One of the earliest initiatives of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, founded in 1970, was investment in programs to develop leaders in health care.  So it followed that in February of 1974, the first group of six Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellows were selected and arrived in Washington DC that September. Under the auspices of the then brand new Institute of Medicine, founded in 1972 as a branch of the National Academy of Science, these early fellows heralded the formation of a longstanding collaboration between the Foundation, the Institute of Medicine, the American Political Science Association, and the nation’s preeminent health policy leaders.  That partnership has resulted in the most prestigious health policy fellowship in the country.

1974-1975 Class of Fellows

When it was created, the program had two explicit goals: (1) “to extend the horizons of health professional schools in the United States;” and (2) “to improve the capabilities of their faculty members to study health policy and assume appropriate leadership roles in health activities at all levels.”  Originally intended to forge a mutually beneficial link between academic health centers and government, the program targeted promising faculty from academic health centers, brought them to Washington DC for a year, provided a two month orientation that included site visits to every health-related federal agency along with seminars on a wide range of health policy topics, culminating in work assignments in the US House of Representatives, the Senate and/or the Administration.

Over the decades the program’s focus has evolved to reach beyond the academic health center and include behavioral and social scientists as well as leaders in community health care organizations.  The orientation has expanded from two to three and a half months and now includes site visits to at least two states, leadership coaching, expanded networking opportunities with other fellowship and scholar programs, and media training.  While individual leadership development and subsequent enrichment of the institutions, organizations and communities to which the fellows return are still hallmarks of this unique program, Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellows are making an even greater contribution during their work assignments through an option to remain through the end of the legislative term.  More than ever, fellows make a difference in health policy.  To quote Senator Ted Kennedy, “Fellows provide a real service…They bring fresh ideas and needed skills to all aspects of health policy.”