2024 Health Policy Research Scholars (HPRS) Program – US

HPRS is designed for students from a variety of fields/disciplines (e.g., urban planning; political science; economics; anthropology; education; social work; sociology; engineering; geography; lab/bench sciences) who are committed to ensuring their research is aligned with the health needs of communities. The program is focused on doctoral students who want to improve health, wellbeing, and equity; challenge longstanding, entrenched systems; exhibit new ways of working; collaborate across disciplines and sectors; and bolster their leadership skills. 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—as well as mentorship, career and leadership coaching—HPRS will develop a new community of research leaders who will build a Culture of Health in their disciplines and communities. Up to 40 scholars will be selected for the 2024 cohort.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recognizes that the increasing diversity in the country’s population can best be served when research and researchers also reflect that diversity. The world needs diverse perspectives as the nation identifies key health policy questions and evaluates the impact of proposed policy solutions. The disproportionate burden of poor health (and the disproportionate exposure to environmental and socioeconomic conditions that lead to poor health) is borne by individuals and communities marginalized because of their race or ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or other factors. That is why increasing the number of doctoral students who can bring their identity or lived experiences to inform their research and practice is a focus of this program.

HPRS builds on RWJF’s vision of leadership, viewing leadership as a dynamic, transformative, relational process of change aimed at repairing damage from historical and structural injustices and oppression. Active, ongoing collaboration facilitates this process that is rooted in shared power to design and implement equitable policies. Power is not relegated to a title, role, or position, but distributed among groups of people while transcending social boundaries. Effective leadership in the field of health policy research requires individual and collaborative tasks spanning both private and public sectors within society, as well as a willingness to challenge pervasive and systemic issues to co-design new solutions. Partnerships are developed and sustained while authentically engaging through both different and shared values. HPRS prepares scholars to lead through their disciplines from a framework of health equity, individually and collaboratively, and in alignment with their unique strengths and values.

Program Goals

After completing the HPRS program, the scholar should:

• Have extensive knowledge of a Culture of Health, health equity, health policy, leadership, systems change, and communication.
• Have the capacity to exercise individual and collective leadership.
• Be able to apply research and interdisciplinary collaboration skills to engage multiple sectors (e.g., policy, education, business, communities, institutions, and agencies) to effectively translate research findings that will inform and influence policy to advance a Culture of Health.
• Use strategies to leverage diverse interdisciplinary networks of researchers.
• Establish meaningful and sustained relationships and collaborations with HPRS and other RWJF leadership programs and program participants.
• Contribute to research and a national dialogue on the policy changes necessary for a Culture of Health, including the dismantling of structural racism.

Award Details

Grant funds from RWJF will include:

• Award funds: $30,000 per year for up to four years or until recipient completes their doctoral program (whichever is sooner).
• Administrative fee: Home institutions receive an administrative fee of $1,000 per year ($4,000 in total) to the grant amount to cover the administrative costs of managing the award.
• Payment of grant funds: Grant funds are paid to the home institution, which distributes the funds to the individual scholar.
• Scholars will also be eligible for competitive dissertation grants of up to $10,000, as well as competitive conference and research dissemination grants, awarded by the national program center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Who is eligible for the health policy research scholars program?

• Applicants must be starting full-time, second-year doctoral studies in fall 2024 at a degree-granting institution based in the United States or its territories. Applicants must remain full time while enrolled in HPRS;
• Applicants must have at least three academic years remaining in their doctoral program and not expect to graduate before spring/summer 2027;
• Applicants must be from historically marginalized backgrounds and be able to describe how their background, identity, or lived experiences have positioned them to contribute to the goals of the program.
• Applicants cannot be a recipient of a national fellowship program that prohibits participation in additional programs such as HPRS. Applicants should make sure to check the policies of other fellowships;
• Applicants must be at least 21 years old as of September 1, 2024;
• Federal, state, tribal, and local government employees are eligible to apply unless they are considered government official under Section 4946 of the Internal Revenue Code;
• Applicants must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or individuals granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Status or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the time of application. As federal policy or laws change, they may need to consider adjustments in eligibility and grant terms;
• Individual candidates for receipt of award funds cannot be related by blood or marriage to any Officer, Manager, or Trustee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, or be a descendant of its founder, Robert Wood Johnson.

For more information, visit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.