Bruce Thao is Director of the Center for Health Equity and Office of Minority & Multicultural Health at the MN Department of Health (MDH). As Director, Bruce works internally across MDH to provide consultation, capacity building and training on how to integrate health equity into all policies, programming, research and grantmaking. Externally Bruce engages with the community, health partners and policy makers to advance health equity for communities most impacted by health inequities.
Bruce has a strong record of working to advance equity. He was a Fellow at MN Philanthropy Partners, managing a grant portfolio and a leadership and racial equity program. Prior to this role, as the director of programs for Hmong American Partnership (HAP), Bruce managed local and national programs and policy work, overseeing many public health programs. He is also a skilled community organizer, having managed HAP’s MNSure outreach and enrollment effort in Minnesota, while working to expand Affordable Care Act outreach to rural and limited English communities in California, Arkansas, Missouri, and North Carolina. For these efforts, the White House honored Bruce as a Champion of Change in 2014.
As a 2013 Bush Foundation Leadership Fellow, Bruce expanded upon his University of Chicago doctoral research on resilience, trauma, health and wellness across diverse communities. He is an expert and thought leader on historical trauma and holistic health and wellness.
Bruce holds an M.S. in Psychology from St. Joseph’s University and an M.A. and completion of all doctoral coursework in Social Welfare from the University of Chicago. He has been nationally recognized by Vice President Biden as an LGBTQ leader. Bruce is also a 2013 Bush Foundation Fellow, a 2014 White House Champion of Change, a 2016 Ron McKinley Philanthropy Fellow through the MN Council on Foundations, a 2017 Aspen Institute Scholar, and was recognized as “Young Professional of the Year” by the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce in 2016.