Dr. Michelle Villegas-Gold is the Assistant Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at ASU Health where she oversees strategic initiatives for ASU Health and is the primary lead for designing and launching the School of Technology for Public Health, Public Health Technology Corps, and Medical Master’s Institute. Prior to joining ASU Health, she worked in the ASU Knowledge Enterprise for five years, where she developed new strategic initiatives to accelerate and strengthen health research and partnerships in critical areas across the university.
Before working in KE, Michelle was a University Innovation Fellow with the Office of the President at ASU, where she developed and incubated new university-wide initiatives that advance ASU's charter and design aspirations. Additionally, from 2015-2018 while pursuing her Ph.D., Michelle served as the Center-wide Research Assistant for the Center for the Future of Arizona, within the Office of the President Emeritus at ASU. Before joining ASU, Michelle spent seven years working with victims and survivors of interpersonal violence in various capacities, including as a first responder, victim advocate, and master's level counselor in several inpatient, intensive outpatient, and outpatient settings with children, adolescents, and adults. Michelle's specialization is in trauma- and stress-related, feeding and eating, anxiety, dissociative, and substance-related and addictive disorders, with specific expertise in the neurobiology of trauma, fear, and safety.
Michelle has a Ph.D. in Global Health from Arizona State University with a certificate in Women and Gender Studies, a Master of Public Health within the Global Health and Leadership track from New York University, and a Master of Counseling degree from Arizona State University. Michelle completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Arizona where she majored in Psychology and minored in French.