The Massachusetts Institute For Community Health Leadership

Overview

The Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership (MICHL), a program of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, develops evolving leaders to: increase their personal impact; strengthen their effectiveness in their organization; enhance the organization’s influence in the health care system; and understand effective leadership in the context of privilege, health inequities, and racial equity.

MICHL is an opportunity for emerging leaders in a variety of public health and health care settings in Massachusetts to participate in leadership development with a cohort of professionals who are experiencing many of the same challenges, demands, and benefits of this work. Participants will have the opportunity to join a network of emerging leaders across the state and will extend their growth and engagement, not only through the initial nine-month program experience, but also as a result of building a supportive group of colleagues.

Program Goals

Increase participants' own personal awareness and understanding of systems of oppression.

Become fluent in the language of structural, cultural and institutional racism.

Foster internal change to further personal impact.

Strengthen effectiveness in their organization.

Characteristics of a Successful MICHL Cohort Member

Are committed to improving health care and public health in Massachusetts.
Want to develop as leaders, at any point in their career, in anti-racism work and creating healthier societies.
Strive to engage more effectively in discussions and initiatives within and outside of their institutions to dismantle structural racism.
Seek a professional community to learn with, learn from, and share in the challenges, successes, and next steps.

How to Apply

The application portal for the Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership program is currently closed. The 13th cohort of the MICHL program will launch in September 2025. The application portal will open June 2025. If interested, please be sure to check the website after the first of May 2025 when we will have updated the program page with all relevant details. Thank you for your interest!

Skilled & Diverse Faculty

Sharon Bueno Washington

Director, MICHL

Daniel Michaud Weinstock

Co-Director, MICHL

2025 Faculty Focus:

Under the leadership of our co-directors, a cohort of faculty are selected for their expertise and their understanding of how to create change built through their experiences of creating systemic change conceptually and practically. Their work is rooted in the need to dismantle the racism that is embedded in the health care system.

Curriculum

The MICHL curriculum is designed to build participant capacity to understand, recognize, and respond to structural racism through peer-to-peer exchanges and collaborative learning experiences.

View Curriculum Details

Alumni Network

Graduation from the MICHL program is not the end of your MICHL experience.

The Massachusetts Institute for Community Health Leadership has over 180 graduates from a wide range of organizational backgrounds. In alternate years, we offer ongoing learning and networking opportunities to designed specifically to inform and renew both the skills and the spirit of leading and leadership. MICHL is a network of colleagues from across the Commonwealth who are dedicated to addressing the health care needs of Massachusetts residents who are economically, socially, ethnically, and racially marginalized. Alumni can access the network on LinkedIn.