Seven Organizations Selected to Design New RWJF Health Leadership Programs

Princeton, N.J.—The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has taken another step in its new strategic vision to meet the challenges to improve our nation’s health. Working toward its vision to help build a national Culture of Health that makes it possible for everyone to lead healthier lives, the Foundation has selected seven organizations from a pool of 110 proposals to help design four new health leadership programs.

“After 40 years of investing in health leaders, we are in the process of creating new programs that will redefine health leadership development and greatly increase the number of individuals we support,” said RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey. “The organizations selected for this exciting work must identify new approaches that will connect people across sectors and disciplines, and capitalize on technology to promote networking and mentoring.”  

The Foundation has invested in developing leaders, researchers, and scholars in health and health care practice since its inception in 1972. Recognizing the critical role that leaders play in advancing a Culture of Health, the Foundation is committed to continuing its support of individual health leaders in alignment with the Foundation’s new strategic vision. This led to the exploration of new approaches and the development of four new health leadership programs.

The four new programs are (the following are working titles):

RWJF Interdisciplinary Culture of Health Research Leaders will engage researchers from multiple disciplines, such as clinicians, public health researchers, economists, sociologists, anthropologists, architects and others in and out of the health sector to produce evidence that will drive change toward a Culture of Health.

RWJF Multi-Sector Leaders for Health will develop, harness, and leverage the collective power of individuals (and their networks) already in leadership positions in traditional health and health care-related areas, as well as others engaged in a broad range of community efforts (such as transportation, law, urban planning, education, etc.) that may influence a Culture of Health. 

RWJF (New) Clinical Scholars will develop an interprofessional group of clinicians who have attained a terminal clinical degree, such as nurses, physicians, pharmacists, physical therapists, dentists, psychologists, and others, to expand their understanding of, and influence on, the Culture of Health.

RWJF Diversity in Health Policy Research will support doctoral students from disadvantaged or underrepresented backgrounds and from different disciplines (e.g., social sciences, urban planning, architecture, neuroscience, clinical professions such as nursing, and others) to focus on health issues and policy.

The organizations selected to develop model designs for these programs are:

• Community-Campus Partnerships for Health;
• Continuum LLC;
• Healthy Native Communities Partnership;
• IDEO LP;
• Institute for Alternative Futures;
• University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Fielding School of Public Health and David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; and
• Tides Center, Fiscal Sponsor for Leadership Learning Community.

Design components for the new programs are scheduled to be submitted in December 2014. The Foundation will select combinations of elements from the submitted designs to create each of the four new program initiatives. After the programs are finalized, the Foundation will release a Call for Proposals in early 2015 to invite organizations to apply to be national program offices (NPOs) to manage the programs. The new programs are expected to launch in Fall 2015, with Calls for Applications to invite individual candidates to apply for the first cohort of each of the four new programs. Selected participants will begin their programs in 2016.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve the health and health care of all Americans. We are striving to build a national Culture of Health that will enable all Americans to live longer, healthier lives now and for generations to come. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.