Food is Medicine Program Manager

School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Madison (WI); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 162,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous vacation

Retirement benefits

Competitive insurance

Job summary

University of Wisconsin–Madison, School of Human Ecology, is seeking a Food is Medicine Program Manager to lead strategic operations for a university-wide initiative joining multiple schools, health systems, and community partners to advance health through food.

The role translates vision into coordinated execution, leads program planning, governance, and stakeholder engagement, and supports development of a campus-wide Food is Medicine Center. Collaboration and impact are key.

Qualifications

• Five years of progressively responsible experience leading complex programs, strategic initiatives, or cross-functional projects.
• Experience working across healthcare, nutrition, food systems, public health, education, or community partnerships.

Responsibilities

• May exercise supervisory authority over at least 2.0 FTE employees.
• Creates a program plan, monitors progress, and identifies risks and issues.
• Represents Food is Medicine initiatives through stakeholder engagement and evaluation.
• Manages program costs, budgets, and change control processes.
• Leads resource sharing across component projects for program-wide benefit.
• Prepares regular reports and dashboards for executive sponsors and stakeholders.
• Oversees outside contractors and vendors to ensure service quality.
• Sets priorities and collaborates with staff to meet targets and milestones.
• Provides strategic leadership to evolve the initiative into a sustainable UW–Madison center.

Skills

Partnership building

Stakeholder engagement

Cross-functional coordination

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's in public health/related field

Master's in public health/MHA/ MBA

Job description

Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.

Job Category

Academic Staff

Employment Type

Regular

Job Profile

Project Program Manager

Job Summary

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of Family Medicine & Community Health is recruiting for a Food is Medicine Program Manager to provide strategic operational leadership for a transformative, university-wide initiative supported by the Kern Family Foundation. The Food is Medicine Initiative brings together the School of Medicine & Public Health, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences, School of Human Ecology, UW Health, UW Extension, community organizations, agricultural partners, and health systems to advance research, education, clinical implementation, and community partnerships that improve health through food.

The Food is Medicine Program Manager serves as the strategic operations and implementation partner to Departmental Principal Investigators/Co-Investigators, translating institutional vision into coordinated execution across multiple schools, disciplines, and external partners. This position provides integrated leadership for project planning, operational coordination, stakeholder engagement, communications, governance support, and implementation of complex, cross‑functional initiatives while helping establish sustainable infrastructure for long‑term institutional growth.

In addition to leading day‑to‑day program operations, the Food is Medicine Program Manager will participate in executive‑level strategic planning with university leadership, contribute to the leadership of the UW–Madison Food is Medicine Working Group, and support organizational development associated with a future campus‑wide Food is Medicine Center. This position is well suited for a collaborative, strategic leader with demonstrated success managing complex initiatives, building partnerships across diverse organizations, and translating vision into measurable impact. This is a unique opportunity to help shape one of the nation's leading university‑based Food is Medicine initiatives and contribute to building an enduring institutional model that advances health, strengthens communities, and supports sustainable food systems throughout Wisconsin.

This position may require some work to be performed in‑person, onsite, at a designated campus work location. Some work may be performed remotely, at an offsite, non‑campus work location.

This position has been identified as a position of trust with access to vulnerable populations. The selected candidate will be required to pass an initial caregiver check to be eligible for employment under the Wisconsin Caregiver Law and every four years.

Candidates who demonstrate the following knowledge, skills, and abilities will be given first consideration:

• Proven success building and aligning partnerships across academic institutions, healthcare systems, community organizations, government agencies, philanthropic partners, and other external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate cross‑functional teams while balancing competing priorities, timelines, budgets, and organizational objectives.
• Excellent executive communication skills, facilitation, and relationship‑management skills.
• Knowledge of healthcare delivery systems, public health, community partnerships, implementation science, or Food is Medicine initiatives, or related fields.

Key Job Responsibilities

• May exercise supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full‑time equivalent (FTE) employees.
• Creates a program plan and structure, monitors progress and performance against the program plan, and identifies, resolves, or escalates program risks and issues
• Represents and advances Food is Medicine initiatives through stakeholder engagement, collaboration, impact evaluation, dissemination, and scaling of evidence‑based practices that improve health outcomes, healthcare delivery, food systems, and community well‑being.
• Facilitates the estimation of program costs, resources, and time required to complete the overall program, monitors activities and budgets, directs and leads component project manager activities for consistency and alignment, and works with program leadership to ensure these targets are met. Follows established change control processes if targets can no longer be met
• Leads and manages efforts to determine and coordinate the sharing of resources among component projects to the overall benefit of the program
• Prepares regular reports to communicate the status of the program within and beyond the program team, communicates program goals, risks, and status with program executive level, program sponsors, and stakeholders, and develops and uses appropriate dashboards, measures, and reporting tools
• Manages the activities of outside contractors and vendors to ensure they are integrated into the program and that the organization receives satisfactory standards of service
• Sets priorities, allocates tasks, and collaborates with project staff to meet program targets and milestones. Manages the change control process and acts as the mid‑level decision making authority
• Provides strategic leadership and serves as the operational integrator for the Food is Medicine Initiative, guiding its evolution into a sustainable UW–Madison center through long‑range planning, governance development, operational infrastructure, funding diversification, partnership cultivation, and stakeholder alignment. Cultivates partnerships across academic, healthcare, public health, agricultural, philanthropic, policy, and community sectors to advance innovation, expand impact, and position Wisconsin as a national leader in Food is Medicine implementation.

Department

School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Food is Medicine. The Department of Family Medicine and Community Health (DFMCH) at the University of Wisconsin is a leading clinical department within the School of Medicine and Public Health. DFMCH is dedicated to advancing patient care, education, and research. Our 18 clinics provide primary care to more than 170,000 patients, yielding over 375,000 patient visits annually. Each year, we train more than 160 residents (at sponsored and academic partner sites) and 300 medical students. Learn more: https://www.fammed.wisc.edu/.

Compensation

The expected salary range for this position is $119,919 up to $162,359 for highly experienced candidates and actual pay within this range will depend on experience and qualifications.

Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave; competitive insurances and savings accounts; retirement benefits. For more information, refer to the campus benefits webpage and SMPH Faculty /Academic Staff Benefits Flyer 2026.

Required Qualifications

• Five years of progressively responsible experience leading complex programs, strategic initiatives, or cross‑functional projects involving multiple stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Seven or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience in an academic medical center, healthcare system, university, public health organization, or comparable complex organization.
• Experience supporting executive leadership, strategic planning, organizational development, and multidisciplinary initiatives.
• Experience working across healthcare, nutrition, food systems, agriculture, public health, education, or community partnerships.
• Experience helping build, launch, or scale a new program, center, institute, or strategic initiative within an academic, healthcare, nonprofit, or governmental organization.
• Experience using data, metrics, and evaluation methods to measure performance and inform strategic decisions.

Education

Bachelor's degree in public health, healthcare administration, health sciences, nutrition, business administration, organizational leadership, education, implementation science, or a related field required.

Master's degree in public health (MPH), healthcare administration (MHA), business administration (MBA), nutrition (MS/RDN), organizational leadership, education, implementation science, or another related discipline preferred.

Contact Information

Paige Steinert, [e-mail], 608-890-1740. Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information.

Institutional Statement on Diversity

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin‑Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin‑Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy‑related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre‑employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).

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