An ongoing program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program (AMFDP) seeks to increase the number of faculty from historically disadvantaged backgrounds who can achieve senior rank in academic medicine and who will encourage and foster the development of succeeding classes of such physicians.

The program defines the term "historically disadvantaged" to mean challenges facing individuals because of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or other similar factors.

Four-year postdoctoral research awards are offered to historically disadvantaged physicians who are committed to:

• Excelling in biomedical research, clinical investigation or health services research.
• Developing careers in academic medicine.
• Improving the health of underserved populations.
• Furthering the understanding and elimination of health disparities.

Key Results
The program selected its first cohort of eight disadvantaged physicians committed to careers in biomedical research in 1983. Since then, the scope of the program has grown to include those in clinical investigation and health services research, and the number of awards has increased to up to 12 per year.

• By February 2008, 181 scholars had completed all four years of the program. See Appendix 1 for information on scholars from 1983 to 2007 and their current positions.
• Of these, more than 80 percent are still in academic medicine, including 35 professors, 53 associate professors and 62 assistant professors.
• Many have gone on to win awards and serve in a variety of leadership capacities, see Results of the Program.
• Five former scholars now serve on the program's national advisory committee.

RWJF's Original Program
The Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program is the result of RWJF's years of experience with its Minority Medical Faculty Development Program (MMFDP), which strove to increase the number of underrepresented minorities on medical faculties.

RWJF sought to address both the long-standing shortage of minority representation in U.S. medical schools and the persistent gap in the areas of health status and access to care among the nation's minority populations through MMFDP.

The program was renamed in 2003 in honor of Harold Amos, Ph.D., who was the first African American to chair a medical school department, now the Department of Microbiology and Medical Genetics, of the Harvard Medical School.

He was one of the founders of the Minority Medical Faculty Development Program in 1983, serving first on its national advisory committee and then as the national program director between 1989 and 1993. When the program was renamed, its focus was broadened from minority faculty in groups underrepresented in medicine to medical faculty from historically disadvantage backgrounds (ethnic, financial or educational).

Funding
RWJF has invested a total of $110.2 million in the program over 24 years.