Lisa Backus joined the S.H. Cowell Foundation board in 2007 bringing an extensive background in community health. She currently works at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs Office of Population Health.  Population Health strives to improve the health outcomes of groups of individuals through consideration of a broad array of determinants of health including socioeconomic factors, physical environment, behavioral factors, physiologic factors, and medical care.  Her work focuses on improving the quality of care for all Veterans and on reducing disparities and inequities in the complex populations served by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dr. Backus holds a B.S. from Harvard University, completed a Ph.D. at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and graduated from the University of California, San Francisco Medical School. She also completed a fellowship in public health and bioinformatics (the study of extracting data from medical records for improving health care).