Michelle L. Amato

Michelle L. Amato serves Pitt Health Sciences as associate vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and partnerships. Ms. Amato manages strategy development, planning, and implementation for projects of defined strategic importance to Pitt Health Sciences and is also responsible for the overall management and integration of initiatives to deliver on key performance goals.

Ms. Amato is a distinguished Pitt veteran with nearly 30 years’ experience in high-level leadership roles across the University. She joined Pitt Health Sciences in 2024 directly from her role as special assistant to the senior vice chancellor (SVC) in the Office of University Relations, where she served as a thought partner and counsellor to the SVC as well as to leadership across the institution. She also provided specific support to University Communications and Marketing (UCM), helping to lead and manage the teams responsible for news content, media relations, and issues management. For several years prior, Michelle helped to build the Office of Research as chief of staff for the senior vice chancellor for research (SVCR). In that role, she was also responsible for supporting the SVCR with oversight of the Offices of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Research Computing, Research Protections, and Sponsored Programs. Ms. Amato served for five years as assistant provost, and for a decade as chief of staff and senior assistant dean in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.

Before joining the University of Pittsburgh, Ms. Amato worked in corporate and university positions, including as director of corporate communications for a top computer-animation firm, a biomedical institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and a software company.