Stephen L. Isaacs

An attorney, writer-editor, and retired Columbia University professor, Stephen L. Isaacs is a founding partner of Isaacs/Jellinek, a firm that helps foundations reach their maximum potential. In this capacity, he and Paul Jellinek, the other co-founding partner of Isaacs/Jellinek, have advised dozens of foundations on issues ranging from basic governance and management to strategic planning and impact assessment. In addition to writing Foundations 101: How to Start and Run a Great Foundation, the two write a monthly column on foundations for The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Between 1996 and 2015, Mr. Isaacs edited To Improve Health and Health Care: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Anthology. The book series, published annually by Jossey-Bass, examined and drew lessons from that foundation's programs. He also wrote the best-selling book, The Consumer's Legal Guide to Today's Health Care: Your Medical Rights and How to assert them, with Ava Swartz, and edited Salud en América Latina, with Giorgio Solimano.

Prior to establishing Isaacs/Jellinek, Mr. Isaacs served as president of The Center for Health and Social Policy, which helped governments and non-governmental organizations in Asia and Latin America advance public health, reproductive rights and civil society. In addition to teaching health law and policy at Columbia University, Mr. Isaacs founded the Development Law and Policy Program and co-founded, with Arvonne Fraser, The International Women's Rights Action Watch.

Mr. Isaacs serves as a trustee/director of The Royce Funds. A graduate of Brown University and Columbia Law School, he speaks French, Spanish, and Thai.