Health Policy Fellows Program Holds Orientation
The 2010–2011 cohort of Health Policy Fellows completed a remarkable orientation, including sessions with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius; the Assistant Secretary for Health, Howard K. Koh, M.D., M.P.H.; the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg, M.D.; and Ian Morrison, author and futurist from California. The Health Policy Fellows are now immersed in their work assignments in Congress and the administration. See where the 2010–2011 fellows are placed.

Read More Programs’ Progress »

• Clinical Scholars Work with RWJF Summer Medical and Dental Education Program
• Health & Society Scholars Program Visits National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
• Health & Society Scholars Program Welcomes New Cohort
• Health Policy Fellows Program Selects 2011–2012 Cohort
• New Connections Co-Sponsors Forum
• New Connections Holds Fifth Annual Symposium

Clinical Scholars Work with RWJF Summer Medical and Dental Education Program
The Clinical Scholars UCLA and Yale programs are working with the RWJF Summer Medical and Dental Education Program (SMDEP) at their universities to provide a workshop for the SMDEP participants. As a physician pipeline program, the SMDEP is a great way to inform students of the opportunity to become Clinical Scholars. The workshops also offer a way for young scholars to connect with potential mentors. Other Clinical Scholars program sites and alumni are looking at ways to support SMDEP.

Health & Society Scholars Program Visits National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars visited the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) as part of their annual meeting activities. The annual meeting was held May 3–6 in Bethesda, Md.

Three Health & Society Scholars alumni presented their research during the visit to the NIMHD:

• Michelle Frisco, Ph.D., M.A., (’03) who discussed how early adult obesity influences childbearing among adult women;
• Gina Lovasi, Ph.D., M.P.H., (’06) who presented research suggesting that the benefits of walking are most consistently found among advantaged urban populations living in areas that are safe and possess pleasing aesthetic characteristics; and
• Wizdom Powell Hammond, Ph.D., M.P.H., (’05) who discussed research findings suggesting that mistrust of the health care system discourages black men from accessing health care, contributing to greater mortality among black men.

Health & Society Scholars Program Welcomes New Cohort
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program is pleased to announce the selection of new scholars who will engage in an intensive, two-year research program. The goals of the program are to better understand and act on the social determinants of health that can reduce population health disparities and encourage better health outcomes. Starting this August, Health & Society Scholars for 2011–2013 (cohort 9) will serve in one of six nationally prominent universities: Columbia University; Harvard University; the University of California, San Francisco/Berkeley; the University of Michigan; the University of Pennsylvania; and the University of Wisconsin.

The Health & Society Scholars program 2011–2013 participants are:

• Ryan K. Masters, Ph.D.
• Yi-Ching Ong, Ph.D.
• Esther M. Friedman, Ph.D.
• Jennifer Karas Montez, Ph.D.
• Meredith Barrett, Ph.D.
• Olivier Humblet, Ph.D.
• Natalie D. Crawford, Ph.D.
• Corina Graif, Ph.D.
• Danya Keene, Ph.D.
• Van Tran, Ph.D.
• Thomas Fuller-Rowell, Ph.D.
• Jason Houle, Ph.D.

Health Policy Fellows Program Selects 2011–2012 Cohort
Five exceptional health leaders with a range of experience and expertise from dentistry to nursing have been selected as this year’s Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health Policy Fellows. After a three-month orientation, the fellows will utilize their wide range of academic, public health, clinical and community-based experience to provide health policy leadership on Capitol Hill. This year’s fellows include:

• Nancy Dunlap, M.D., Ph.D., professor and vice chair for clinical affairs in the department of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dunlap works to improve health care quality and outcomes through more efficient patient care delivery processes and information technology.
• Liana Orsolini-Hain, Ph.D., R.N., a tenured nursing instructor at the City College of San Francisco. Orsolini-Hain served on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on the Initiative on the Future of Nursing, which produced recommendations for an action-oriented blueprint for the future of nursing. She is working on implementation of the recommendations as part of the the California regional action coalition leadership team for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Future of Nursing Campaign for Action.
• Arun Patel, M.D., J.D., a health care attorney with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. He advises large health care systems on federal and state self-referral and anti-kickback laws, antitrust, privacy and nonprofit governance issues.
• Carole Pratt, D.D.S., a general practice dentist who has practiced dentistry in rural southwest Virginia for 32 years. She has served four terms as chair of Virginia’s Board of Health and has acted as vice chair of the Department of Medical Assistance Services.
• David Sklar, M.D., associate dean for graduate medical education at the University of New Mexico Health Science Center and professor of emergency medicine, University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

New Connections Co-Sponsors Forum
The New Connections program co-sponsored an Interdisciplinary Forum on Community Health and Development with the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois. The March 10, 2011, event included discussion topics such as mental health, criminal justice, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, social planning and community infrastructure, community-based approaches to addressing childhood obesity, positive parenting, and public housing.

New Connections Holds Fifth Annual Symposium
New Connections held its Fifth Annual Symposium June 8–10, 2011, at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J. The symposium aimed to increase the visibility and enhance the skill sets of New Connections grantees and potential applicants. Applicants to New Connections are early- to mid-career researchers from underrepresented communities.