Executive Director
Executive Director's Office
Executive Director, the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute (MJB), Israel’s leading center for applied social research.
Michal Grinstein-Weiss, PhD, MA, MSW, is the Executive Director of the Myers JDC Brookdale Institute, a Full Professor at the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Global Economy and Development at the Brookings Institution in the United States and is on the board of trustees of The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy.
In her previous esteemed positions, Professor Grinstein-Weiss served as the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean for Policy Initiatives at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, the founding director of the university- wide Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, the founding director of the Centene Center for Health Transformation, and an advisor for the Financial Inclusion Working Group for the Clinton Global Initiative-America.
Grinstein Weiss’ work is focused on improving health and socio-economic mobility, addressing inequalities in health, financial security, education, and housing, particularly those in low-income households. During her career, Grinstein-Weiss has been awarded $50+ million in research funding and more than 100 research grants as principal investigator alone.
Grinstein-Weiss has an influential voice in the design of innovative social policies to promote household
financial security through unique cross-sector partnerships. In Israel, Professor Grinstein-Weiss spearheaded the creation and implementation of the Savings for Every Child legislation, a national
policy which establishes a seeded savings account for all children as of 2017.
The importance and relevance of Professor Grinstein-Weiss’ research is reflected in the numerous agencies and foundations that support her cutting-edge work. For example, her research has been supported by the U.S. Department of Treasury, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In addition, her research has won the support of numerous philanthropic foundations dedicated to improving the lives of individuals, families, and children, such as the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
She also works closely in path-breaking collaborations with multiple industry partners, including Fortune 500 partners such as Mastercard, Intuit Inc. and Centene Corporation. Her extensive record of publications includes both popular press and top-tier scholarly journals, including the American Economic Journal, Social Service Review, Journal of Urban Affairs, Housing Policy Debate, Social Work Research, Journal of Consumer Affairs, Future of Children, among others. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, The Atlantic, CNBC, C-SPAN, CNN, NBS, National Public Radio, Forbes, Chicago Policy Review, Daily Finance, and international outlets including TheMarker, Haaretz, Bloomberg, Ouest France, among others.
She has also presented to a broad range of audiences, including high-level academic conferences, congressional briefings and testimonies, TEDx events, practitioner convenings, and media interviews. Professor Grinstein-Weiss’ work has garnered many prestigious awards, including the Academy for Social Work and Social Welfare Fellowship and the Society for Social Work and Research Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award.
Professor Grinstein-Weiss earned her Ph.D. in social work from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. She holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and a master’s in social work, along with a Bachelor of Arts, from the University of Haifa, Israel.