Yvette Garcia Missri

Yvette Garcia Missri is the Executive Director of the Wilson Center and has been a leading legal and public health advocate for racial and social justice for over 20 years. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, Yvette worked as a Litigation Counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending, where she used litigation strategies to combat abusive lending practices, and as an administrator for the Orange County Department on Aging, where she helped lead the County to become North Carolina’s first World Health Organization’s Age-Friendly County as well as managed multiple enduring programs to combat poverty and improve mental health outcomes for vulnerable older adults. Yvette also worked as a gender-based violence legal services attorney in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., including at Merrimack Valley Legal Services, the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, and the Office of the Attorney General for D.C.

Yvette received her J.D. from Boston College Law School, her MPH in Health Behavior from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, and her B.A. in Philosophy from George Washington University.

Here at the Wilson Center, Yvette oversees the Center’s work, guides research and policy development, and fosters partnerships that translate research and policy recommendations into practice. She also leads the Center’s outreach and collaboration efforts, working closely with community organizations, government agencies, researchers, and practitioners to build cross-sector solutions and expand the real-world impact of the Center’s work