Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) trustee Regina Benjamin, M.D., M.B.A., and Foundation grantees, Diane Meier, M.D., and Peter Pronovost, M.D., were among 25 selected for the prestigious 2008 MacArthur Fellowship.  The 2008 Fellows were formally announced this week, all chosen for their "creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future." Each fellow will receive $500,000 in no-strings-attached support over the next five years.

Selected for her commitment to the most vulnerable, high-poverty communities in the Gulf Coast region,  Regina Benjamin, is founder and CEO of Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic in Alabama. As a rural family physician, Benjamin devotes her time to her patients, many of whom are isolated and immobile. She focuses on prevention and community-based interventions to prevent the burden of disease within her diverse patient population. She works tirelessly to make sure that all members of her community receive the high quality care they deserve. Benjamin also serves as the associate dean for Rural Health at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine. She has been a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Board of Trustees since January 2008.

Diane Meier, a leading advocate for the advancement of palliative care, loves being able to connect with patients at "real moments of truth." Meier is a geriatric physician at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and she views palliative care as rekindling the originating impulses of the healing profession. Meier spends her time focusing on patients' physical and psychological distress in both early and advanced stages of serious illness. Meier established the Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at Mount Sinai, a model program that assists patients and families in navigating the complexities of illness. Meier also serves as the director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care, a national initiative created by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to provide hospitals and other healthcare settings with tools and technical assistance to develop hospital-based palliative care programs.

Critical Care physician Peter Pronovost, M.D., is a member of two Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative (INQRI) teams. INQRI is a a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Provonost was hailed for devising "life-saving clinical practices that are dramatically improving patient safety in hospitals across the United States."  He is a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and director of the Quality and Safety Research Group at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

After a lengthy nomination process, an anonymous 12-member selection committee makes recommendations to the MacArthur Foundation's board of directors to determine who will be bestowed the honor of the MacArthur Fellowship.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change.  For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.