Dr. Michelle Robinson serves as Chief Programs and Partnerships Officer for the Foundation for Black Women's Wellness. Before joining the FFBWW, Dr. Robinson served as the inaugural Director of the Office of Health Equity at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) in the Office of the Secretary where she was responsible for establishing a clear vision and focus for the agency’s health equity work, including programs and policy efforts for statewide workforce planning and equity and inclusion; and complementing and amplifying the work of the related diversity, equity, inclusion, access, wellness and health equity initiatives across all of DHS’s internal and external programs and operations. Dr. Robinson previously served as the Director of the Office of the Inspector General and the Equity and Systems Change Research and Policy Officer (ESCRPO) at the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) where she was a member of the Secretary’s cabinet and the agency’s leadership team. As ESCRPO, Dr. Robinson provided strategic leadership and direction on internal and external equity, and health equity initiatives and, as the Inspector General, was responsible for establishing an internal review team and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) program for the agency. During her tenure in state leadership, Dr. Robinson served as vice-chair of the Governor’s Health Equity Council (GHEC) – a council charged with creating a comprehensive plan that will achieve long-lasting and equitable health outcomes for all Wisconsinites by addressing health disparities; and is the primary author of its report Building a Better Wisconsin: Investing in the Health and Well-being of Wisconsinites.

Prior to entering state service, Dr. Robinson was a member of the award-winning Race to Equity Project at Kids Forward. She contributed her expertise on disparities and racial equity research, policy, practice, and community engagement.

A committed servant leader beyond her professional capacity, Dr. Robinson works to give back to the various communities she is a part of, serving as a member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education Board of Visitors and the Archer Center’s Advisory Board. The Archer Center, founded in 2001, is described as “where Texas meets the world” and is the Washington D.C. campus of the University of Texas System “providing talented undergraduate and graduate students from across the UT System with the opportunity to live, learn and intern in the nation’s capital.” Dr. Robinson has also served as an advisor to multiple fellows selected in the National Academy For State Health Policy’s (NASHP) Emerging Leaders of Color Fellowship. She was recently appointed to serve as a member of NASHP’s Population and Public Health Steering Committee, a term beginning January of 2024.

Dr. Robinson has had the esteemed honor of being recognized for some of her many contributions through receiving the 2018 Madison Community Leader Award by Church Women United, the 2018 Collaborator of the Year award by the Progress Center for Black Women, the 2017 Community Justice Award by the Urban League of Greater Madison, and being named one of the University of Wisconsin’s Outstanding Women of Color in Education in 2014. In 2022, Dr. Robinson was awarded the Outstanding Leadership Diversity Award by the State Council on Affirmative Action (SCAA) and the Division of Personnel Management (DPM) Department of the Administration.  The award is designed to "recognize an individual leader in state service who has demonstrated a devotion to inclusivity, diversity, equity, and wellness promotion within their area of influence."

Dr. Robinson holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Sociology with a minor in Educational Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Government and certificates in Ethics and Leadership and Social Inequality, Health and Policy from the University of Texas at Austin.