Michael D. Shankle, MPH, Washington Health Institute’s Chief Operations Officer, has over twenty-six years of experience in HIV prevention and care delivery, LGBTQ+ health, opioid use prevention and treatment, public health program management and development, health outcomes performance improvement, and technical assistance/capacity building.

Most recently, Michael served as HealthHIV’s Senior Director of Capacity Building, a position he held for eleven years, where he developed strategic capacity building plans to address the needs of community-based organizations, health departments, clinical providers, fiscal administrators, municipal leaders, and medically underserved communities. He has built coalitions and developed public health practice partnerships at the local (city and county), state, and national levels. Additionally, Michael served as the Project Director for a multisite, national medication therapy management demonstration project integrating health centers and community pharmacists and a national technical assistance center charged with building the capacity of health department and community partners to respond to the comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, behavioral health, and social service needs of MSM of Color at risk for, or living with, HIV. Michael also served a Project Director for a project that developed and deployed telehealth services to provide HIV primary and specialty medical care for racial and ethnic minority communities with high HIV prevalence in urban areas. He led the “Opioid Learning Institute” with a mission to educate prescribers and other health care professionals on safe and effective opioid prescribing practices.

Prior to joining HealthHIV, Michael began his career as a research specialist with the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, where he combined his experiences in behavioral health sciences, health research, and technology to develop online HIV/STI interventions. While there, he implemented programming that facilitated parity, inclusion, and representation of high-risk, sexually active young adults in HIV community planning processes. In 2006, Michael produced and published the first public health textbook dedicated exclusively to LGBT Health entitled, “The Handbook of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Public Health: A Practitioner’s Guide to Service.” Michael joined the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts in 2006, first as Director of The MALE Center (Boston’s gay and bisexual men’s community health and wellness center), and then as Director of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Health Services.

Outside of work, Michael serves as Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for Penn Quarter/Chinatown in Downtown DC. He and his husband, Jon, enjoy spending time with family, friends, and their shepherd, Riley, as well as attending theater performances and other cultural events, and traveling throughout the US and the world.