initiative that supports a variety of projects to develop the skills of workers who deliver direct health care and services; a university center for health policy that seeks to increase the number of diverse researchers who can bring their perspectives to health policy discussions; and a program to develop a cadre of future health leaders from community-based nonprofit organizations serving vulnerable people. She also co-leads an effort to create connections between and among alumni of RWJF’s scholars, fellows and leaders programs to support their work to improve health and health care in the United States.
Petrucci George welcomes “the opportunity to influence what’s going on in health and health care with the people on the front lines, at the community level.” She views her role as “helping people at all levels, but particularly the local level, prepare for a better, healthier future.”
After joining RWJF in 1996, she worked in various capacities, including serving as a program associate with the Foundation’s Tobacco Team on projects to stimulate state and local policy to prevent tobacco use. She was program coordinator for the 11th World Conference on Tobacco or Health, a Foundation sponsored event with more than 3,000 international participants.
Previously, she worked in investor relations at the Liposome Company and in public relations at Coleman & Pellet, Inc., a private communications firm.
Petrucci George is the current president of the New Jersey Public Health Association. She was a 2008 Leadership New Jersey Fellow and has served on several steering committees and boards. She is a member of PHACE, NJ’s Public Health Associations' Collaborative Effort, the American Public Health Association and the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers.
She received an M.P.H. degree in sociomedical sciences from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, and a B.A. degree in communications from Seton Hall University.
A New Jersey native, Petrucci George resides in Allentown, N.J. with her husband, Paul, an archaeologist, and their son, Jeremy. Among her many interests, she enjoys watching and playing competitive sports, traveling and photography.