Jeanne Ryer, MSc, EdD

NH Citizens Health Initiative

Titles and Affiliations:

  • Director, NH Citizens Health Initiative

Jeanne Ryer is Director of the NH Citizens Health Initiative, a multi-stakeholder statewide effort to create a system of care that promotes health, assures quality and makes care affordable, effective, and accessible to all New Hampshire residents. From 2003 until 2011, Jeanne was Program Director at the Endowment for Health, New Hampshire’s statewide health foundation, where she managed a portfolio of grants, projects, and policy initiatives addressing economic and geographic barriers to health. Her work focused on state and federal health system reforms, safety net health services and community transportation. She led efforts to develop and implement a Mission Related Investment strategy to create the Safety Net Loan Fund, a working capital loan fund for safety net primary care, mental health, and oral health clinics.  Before joining the Endowment, Jeanne served as Senior Program Officer for the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation managing the grants programs of two of its regional divisions and covering health issues statewide for the Foundation.  She also served as lead staff for the Lakes Region Charitable Foundation, a regional division of NHCF.  Prior to working for the NHCF, Jeanne was the principal of a consulting firm specializing in community health and human services planning and primary health care access, focusing on the needs of the underserved in rural and remote areas.  Earlier in her career she worked in direct service, patient education and program administration in community health programs.  She is author and co-author of several books, including one of the early guides to the Internet and others on accessing health and medical information online.  Jeanne received her BA from the University of New Hampshire and MS in Health Policy from the Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences (now The Dartmouth Institute) at Dartmouth Medical School.