Alumni Spotlight
Shaping the Solution in Missouri
“In this chaos is real opportunity”
 In a state struggling with uninsurance, racial and ethnic health disparities and limited resources, two RWJ HPF alumni are seizing the opportunity to make a difference. Kristofer Hagglund (’00-’01) and Karen Edison (’99-’00) are the co-directors and co-founders of the Center for Health Policy at the University of Missouri—Columbia.
The Center offers non-partisan research and education with the goal of improving access to quality, affordable health care for all Missourians.
Though Kristofer and Karen weren’t in the same Fellowship class, they worked together on the University of Missouri’s School of Medicine Curriculum Board in the past. Both were nominated for the RWJ Fellowship by the same instructor, Dr. Les Bryant, former Dean of the School of Medicine.
Kristofer and Karen both speak passionately about their work at the Center. “At the risk of appearing grandiose, I am most excited about the potential to improve the health and well-being of thousands of people, especially those in danger of not receiving much-needed health care,” says Kristofer. Karen adds that their hands-on Fellowship experience lends credibility to their work in a state that is closely divided politically. “Because I worked for the Republicans and Kris worked for the Democrats during our Fellowships, we are able to present a bi-partisan, if not non-partisan, approach to the complex health policy issues facing the state of Missouri,” Karen says. “Our non-partisan credibility is vital to our current and future success.”
We caught up with Kristofer and Karen to learn more about their current work at the Center for Health Policy and find out how the RWJ Health Policy Fellowship has affected their careers and lives.
What inspired you to found the Center for Health Policy?
Kristofer Hagglund: We couldn't think of anything more enjoyable than to continue to work in health policy. We especially wanted to be involved in the University of Missouri’s mission. As a land-grant university, MU is dedicated to serving the citizens of Missouri and the nation through teaching, research, and service. The Center engages in all of these functions. It provides a venue for MU's health experts to develop useful products for the citizens and legislators of Missouri.
Karen Edison: We founded the Center out of a sense of mission and responsibility to educate policymakers about health policy. MU is just 30 miles north of our state capital in Jefferson City. Because of term limits, the Missouri legislature is now full of well-meaning representatives who are largely uninformed about health care and health policy. Missouri is also closely divided politically. For all those reasons, a major part of our mission is to provide credible, non-biased resource information for our state's policymakers and lawmakers.
What are you currently working on at the Center?
KE: Our major focus areas are uninsurance, health disparities, telehealth and Medicaid.
KH: We’re conducing a study of racial and ethnic health disparities in Missouri for the Missouri Foundation for Health in collaboration with the Washington University Center for Health Policy. Whereas MU has been serving the needs of rural Missourians for more than 150 years, WU is dedicated to providing health care for and studying the ways to enhance the health of urban pollutions. The purpose of this combined rural and urban focus is to share ideas, resources and strategies for understanding and working to alleviate disparities. We hope to eventually establish a formal, recognized, multi-institution organization that will address racial and ethnic health disparities until such disparities are eliminated.
What excites you most about the work you’re doing at the Center?
KH: As an "academic,” I’m excited that the Center provides me with an opportunity to combine my research, teaching, and service activities under a coherent theme. We’ve chosen our projects based on the needs of Missourians and we hope that our contributions will be of value.
KE: What excites me most is actually making a difference. I am passionate about all of our work because I’m able to work directly on issues I care deeply about—the uninsured, the underserved, health disparities and telehealth among them. My sister is an uninsured Missourian and many of my patients struggle to afford the care they need. We have troubling disparities in health and health care throughout our state. Our challenges are great, but in this chaos is real opportunity— opportunity to redesign and modernize delivery systems, to empower all of our citizens to make healthy lifestyle choices, and to pass laws and regulations that extend access to affordable, quality health care for all Missourians.
What are your hopes for the Center?
KH: At the local level our aim is to increase understanding of health care delivery and health policy so all Missourians have better health and health care. On the national level, we’re set on becoming a widely regarded source for objective health policy analysis and education. We’re already gaining steadily in credibility and workload.
How did the shared experience of being a RWJ Fellow inform your work together at the Center?
KH: We are able to navigate our Center through controversial health policy topics to provide objective and balanced analyses and information. We have secured grants that directly address health policy (especially in health disparities and health insurance) that we never would have been able to obtain without the Fellowship experience. Plus, our Center is recognized for its ability to anticipate trends in health care and policy; we wouldn't possess this skill if not for our Fellowships.
KE: I’m a more effective department chair and institutional leader because of the RWJ Fellowship. I am one of very few able to help my organization effectively navigate the world of politics and policy.
To learn more about the Center for Health Policy, visit http://healthpolicy.missouri.edu.
Full Bios
Karen Edison, M.D., received her medical degree and completed her residency in dermatology at the University of Missouri in Columbia where she joined the faculty in 1993. She served as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow and then on the majority health policy staff for the Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in the United States Senate from 1999-2001, where she was instrumental in the legislative expansion of Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services. She returned to Missouri in 2001, where her current titles include Philip C. Anderson Professor and Chairman of the Department of Dermatology, Medical Director of the Missouri Telehealth Network and Co-Director of the Center for Health Policy at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
Kristofer J. Hagglund, Ph.D., is the Associate Dean of Health Policy and Academic Affairs and Professor of Health Psychology in the School of Health Professions at the University of Missouri—Columbia. Dr. Hagglund was a 2000-2001 Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in the Office of Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), where he worked on legislation addressing rural health care, patients’ rights, mental health parity and the health care safety net. Dr. Hagglund has an active research program and publishes in the areas of health care delivery for persons with disabilities and health policy. He is a co-principal investigator of the Missouri Model Spinal Cord Injury System, a five-year research and demonstration project funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). He is also a co-principal investigator of the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, where he is completing a study of health care access among people with arthritis . Dr. Hagglund obtained a B.A. in psychology from Illinois State University and a Ph.D. in Clinical (Medical) Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Professional Psychology and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.
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