The Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University today announced receiving a $4.1 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The funding supports the innovative Health Policy Research Scholars Program, which assists doctoral students from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in doctoral programs and policy development due to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other factors.
“We need far greater diversity in future generations of researchers and policymakers. With more voices in the conversation, policies and solutions can be more inclusive and relevant to a broader range of communities,” said Thomas LaVeist, PhD, chair of the Milken Institute School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management. He initially established the Health Policy Research Scholars Program in 2016 with support from RWJF.
“The scholars who participate in the program gain access to the tools, knowledge, and diversity of peers, faculty, mentors, and policy experts needed to accelerate and distinguish their research and translate their research into health policy,” explains Harolyn M.E. Belcher, MD, MHS, a professor of pediatrics with joint appointments in the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public health who also directs the Center for Diversity in Public Health Leadership Training at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and serves as the co-director of the Health Policy Research Scholars Program.
The program, which was initiated while LaVeist was at Johns Hopkins, supports doctoral students with a diverse array of backgrounds at institutions throughout the U.S. who are working in a broad range of disciplines that have the potential to impact health and well-being. Biochemists, economists, engineers, geographers, neuroscientists and scholars of religion and social welfare are included in the current group of scholars supported by the program. Students from disciplines that are more conventionally linked to public health and health policy, such as epidemiology, nutrition and nursing, are also supported by the program.
Find out more about the Health Policy Research Scholars Program here