The Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program provides postdoctoral training for young physicians interested in research and leadership careers in health policy and academic medicine. Clinical Scholars learn to conduct innovative research and work with communities, organizations, practitioners and policy-makers on issues important to the health and well-being of all Americans. Originally authorized by the Board of Trustees in 1972, it is the oldest national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

Key Results
As of December 2008, the program had produced 1,081 scholars, 12 were enrolled in the 2006–08 cohort, 27 in the 2007–09 and 29 in the 2008–10 cohort. The current cohorts are listed on the program's Web site. Graduates have become:

• Directors of major federal, state and local health agencies and departments (including David Satcher, M.D., appointed U.S. Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health in 1998; Joe Thompson, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Arkansas Center for Health Improvement; and David Carlisle, M.D., Ph.D. Director, California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development).
• Hospital CEOs (including Gary Gottlieb, M.D., M.B.A., President and CEO, Brigham and Women's Hospital).
• Leaders in the fields of health services research and health economics (including Raynard Kington, M.D., Ph.D., acting director, National Institutes of Health, and Robert Dittus, M.D., M.P.H., director at the Center for Health Services Research, Vanderbilt University).
• Foundation executives (including RWJF president Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., and Mark Smith, M.D., M.B.A., President, California HealthCare Foundation).

Some 179 graduates are full professors, 19 are department chairs, over 100 are vice chairs and division chiefs, 5 are public health and medical school deans; and 40 are members of the Institute of Medicine.

Program Goals and Implementation
The program aims to produce scholarly physician leaders with the understanding and skills necessary to have a major influence on health care policy, and to help create and build the field of health services research and community-based participatory research.

The core curriculum introduces Scholars to basic nonbiological disciplines and methods used in health care research and community-based participatory research along with other courses that reflect each institution's strengths and faculty interests.

In 2002, the program was redesigned and four schools began training Clinical Scholars, a decrease from seven schools in the earlier iteration:

• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Medicine
• University of Michigan Medical School
• University of Pennsylvania Health System
• Yale University School of Medicine.

See the program Web site for more information on the universities' programs.

Program Leadership
Both the Clinical Scholars Program and the new Career Development Award Program are now under the direction of Desmond K. Runyan, M.D., Dr.P.H., of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. For more details on the redesigned Clinical Scholars Program, see Program Redesign.

Funding
RWJF's Board of Trustees has authorized more than $203.1 million to support the program since 1972. The current authorization runs through June 2011.