Meet Mitch...

Forty Years of Public Service

A Distinguished Career
Career, Honors, Professional affiliations, publications

Why I'm Running

Mitch's Page at OHSU
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What Others Say About Mitch

Few candidates bring to the Legislature such clear and compelling accomplishments on the issues we care about most. For over 30 years, Mitch, his wife Harriet and their three children have lived and worked in our community. MitchÕs efforts to improve education, health care and the environment, as well as protect our personal freedoms, have been the cornerstone of his service to Oregon since his family moved here in 1964. Mitch Greenlick received his BS (1957) in Pharmacy and his MS in Pharmacy Administration (1961) from Wayne State University and joined the faculty of the College of Pharmacy during the year following receiving his BS. He was named Alumnus of the Year by the College in 1998 and now serves on its external advisory board.

Mitch and Harriet had their first date on June 18, 1953 and were together as much as possible from then until they married on August 19, 1956. They have three children, Phyllis, Michael, and Vicki, all who continue to live in our area to this day. Shortly after Mitch and Harriet were married, Mitch entered the Ph.D. program at the University of Michigan in 1961 and for the first year taught five classes a term at Wayne State and took five classes a term at the University of Michigan, 50 miles away in Ann Arbor. In the fall of 1962, the young family moved to Ann Arbor, where they lived until moving to Oregon in September, 1964.

Mitch came to Portland to start a research center that has become the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research. He directed that research center until July, 1995. It grew under his leadership to become the largest health services research center in the Northwest, currently with a budget of more than $20 million per year. Mitch was named Vice President (Research) of Kaiser Foundation Hospital in 1981 and served in that role until his retirement from Kaiser in 1996.

The family moved to Beaverton shortly after coming to Oregon and Mitch soon became active in Washington County community affairs. He joined the board of directors of the Washington County Community Action Organization in the late 1960s and working with CAP officials started the first Head Start program in Washington County and also began the health care program that evolved as the Virginia Garcia Clinic. He directed a group of VISTA volunteers during that time and had many adventures helping improve the life of migrant workers and ex-migrants in the county. The Greenlick Family moved into House District 7, during 1970 and have lived at 712 NW. Spring Ave ever since.

In 1990 Mitch became Professor and Chair of Public Health and Preventive Medicine in the School of Medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University. He is an adjunct Professor of Sociology and Social Work at Portland State University and Director of the Oregon Health Policy Institute.

Mitch served on the Governor's Commission on Health Care for the Uninsured and on the Multnomah County Primary Prevention Advisory Committee. He was a consultant to the Governor's Health Manpower Council and was a member of the Study Committee on Health Delivery System of the Governor's Comprehensive Health Planning Council. In 1996 he was named a consultant to the United States District court in Portland. He is a past President of the Jewish Education Association of Portland and has been a member of the Board of the Portland Jewish Federation. He has published some 200 books, chapters, and articles on health, education, community, and social science topics in a wide variety of journals and magazines.

The Greenlick children all went to West Sylvan School and Lincoln High School. Phyllis attended the University of Oregon and she and her husband, Tim, are both teachers in the Portland Public School System. They have two children, James and Megan, who are students at Tubman Middle School and Alameda Elementary. Michael attended Pomona College and the Northwest College of Law and is currently in practice in Portland. He's married to Susie Snyder and their two children, Jessica and Hannah are students at the Environmental Middle School and Atkinson Elementary.

Vicki attended Oberlin College and is currently employed at the Borg, Strom, and Greenlick law firm. Her daughter Elizabeth is a student at Irvington Middle School. Elizabeth's daddy, Bernie Bottomly, has been one of Mitch's political mentors for years before Mitch ever thought of entering politics. Mitch's brother Cliff moved to Portland during the 1960's and entered the Army from Portland, serving in Viet Nam. He returned to Portland after his service and he and his wife, Bobbie have lived in Oregon ever since. They have two daughters, Jennifer and Shana. Jennifer, an attorney, lives in the Seattle area. Shana has settled in Portland after her graduation from Oregon State University.

Mitch's work has taken him around the country and around the world. He has been extremely active in a lifetime of research projects and because of that he has friends and colleagues around the country. He was taken into the National Academy of Sciences (Institute of Medicine) at age 36 in 1971 and has been extremely active in Academy affairs since that time. He was first included in Who's Who In America in 1984. He has served as advisor to the governments of Columbia, Australia, England, Yugoslavia, Canada, and Israel and has been advisor to both the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization. He currently serves on the International Board of Directors of the Israeli Health Policy Institute. He was a founding member of the Intel Corporation's Health Initiative Advisory Board.

This active career hasn't stopped Mitch from undertaking a variety of recreational and relaxing activities. He is an avid reader, and favors contemporary novels and mysteries for relaxing time. His hobbies are usually things that teach him a new skill. And then there was his attempt to learn to play the banjo. Fortunately he gave that fruitless quest up after two years of frustration and before he caused any permanent harm to the music world. He was marginally more successful learning photography. He collects antique clocks and loves to be on the water, in his 15 foot Arima fishing boat, or as skipper of a chartered boat in the San Juan or Gulf Islands.