Sharon Milberger, ScD

Michigan UCEDD and LEND

Sharon Milberger, ScD, is Associate Professor (FTA) in Wayne State University’s Department Family Medicine & Public Health Sciences. She is also the director of the Michigan UCEDD (the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Institute) and the Michigan LEND. Dr. Milberger earned her baccalaureate degree from the University of Michigan and her doctorate in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is also a proud graduate of the 2016 Summer UCEDD Leadership Institute of the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities. Dr. Milberger has over three decades of research and program experience in developmental disabilities, aging, family caregiving, and health promotion.

Dr. Milberger is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. She served as a Healthcare Equity Ambassador for Henry Ford Health System. She also created the L.I.F.E. framework used in the Michigan LEND. L.I.F.E. is an acronym that stands for Leadership, Interdisciplinary Practice, Family-Professional Partnerships, and Equity. The L.I.F.E. framework has been shown to be an easy and effective way to organize and articulate Maternal Child Health Bureau’s leadership competencies and ensure that an equity lens is infused in all LEND training. Dr. Milberger also leads a $7M health equity grant that engages healthcare providers to become Most Valuable Provider (MVP) certified and offer clinical services that are accessible and sensory friendly. The MVP project was selected to be part of the 2023 American Public Health Association (APHA) Thought Leadership Film Series.

Dr. Milberger is actively involved in state and local issues and organizations including the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Disability Health Program (Co-Chair), the MDHHS Age Friendly Steering Committee, the City of Detroit Office on Disability Affairs’ Advisory Council, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Michigan Senior Advisory Council.