RWJF CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY AT MEHARRY

In February 2009, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) awarded Meharry Medical College a multimillion dollar endowment to establish the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College. Meharry is the nation's largest private historically black academic health center, and RWJF is the largest philanthropy devoted solely to improving the health and health care of all Americans.

The goal of the RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College is to provide leadership in health policy education along with research and reform on national, state, and local levels, while continually supporting Meharry Medical College's historic mission of improving the health and health care of minority and underserved communities.

IN THE NEWS

Center Announces 2013 National Scholars’ Lecture Series

For the third straight year, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College will host the 2013 National Scholars' Current Issues in Health Policy Seminar Series throughout the spring semester. As the signature course for Health Policy Fellows and Scholars, the seminar series familiarizes students with current and substantive key issues in health policy, health services research, and health disparities research with an emphasis in the social science disciplines of economics, sociology, and political science.

Audience members can expect to hear from the nation's most prominent health policy and social science experts, lecturing on provocative health and health policy issues such as federal health care reform and child health policy.

National Scholars scheduled to lecture are: James Blumstein, MA, LLB, Vanderbilt University Professor of Law (January 9); Kavita Patel, M.D., MS, Managing Director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform, Brookings Institution (January 23); Gail C. Christopher, DN, Vice President of Program Strategy, W.K. Kellogg Foundation (February 6); Lisa Simpson, MB, BCh, MPH, FAAP, Chief Executive Officer of AcademyHealth (February 20); Anne C. Beal, M.D., MPH, Chief Operation Officer of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (March 6); Julianne Malveaux, Ph.D., renowned economist, author, and columnist (March 20); Gordon H. DeFriese, Ph.D., Professor of Social Medicine and Epidemiology Emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (April 3); and Paula D. McClain, Ph.D., Dean and Vice Provost of Graduate Education at Duke University (April 17). This year's lineup is sure to be a crowd pleaser, as these National Scholars bring a broad range of ideas from the academic, research, and health policy arenas.

Past National Scholars have included Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD; David Williams, PhD, of Harvard University School of Public Health; and Dora Hughes, MD, MPH, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The lectures are held in the S.S. Kresge Learning Resource Center on Meharry's campus from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with complimentary lunch preceding the lecture. These lectures are free and open to the entire Meharry community and the general public. For a detailed list of 2013 National Scholars,click here.

Summer Institute on Health Policy Draws Students and Faculty Nationwide

The 2012 Summer Institute on Health Policy was presented at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College, May 29-June 22. The program covered four weeks of intensive, accelerated coursework on topics related to health policy and the social sciences. Over 100 students and faculty from nine different universities participated in presentations and discussions on health policy and health disparities.

Sonia Bettez, a doctoral fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico, said the Summer Institute provided her with an enriching experience. "Participants were inspired by the wealth of information and the deep discussions that followed," she said. "We left with new lenses and effective tools to better address and promote health equity for all."

Universities represented included Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee State University, the University of New Mexico, California State University, Johns Hopkins University, Rutgers University, the University of Rochester and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Additionally, fifteen students and faculty from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Project L/EARN at Rutgers University as well as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico joined in via video conference during select course sessions.

Dr. Howard and Dr. LaVeist Featured in The Baltimore Sun and RWJF Human Capital Blog

In a Baltimore Sun commentary published this summer, Daniel L. Howard, Ph.D. and Thomas A. LaVeist, Ph.D. emphasized the importance of finding solutions to health disparities among minority populations in the U.S. and across the Western Hemisphere. The commentary, "An Urgent Task: Reducing Health Disparities," coincided with the International Conference on Health in the African Diaspora (ICHAD 2012) where scholars, researchers, and policymakers met July 5-8 at the Baltimore Renaissance Harborplace.

"The unfortunate truth is that nonwhite populations as a whole live sicker and die younger than their white counterparts. And black populations tend to be among the sickest," the commentary said. "But the racial health divide doesn't end at our shores. Across the Western Hemisphere, black populations suffer from lower birth weights, higher infant mortality rates, higher incidences of chronic disease and earlier mortality among adults."

Additionally, both scholars were featured on the RWJF Human Capital Blog about ICHAD 2012. The blog post shared videos of Dr. Howard and Dr. LaVeist talking about the significance of ICHAD.

To view the Baltimore Sun article, click here.

To view the blog post, click here.