Health Policy Alumni Program

The RWJF Center for Health Policy at MMC Health Policy Alumni Program allows graduates of the Health Policy Scholars Program and the Health Policy Fellows Program to continue to work with the center on policy initiatives to improve the health and healthcare of minority and underserved communities.  The alumni program also provides opportunities for career development and advancement in health policy.

• Alumni will be encouraged to join the RWJF Alumni Network, a place to connect and collaborate with the more than 2,300 distinguished professionals who have participated in and graduated from the foundation’s scholars, fellows and leadership programs since the 1970s.
  
  
• Alumni will be invited each fall to the MMC-Vanderbilt Partnership Reception in Nashville, Tennessee.
  
  
• Alumni will be encouraged to convene each spring at the Annual Health Policy Alumni Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
  
  
• Select alumni will be encouraged to convene each year at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (locale changes each year) in order to engage in health policy and social science research initiatives with current scholars and fellows of the MMC-RWJF CHP Student Chapter of AcademyHealth.
  
  
• Alumni will be able to publish blogs and articles on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry websites.
  
  
• Alumni will receive a RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry newsletter that details current issues in health care and health policy and other pertinent information.

Career Development

Select alumni will have some access to a variety of professional development opportunities.

• Media Training Institute - The University of New Mexico RWJF Center for Health Policy Institute provides information and tools necessary to effectively market research and policy findings to various forms of media including print, radio, and television.  This institute meets every other year in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
  
  
• Finding Answers Annual Grantee Conference - Finding Answers: Disparities Research for Change is a national program of RWJF that administers a grants program that discovers and evaluates practical and replicable solutions for racial health disparities; conducts reviews of existing health care intervention literature; and, provides health care systems with evidence-based best practices, practical tools and resources to address racial and ethnic inequities within their own organizations. This conference meets annually at the University of Chicago.
  
  
• Career Development Seminar Series - The RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry’s Health Policy Professional Development Program is an ongoing career development seminar series that covers topics ranging from creating effective curriculum vitae to maximizing the interview.

Career Advancement

Alumni will be prepared to apply to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s many exemplary national programs including:

• RWJF New Connections Program - This program offers access to research funding opportunities as well as career development and mentoring activities to underrepresented groups.  The New Connections Symposium meets annually in Princeton, New Jersey.
  
  
• RWJF Clinical Scholars Program - This program is for alumni who have earned an M.D. and have completed their residency.  Clinical Scholars earn a Master’s Degree from one of the following four institutions: University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Michigan; the University of Pennsylvania; and Yale University.
  
  
•  RWJF Health and Society Scholars Program - This program is for alumni who have earned Ph.D.s in one of a variety of fields including public policy and behavioral sciences.  Scholars participate in an intensive two-year research program at one of the following six institutions: Columbia University, Harvard University, University of California-Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Wisconsin.
  
  
• RWJF Scholars in Health Policy Research Program - This program is for alumni who have earned Ph.D.s in economics, political science, and sociology.  Scholars spend two years advancing their involvement in health policy research at one of three nationally prominent universities: Harvard University, the University of California at Berkeley (in collaboration with the University of California at San Francisco), and the University of Michigan.

Research Skill Development

Select alumni will have some access to a variety of research skill and mentorship opportunities.

• Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research Summer Program- ICPSR is internationally recognized as the preeminent forum for basic and advanced training in the quantitative methodologies and technologies of social science research at the University of Michigan.
  
  
• Mentorship and guidance will be provided by the RWJF Center for Health Policy Scholars-in-Residence Visiting Professors, the National Scholars, and the National Advisory Board.
  
  
• National Poverty Center Research Summer Workshops-These summer workshops are a collaborative effort between the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and the RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry.  The workshops provide education and training in research methods specifically related to the poor and underserved.