Arturo Brito Named Executive Director of The Nicholson Foundation

Arturo Brito, MD, MPH, joined The Nicholson Foundation on March 13, 2017 as its Executive Director. Brito was previously the Deputy Commissioner, Public Health Services, of the New Jersey State Department of Health, and stepped down from that position to assume the role as head of The Nicholson Foundation. He brings to the Foundation a unique combination of clinical, academic, and administrative experience, with particular expertise in program development for vulnerable populations.

Brito is a pediatrician who also holds a master’s degree in public health. Born in Cuba, Brito came to the United States at age 7. He received his medical degree from the University of South Florida College of Medicine, and completed his pediatric residency at Emory University School of Medicine. Early in his career, Brito practiced as a pediatrician in southwestern Alaska and in South Florida. In Florida, he oversaw the South Florida Children's Health Project and served on the faculty of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine as Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics. 

From 2006-2011, Brito worked as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at the Children’s Health Fund, a New York City-based non-profit dedicated to delivering high-quality healthcare to America’s most disadvantaged children. In that position, Brito helped its National Network grow from 17 to 25 programs, which greatly expanded the capacity of the Children’s Health Fund to deliver comprehensive health care services to homeless and low-income children and families.

Throughout his career, Brito has held appointments on prominent national bodies, including the National Bioethics Advisory Committee (1996-2001) and the Community Pediatrics Training Initiative at the American Academy of Pediatrics (2005-2007). In 2016, he began serving as Chair of the Senior Deputies Committee at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

Since 2011, Brito has worked as Deputy Commissioner, Public Health Services, of the New Jersey State Department of Health. In that role he has overseen and led programmatic and policy development in four divisions:  Family Health Services; Public Health Infrastructure, Laboratory, and Emergency Preparedness; HIV, STD, and TB services; and Epidemiology, Environmental, and Occupational Health.

Augmenting his professional work, Brito has published extensively and is currently teaching a master’s-level course at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. In addition, Brito has frequently volunteered his services domestically and internationally, with multiple volunteer missions to Haiti (responding to the 2010 earthquake) and to Mississippi and Louisiana (responding to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita).