Health Policy Research Scholars

Health Policy Research Scholars (HPRS) is a four-year national leadership development program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

An aerial view of people sitting around a table during a meeting. outside.

HPRS provides full-time doctoral students with funding and training to apply their research to advance health and equity.

This unique program supports students from a wide range of non-clinical research-focused disciplines in which policy is a key lever for change. Scholars represent disciplines as diverse as economics, psychology, architecture, transportation, social welfare, environmental health, and more.

HPRS prepares scholars to lead, individually and collaboratively, through their disciplines from a framework of health equity, and in alignment with their unique strengths, values, and lived experiences. By providing training in health policy, how to think strategically, and how to craft an actionable research question that can inform solutions to advance health equity, HPRS is develop a new community of research leaders equipped to create a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

RWJF welcomed its ninth and final HPRS cohort in September 2025.  

 

A woman in a suit looking out an office window.

Leadership for Better Health: Health Leadership Development

We work to prepare nationwide communities for leadership roles in policy and practice in order to create healthier places to live, learn, work, and play.

Health Leadership Development