By Deborah Gilbert
News and Information Services
The School of Public Health has received a three-year grant of more than $1.1 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant will support the School’s participation in the foundation’s new Scholars in Health Policy Research Program.
The goal of the program is to “foster the development of a new generation of creative thinkers and problem solvers in health policy,” according to the foundation.
“Health policy and reform are critical issues in the United States today. Costs are spiraling out of control while a sizable portion of the U.S. population is uninsured. Health care delivery systems are complex and often difficult to access. The scholars at the U-M program will address these complex questions among others,” says Catherine G. McLaughlin, professor of health services management and policy and director of the program.
Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley (in collaboration with the University of California, San Francisco), also are participating in the program.
The scholars will be recent Ph.D.s in economics, political science and sociology. “Michigan’s program will take advantage of our eminent faculty and research centers. The University has outstanding schools of public health and medicine and one of the strongest collections of social science departments in the world. We also have a long tradition of interdisciplinary research and training in the social and policy aspects of health,” McLaughlin says.
“The University’s Institute of Public Policy Studies and the Institute for Social Research will provide major research opportunities for the scholars through projects such as the National Health and Retirement Survey, the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, the National Co-Morbidity Survey of Alcohol, Drug and Mental Disorders, and the National Survey of Adolescent and Young Adult Substance Abuse,” she adds.
The program will be housed in the Department of Health Services Management and Policy—a multidisciplinary department that includes faculty from economics, political science, sociology, finance, law, psychology and the management sciences. It will feature a seminar on the U.S. health care system and a topical, multidisciplinary seminar series with faculty from across the University.
Scholars will develop one or two health policy research projects in collaboration with a faculty mentor, and will be able to audit relevant courses and undertake internships at a range of health agencies and organizations in Michigan.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, established in 1972 by the late Robert Wood Johnson, is the nation’s largest health care philanthropy. It ranks among the seven largest private foundations in the United States.
