Jan Malcolm

Throughout her career, Malcolm has sought to implement policies, practices and systems that improve the health of all populations.

Malcolm served as Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) for three governors: Jesse Ventura from 1999 to 2003; Mark Dayton in 2018; and Tim Walz from 2019 to 2023. In all three administrations, Malcolm was responsible for directing the breadth of functions and programs in service of MDH’s mission to protect, maintain and improve the health of all Minnesotans. From 2005 to 2013, she was CEO of Courage Center, a non-profit rehabilitation facility in Golden Valley, Minnesota that works to empower people with physical disabilities and sensory impairments. In this role, she guided the organization through a strategic repositioning, which culminated in the creation of the Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute.

Prior to her second appointment as MDH commissioner in 2018, Malcolm was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, where she co-directed a national research and leadership development program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Earlier, she helped develop and implement initiatives to strengthen the nation’s public health system as a senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey.

Malcolm has served on numerous non-profit boards in Minnesota, including the Bush Foundation, Women’s Foundation, United Way, and Planned Parenthood. Nationally, she has served on the boards of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, Academy Health and the Public Health Foundation.

Malcolm has a bachelor’s degree in pre-medicine from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. In 2020, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Saint Catherine University (St. Paul, Minnesota).

Committees: Corporate Investment and Development; Human Resources