About Me

MICHAEL D. MENDOZA, MD, MPH, MS

Dr. Michael Mendoza is currently Chief Operating Officer and a Senior Vice President at Trillium Health, and Professor in the Departments of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

Dr. Mendoza joined Trillium in January of 2025 with the goals of implementing Trillium Health’s strategic framework, collaborating with leadership to increase access to programs and services, promoting operational excellence, and managing resources to help the organization achieve its goals as a Federally Qualified Health Center.

Broadly, Dr. Mendoza aims to improve population health through collaboration between primary care practice, public health, and the broader community. As an active primary care physician, Dr. Mendoza focuses on evidence-based care, chronic illness prevention and management, and the integration of behavioral health in primary care. As a leader in public health, Dr. Mendoza seeks to engage the broader community in addressing the root causes of health inequity, notably racism and poverty. As a health systems expert, Dr. Mendoza works to develop sustainable ways to improve health and health care quality while optimizing the broader system of health and health care reimbursement.

Dr. Mendoza most recently served as the 9th Commissioner of Public Health for Monroe County, NY where he oversaw the Monroe County Health Department, its 283 employees and its $80+ million budget. In this capacity, he supervised the development, implementation, and evaluation of a diverse array of health promotion and disease preparedness efforts

serving the residents of Monroe County, NY. During his eight-year tenure in this role, Dr. Mendoza led the county response to the opioid overdose crisis, he advocated for health equity and expanding the public health workforce, and he led the county response to various communicable disease outbreaks including ZIKA, and measles. Most notably, Dr. Mendoza was a key leader in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic for the Monroe Country region.

As a board-certified family physician and educator, Dr. Mendoza has worked as a primary care physician for over 20 years, currently seeing pediatric and adult patients at Highland Family Medicine as well as on the inpatient units at Highland Hospital. He joined the faculty at the University of Rochester in 2009 and was appointed to serve as Medical Director at Highland Family Medicine, overseeing one of the largest family medicine residency teaching practices in the country. In the following seven years, Dr. Mendoza led the practice to become recognized as a local and national innovator in team-based care and interprofessional practice and education. He is currently co-investigator on several national and local grants aimed at reducing disparities in oral health. He was named "Teacher of the Year" by the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians and has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. He has given hundreds of national and local presentations and media interviews. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society.

As a trusted leader, Dr. Mendoza has held board and committee roles in the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, the New York State Association of County Health Officials, and the New York Health Foundation. Closer to home, Dr. Mendoza is a member of the Board of Directors of Willow Domestic Violence Center of Rochester where he served as Chair of the Board during the COVID pandemic. He is also a member Rochester Hearing and Speech Center Board of Directors, and the Board of the newly combined Common Ground Health 

and the Greater Rochester Regional Health Information Organization. 

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Mendoza received his undergraduate and medical degrees from The University of Chicago. He received his Masters Degree in Public Health from The University of Illinois - Chicago, and he obtained his MastersDegree in Business Administration from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester. He completed his residency training in Family and Community Medicine at the University of California - San Francisco and served an additional year as Chief Resident. He completed a Fellowship Program in Resident Teaching at UCSF and the Certificate

Program in Biomedical Informatics at the Oregon Health and Science University. In his spare time, Dr. Mendoza enjoys spending time with his kids and 2 goldendoodles, cooking, photography, and DJing (mostly 80s and 90s music).

@DrMikeMendoza (LinkedIn, twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram)