Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows, alumni and grantees. Some recent examples:

RWJF Clinical Scholar Alan Teo, MD, MS, is the lead author of a study that finds the quality of a person’s social relationships influences the person's risk of major depression, regardless of how frequently their social interactions take place. “The magnitude of these results is similar to the well-established relationship between biological risk factors and cardiovascular disease,” Teo told Health Canal. “What that means is that if we can teach people how to improve the quality of their relationships, we may be able to prevent or reduce the devastating effects of clinical depression.”

RWJF recently announced the selection of 30 primary care practices as exemplary models of workforce innovation. The practices will serve as the basis for a new project: The Primary Care Team: Learning from Effective Ambulatory Practices (LEAP). Among them is CareSouth Carolina, the Hartsville Messenger reports. Learn more about the LEAP project and the practices selected for the program.

Low-income Oregonians who received access to Medicaid over the past two years used more health care services, and had higher rates of diabetes detection and management, lower rates of depression, and reduced financial strain than those without access to Medicaid, according to a study co-authored by RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research recipient Amy N. Finkelstein, PhD, MPhil. The study found no significant effect, however, on the diagnosis or treatment rates of hypertension or high cholesterol levels.  Among the outlets to report on the findings: Forbes, the New York Times, the Washington Post Wonk blog, Health Day, and the Boston Globe Health Stew blog. Read more about Finkelstein’s research on the Oregon Medicaid system.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

In a piece about the growing need for advanced nursing education, Nurse.com interviewed a group of nurse leaders working to fulfill a recommendation from the Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, which calls for doubling the number of doctorate-level nurses by 2020. Among those quoted: Christine Kovner, RN, PhD, FAAN, co-principal of RWJF’s RN Work Project; RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows alumna Jane Kirschling, RN, DNS, FAAN; and Susan Bakewell-Sachs, RN, PhD, PNP-BC, program director for the New Jersey Nursing Initiative, a program of RWJF and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Nurse.com and Infection Control Today report on an RWJF-supported study that finds hospitals that have higher percentages of nurses with baccalaureate degrees have lower rates of postsurgical mortality. The study, published in the March issue of Health Affairs, stems from the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action.  Read more about the study.

“I recently traveled to Singapore, where I met with other doctors and told about being the emergency department (ED) doctor at the University of Colorado Hospital the morning of the Aurora theater shootings on July 20, 2012,” RWJF Clinical Scholars alumna Comilla Sasson, MD, MS, FACEP, writes in an op-ed for the Denver Post. “One thing dawned on me as I spoke: I had seen more gunshot wound victims in that one night than these doctors will see in their entire careers.” Read a post Sasson wrote for the RWJF Human Capital Blog about the Aurora theater shootings, and learn more about her experience talking to the national news media afterward.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

Health Canal reports on a study led by RWJF Scholars in Health Policy Research alumna Joanna Kempner, PhD, that examines the social stigma surrounding chronic migraine sufferers. “The enduring image of the typical migraine patient is a white, middle-class woman who just isn’t good at handling stress,” Kempner said. “She is seen as neurotic and weak, a stigma that has been hard to change.”

RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar alumna Ruth Taylor-Piliae, PhD, RN, FAHA, was featured in MyHealthNewsDaily, an online health care news digest, for her study suggesting Tai Chi can reduce the number of falls in adults who have survived a stroke. Taylor-Piliae, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Nursing in Tucson, surveyed 89 stroke survivors and found that practicing Tai Chi helps alleviate balance problems that afflict many survivors. Read more about her work.

Medpage Today reports on research co-authored by William K. Hallman, PhD, director of the Rutgers University Food Policy Institute and recipient of an RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research, about how to motivate consumers to look for and discard recalled food products. Hallman participated in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meeting this week on breaking through food recall “message fatigue” [free subscription].

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

The Chronicle of Philanthropy named RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, one of the “Five from the Nonprofit World Who Will Influence Public Policy in 2013.” She was also featured in a profile in the Newark, New Jersey, Star-Ledger, as part of a series profiling “some of the people who make the Garden State special.”

RWJF Senior Communications Officer Linda Wright Moore wrote a piece for Ebony.com about the work of Debbie Chatman Bryant and Ifeanyi Anne Nwabukwu, who were honored last year as RWJF Community Health Leaders for their work to fight cancer. Bryant cares for the underserved in the Low Country of South Carolina, and Nwabukwu helps African immigrant women in the Washington, D.C. area.

John R. Lumpkin, MD, MPH, senior vice president and director of the Health Care Group at RWJF, and Susan Bakewell-Sachs, PhD, RN, program director of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) and interim provost of the College of New Jersey, published a guest editorial in the Newark Star Ledger about NJNI’s work to solve the state’s nurse faculty shortage. Since its launch in 2009, NJNI has supported 61 New Jersey Nursing Scholars, providing tuition and other support while they pursue master’s or doctoral degrees that qualify them for faculty positions. NJNI is a program of RWJF and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

“I have a lot of experience when patients of mine come and say, ‘I was taking a green pill and now it’s pink. What's going on?’” Aaron Kesselheim, MD, JD, MPH, an RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research recipient, told Reuters. Kesselheim’s new research finds that patients are less likely to take their medication if the color changes, which often happens when they switch from a brand-name to a generic drug. The findings were also covered by the New York Times Well blog, CBS News, and Health Canal, among others. Read more about Kesselheim’s work here and here.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

The New York Times spoke with several RWJF scholars for a story about how hospitals are taking steps to avoid financial penalties from Medicare for having too many patients readmitted soon after discharge. “Just blaming the patients or saying ‘it’s destiny’ or ‘we can’t do any better’ is a premature conclusion and is likely to be wrong… I’ve got to believe we can do much, much better,” RWJF Clinical Scholars Yale site director Harlan Krumholz, MD, said. Clinical Scholars alumnus Eric Coleman, MD, MPH, and RWJF Physician Faculty Scholars alumnus Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, were also interviewed for the story.

Two other Clinical Scholars were featured in the New York Times. Alumna Leora Horwitz, MD, MHS, wrote an op-ed about the risks and benefits of electronic medical records, and RWJF/U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Scholar Jason Lott, MD, MSHP, published a letter to the editor about the cost of robotic surgery and single-incision operations.

A program headed by RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, CRNP, is helping elderly Baltimore residents improve the safety and living standards of their homes so they can “age in place” instead of having to move to nursing homes, the Baltimore Sun reports. In addition to handyman services like installing ramps and handrails, participants are paired with occupational therapists and nurses who teach them medication management and other skills.

The New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) is making headway in recruiting, educating, and retaining nurse faculty in the state, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Leaders in health, business and academics testified at a state Senate committee hearing last week about NJNI’s progress in addressing the nurse faculty shortage. Read more about the hearing.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

NJ Spotlight reports on a state Senate committee hearing in New Jersey this week at which legislators heard from health, business and academic leaders about how the New Jersey Nursing Initiative has made progress in addressing the state’s staggering 10.5 percent nursing faculty vacancy rate. Among those testifying was John Lumpkin, RWJF senior vice president and director of the Health Care Group. Read more about the hearing.

A study by RWJF Health & Society Scholars alumnus Haslyn Hunte, PhD, MPH, and colleagues find that Blacks who feel discriminated against or mistreated are more likely to abuse alcohol and illegal drugs, Medical XPress reports.

Kelly Doran, MD, an RWJF/U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Scholar, wrote a blog for the Huffington Post about why “Hospitals Should Never Discharge Homeless Patients to the Streets.” Hospital care teams often discharge patients “to home” without asking or thinking about their housing situations, perpetuating their cycle of homelessness by sending them back to the streets instead of supportive housing, she writes. Fierce Healthcare also reported on Doran’s post.

Brendan Nyhan, PhD, an alumnus of the RWJF Scholars in Health Policy Research program, gave comments to the Daily Beast about political reporting and predicting election results.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

A study by Deidra Crews, MD, ScM, FASN, an alumna of the RWJF Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program, finds that poor nutrition is strongly associated with kidney disease in low-income individuals. Health Day, Science Daily and Medical XPress are among the outlets to report on the findings.

WHYY interviewed RWJF Health & Society Scholars alumna Carolyn Cannuscio, ScD, ScM, about the “built environment” and its impact on health, as well as her personal connection to the field.

The Afro-American Newspapers wrote about the Tour for Diversity in Medicine, run in part by RWJF Summer Medical and Dental Education Program alumnus Alden Landry, MD, MPH. The Tour travels with mentors to college campuses around the country to promote health professions to underrepresented students. Read more about the Tour for Diversity here and here.

Julie Fairman, PhD, FAAN, RN, gave comments to Nurse.com for an article on the history of the nursing profession. Fairman says that nursing education evolved “very haphazardly.” She is the recipient of an RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research.

Nurse.com also spoke with RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows alumnae Jane Kirschling, DNS, RN, FAAN, and Susan Bakewell-Sachs, RN, PhD, PNP-BC, about initiatives across the country to recruit and retain nurse faculty. Bakewell-Sachs is also program director of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative, a program of RWJF and the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the Foundation’s 40th anniversary celebration last week, as well as some of its most notable accomplishments during its first four decades. Learn more about RWJF’s anniversary, and about the “Force Multipliers” it is saluting this year.  The Foundation also announced ten winners of its first-ever RWJF Young Leader awards last week.

RWJF Physician Faculty Scholar Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, gave comments to Reuters about a study that finds babies are less likely to get eczema if their mothers take probiotics during pregnancy. Gupta, who was not involved in the research, calls the findings “fascinating.” Read a post Gupta wrote for the RWJF Human Capital Blog about her professional and personal experience with children’s food allergies.

Kristy Nichols, MS, an RWJF Community Health Leader, spoke to the Associated Press about cuts to Louisiana State University’s (LSU) hospital health care system, and proposed changes to the state’s graduate medical education training program.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

A study led by RWJF Nurse Faculty Scholar Matthew McHugh, PhD, JD, MPH, RN, CRNP, finds that nurses are extremely accurate and reliable assessors of the quality of care in the hospitals in which they work. In the study, nurses’ reports of excellent quality care corresponded with higher levels of patient satisfaction, better scores for processes of care, and better results for patients in the hospital with regard to mortality and failure to rescue. Becker’s Hospital Review and Advance for Nurses are among the outlets to report on the findings. Read more about the study.

New Mexico Business Weekly reports that the RWJF Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico has been recognized by the nonprofit Excelencia in Education as one of America’s top programs that is increasing academic opportunities for Latino students.

Jason Farley, PhD, MPH, CRNP, a Nurse Faculty Scholar, spoke to the Baltimore Sun about his research on drug-resistant bacteria and “whether MRSA eradication among people who are HIV positive should focus on the person's entire household, and not just the individual.”

NJ Spotlight reports on the work of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) to help address the state’s nurse and nurse faculty shortage. “The Nursing Initiative’s flagship program, the Faculty Prep Program, comprises 61 nurse scholars (nurses and doctoral-prepared nurses) who have committed to being nurse faculty in New Jersey,” the story reports.

Around the country, print, broadcast and online media outlets are covering the groundbreaking work of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) leaders, scholars, fellows and grantees. Some recent examples:

A story in the New York Times reports on a study, co-authored by RWJF Health & Society Scholars Program Director Lisa Berkman, PhD, and RWJF Investigator Award in Health Policy Research recipient James Jackson, PhD, that finds the life expectancy of the country’s least-educated whites is decreasing. The story also cites research by Health & Society Scholar Jennifer Montez, PhD, which found similar trends for the least-educated Americans.

Christina Roberto, PhD, a Health & Society Scholar, spoke to USA Today about McDonald's posting calorie counts on its menu boards and drive-through menus, a move that could be required of all chain restaurants in the future. “In general, this is a hot topic,” she said. “The industry is concerned about policies that either [deter] customers from coming or hurt their bottom line.”

Health & Society Scholars alumnus Jason Block, MD, was also in the news to discuss fast food calorie counts. MedPage Today reports on research he led that finds many parents underestimate how many calories are in the fast food meals they buy for their school-age children.

The Paramus Post and the News Record report on some of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI) scholars who have completed NJNI’s Faculty Preparation Program. Twenty of the program's Scholars graduated this year with advanced degrees that prepare them to serve as nurse faculty.

Nurse.com reports on the recent retirement of Shirley Chater, RN, PhD, FAAN, who was the national advisory committee chair for the RWJF Executive Nurse Fellows program since its inception in 1998. Learn more about Chater's impressive career here and here.