 |
Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research 55 Commercial Ave. Third Floor New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1340 |
Tel: (732) 932-3817 Fax: (732) 932-3819 Email: depdir@ifh.rutgers.edu www.investigatorawards.org |
 www.rwjf.org |
Downloads:
Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), supports researchers whose crosscutting and innovative ideas promise to contribute meaningfully to improving health and health care policy. The program provides one of the few funding opportunities in the United States for investigator-initiated projects that are broad in scope, innovative in approach, and have national policy relevance. Located at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the program is directed by David Mechanic, Ph.D.
Tuesday October 13, 2009
Congratulations to David Mechanic, PhD, Winner of the 2009 Sarnat International Prize in Mental HealthOn October 12th, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) awarded David Mechanic, PhD the 2009 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health in recognition of his decades of effort to increase scientific knowledge about the causes and factors shaping mental health and to improve mental health care services. According to IOM President Harvey Fineberg, David Mechanic "has greatly influenced thinking in areas ranging from mental health to health policy, providing a sociological perspective that has complemented and enriched medical and psychological approaches to the subjects. He has also been an exemplary professional colleague, teacher, and mentor."
A 1994 Awardee, David is program director of the RWJF Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research and director of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.Source: National Program Office
Monday October 12, 2009
Congratulations to New IOM Members Amy Finkelstein, Ichiro Kawachi, Bill Sage, and Susan DentzerOn October 12, 2009, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) announced the names of 65 new members. Amy Finkelstein, PhD (2003 Awardee), Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD (1996 Awardee), William Sage, MD, JD (1998 Awardee), and Susan Dentzer (NAC Member and Editor-in-Chief of Health Affairs) were elected new members. Election to the IOM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.Source: National Program Office
Thursday October 1, 2009
Wall Street Journal Publishes Opinion Piece by Eric Klinenberg, 2003 Awardee"How the First Family Can Lead on Swine Flu," by Eric Klinenberg, PhD, 2003 Awardee, and Anisya Thomas was published in The Wall Street Journal on September 29, 2009. The piece urges the President to clear up the conflicting information about the public health importance of being vaccinated for "Swine Flu" by jumping to the front of the line.
Eric is a professor and director of graduate studies in the department of sociology at NYU.Source: National Program Office
Thursday September 24, 2009
Naa Oyo Kwate, 2008 Awardee, Receives NIH Director's 2009 New Innovator AwardCongratulations to Naa Oyo A. Kwate, PhD, 2008 awardee and an assistant professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, who is the recipient of a National Institutes of Health Director's 2009 New Innovator Award! This award is given to individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research. Dr. Kwate will use NIH grant funds to explore the effects of multiple levels of racism on the immune function and overall health of urban African Americans and to test a novel structural-level intervention to reduce the negative impact of racism.Source: National Program Office
Tuesday September 22, 2009
New Book by Jason Corburn, 2007 Awardee - Toward the Healthy City - Hot off the Press!A new book by Jason Corburn, PhD, an associate professor of city and regional planning at UC Berkeley, has just been published by The MIT Press. According to Mindy T. Fullilove, a 2000 Awardee, "Corburn's Toward the Healthy City: People, Places, and the Politics of Urban Planning shows us how to reunite urban planning and public health. As Corburn reveals, by recreating this partnership we can overcome health disparities, chronic disease, and other pressing health problems of our era. This book is a must for everyone interested in health, cities, planning and our planet's future."Source: National Program Office
 |
|
Praise for Policy Challenges in Modern Health Care
"A marvelous collection of ideas and insights by first-rate scholars. This book lays a foundation for more creative and effective policy-making." - Stephen M. Shortell, Dean and Blue Cross of California Professor of Health Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley
Health care delivery in the United States is an enormously complex enterprise, and its $1.6 trillion annual expenditures involve a host of competing interests. While arguably the nation offers among the most technologically advanced medical care in the world, the American system consistently under performs relative to its resources. Gaps in financing and service delivery pose major barriers to improving health, reducing disparities, achieving universal insurance coverage, enhancing quality, controlling costs, and meeting the needs of patients and families.
Bringing together twenty-five of the nation's leading experts in health care policy and public health, this book provides a much-needed perspective on how our health care system evolved, why we face the challenges that we do, and why reform is so difficult to achieve. The essays tackle tough issues including: socioeconomic disadvantage, tobacco, obesity, gun violence, insurance gaps, the rationing of services, the power of special interests, medical errors, and the nursing shortage.
Linking the nation's health problems to larger political, cultural, and philosophical contexts, Policy Challenges in Modern Health Care offers a compelling look at where we stand and where we need to be headed.
(Rutgers University Press, rutgerspress.rutgers.edu)(ISBN:0-8135-3578-6)
Section InfoResearch In Profile is a series of pieces about investigators and their work that focuses on project findings, research insights, and policy implications. Summaries are provided on the website and each issue is available for download in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Print copies can be requested from the National Program Office by sending an email to depdir@ifh.rutgers.edu.
 |
|
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has announced the selection of this year's recipients of its Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research. Sixteen scholars affiliated with major universities across the country will receive awards of up to $335,000 to support 10 new research projects. The winning researchers will tackle major challenging policy issues facing America today, as well as wide-ranging concerns about the nation’s health and health care system. The award recipients are:
- Co-investigators Alan S. Gerber, Ph.D., Yale University, and Eric M. Patashnik, Ph.D., M.P.P, University of Virginia
- Co-investigators William K. Hallman, Ph.D., Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,and Neal H. Hooker, Ph.D., Saint Joseph’s University
- Sherman A. James, Ph.D., Duke University
- Jason H. Karlawish, M.D., University of Pennsylvania
- Co-investigators Naa Oyo A. Kwate, Ph.D., and Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D., both of ColumbiaUniversity
- Co-investigators Edward W. Maibach, Ph.D., M.P.H., George Mason University, and Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D., American University
- Co-investigators Alberto Palloni, Ph.D., Northwestern University, and Carolina Milesi, Ph.D., University of Chicago
- Co-investigators Richard M. Scheffler, Ph.D., and Stephen P. Hinshaw, Ph.D., both of University of California, Berkeley
- Gary A. Taubes, M.S.E., M.S., University of California, Berkeley
- Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Ph.D., Northwestern University
This prestigious and highly competitive funding program attracts investigators from a wide range of fields including medicine, nursing, public health, economics, sociology, political science, psychology, history, law, ethics, journalism, communications, and public and social policy. A national advisory committee of distinguished experts from fields similar to those of the investigators reviews applications. Members of the 2008 national advisory committee (NAC) included:
- Paul D. Cleary, Ph.D., NAC Chair, Dean of Public Health; C.E.A. Winslow Professor and Chair, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Public Health
- David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director, Institute for Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Lawrence Casalino, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research, Department of Public Health, Weill Cornell Medical College
- Marilyn P. Chow, R.N., D.N.Sc., F.A.A.N., Vice President, Patient Care Services, Kaiser Permanente
- Susan Dentzer, Editor-in-Chief, Health Affairs
- Judy Feder, Ph.D., Professor, Georgetown Public Policy Institute, Georgetown University
- Bruce G. Link, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
- Catherine G. McLaughlin, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Director of Health Research, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
- Mark A. Peterson, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, University of California, Los Angeles
- Jill B. Quadagno, Ph.D., Mildred and Claude Pepper Eminent Scholar, Pepper Institute on Aging & Public Policy, Florida State University
- Jeannette Rogowski, Ph.D., University Professor, Department of Health Systems and Policy, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
- Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy; Chair, Department of Health Policy, George Washington University
- Mark J. Schlesinger, Ph.D., Professor, Division of Health Policy and Administration; Fellow, Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University School of Public Health
- Alvin R. Tarlov, M.D., Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago
- William A. Vega, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Family Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles
- Keith A. Wailoo, Ph.D., Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of History, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RWJF created the Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research program to support talented researchers throughout the stages of their careers whose cross-cutting and bold new ideas promise to contribute meaningfully to improving U.S. health policy. Funded projects produce enduring insights and sophisticated analyses of pressing problems, potential solutions for improving health and health care, and evidence that can inform policymakers, the media, and the public. Since 1992, the Foundation has supported 157 projects involving 202 investigators.
"Through the Investigators' program, the Foundation invests in ideas and individuals – investments that pay off long after the research grants have ended," said Lori Melichar, Ph.D., economist and senior program officer in Research and Evaluation at RWJF. The books and articles resulting from Investigators' research contribute to the public discourse in health policy. The program also provides the Investigators with opportunities to join the debate on health policy issues, and influence how policymakers think about the challenges of providing and financing health care and improving the health of the nation.
David Mechanic, Ph.D., leads the RWJF Investigator Awards program, which is headquartered at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. "This program stimulates thinking that is creative and crosses disciplinary boundaries in search of knowledge and solutions to vexing issues affecting health and health care in the United States," Mechanic says.
A brief description of each new investigator project follows.
Read More... (PDF)Section InfoInvestigator publications listed on this site relate to research funded through the Investigator Awards program. References are provided for books and selected journal articles written by the investigators. Abstracts are available for some featured publications.
Go to: All Books | Book Chapters | Journal Articles |
|
In distressed urban neighborhoods where residential segregation concentrates poverty, liquor stores outnumber supermarkets, toxic sites are next to playgrounds, and more money is spent on prisons than schools, residents also suffer disproportionately from disease and premature death. Recognizing that city environments and the planning processes that shape them are powerful determinants of population health, urban planners today are beginning to take on the added challenge of revitalizing neglected urban neighborhoods in ways that improve health and promote greater equity. In Toward the Healthy City, Jason Corburn argues that city planning must return to its roots in public health and social justice. The first book to provide a detailed account of how city planning and public health practices can reconnect to address health disparities, Toward the Healthy City offers a new decision-making framework called "healthy city planning" that reframes traditional planning and development issues and offers a new scientific evidence base for participatory action, coalition building, and ongoing monitoring.
To show healthy city planning in action, Corburn examines collaborations between government agencies and community coalitions in the San Francisco Bay area, including efforts to link environmental justice, residents' chronic illnesses, housing and real estate development projects, and planning processes with public health. Initiatives like these, Corburn points out, go well beyond recent attempts by urban planners to promote public health by changing the design of cities to encourage physical activity. Corburn argues for a broader conception of healthy urban governance that addresses the root causes of health inequities.
 |
|
Even the most powerful men in the world are human—they get sick, take dubious drugs, drink too much, contemplate suicide, fret about ailing parents, and bury people they love. Young Richard Nixon watched two brothers die of tuberculosis, even while doctors monitored a suspicious shadow on his own lungs. John Kennedy received last rites four times as an adult, and Lyndon Johnson suffered a "belly buster" of a heart attack. David Blumenthal and James A. Morone explore how modern presidents have wrestled with their own mortality—and how they have taken this most human experience to heart as they faced the difficult politics of health care. Drawing on a trove of newly released White House tapes, on extensive interviews with White House staff, and on dramatic archival material that has only recently come to light, The Heart of Power explores the hidden ways in which presidents shape our destinies through their own experiences. Taking a close look at Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Herbert Walker Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, the book shows what history can teach us as we confront the health care challenges of the twenty-first century.
 |
|
The role of public health services in America is generally considered to be the reduction of illness, suffering, and death. But what exactly does this mean in practice? At different points in history, professionals in the field have addressed housing reform, education about sex and illegal drugs, hospital and clinic care, gun violence, and even bioterrorism. But there is no agreement about how far public health efforts should go in attempting to modify behaviors seen as lifestyle choices, or whether the field's mandate extends to intervening in broader social and economic conditions.
The authors of the thirteen essays in this book attempt to understand what are, and what should be, the field's chief goals and activities. Drawing on examples that include September 11th, Hurricane Katrina, the anthrax scare, and more, contributors examine the historical evolution of the profession and show how public health is changing in the context of natural and human-made disasters and the politics that surround them.
 |
|
When are people willing to sacrifice for the common good? What are the benefits of friendship? How do communities deal with betrayal? And what are the costs and benefits of being in a diverse community? Using the life histories of more than forty thousand Civil War soldiers, Dora Costa and Matthew Kahn answer these questions and uncover the vivid stories, social influences, and crucial networks that influenced soldiers' lives both during and after the war. Drawing information from government documents, soldiers' journals, and one of the most extensive research projects about Union Army soldiers ever undertaken, Heroes and Cowards demonstrates the role that social capital plays in people's decisions. The makeup of various companies--whether soldiers were of the same ethnicity, age, and occupation--influenced whether soldiers remained loyal or whether they deserted. Costa and Kahn discuss how the soldiers benefited from friendships, what social factors allowed some to survive the POW camps while others died, and how punishments meted out for breaking codes of conduct affected men after the war. The book also examines the experience of African-American soldiers and makes important observations about how their comrades shaped their lives. Heroes and Cowards highlights the inherent tensions between the costs and benefits of community diversity, shedding light on how groups and societies behave and providing valuable lessons for the present day.
 |
|
In this new book by the award-winning author of Just Healthcare, Norman Daniels develops a comprehensive theory of justice for health that answers three key questions: What is the special moral importance of health? When are health inequalities unjust? How can we meet health needs fairly when we cannot meet them all? The theory has implications for national and global health policy: Can we meet health needs fairly in aging societies? Or protect health in the workplace while respecting individual liberty? Or meet professional obligations and obligations of justice without conflict?
 |
|
Proposals to reform the health care system typically focus on either increasing private insurance or expanding government-sponsored plans. Guaranteeing that everyone is insured, however, does not create a system with the quality of care patients want, the flexibility clinicians need, and the internal dynamics to continually improve the value of health care.
In Total Cure, Hal Luft presents a comprehensive new proposal, SecureChoice, which does all that while providing affordable health insurance for every American. SecureChoice is a plan that restructures payment for medical care, harnessing the flexibility and responsiveness of the market by aligning the incentives of clinicians, hospitals, and insurers with those of the patient. It uses the accountability of government to ensure transparency, competition, and equity.
SecureChoice has two major components. A universal pool covers the major risks of hospitalization and chronic illness, which account for almost two-thirds of all costs. Everyone would be in the pool, irrespective of employment, income, or health status. The second component emphasizes choice, flexibility, and responsibility. People will be able to choose any physician to serve as their “medical home,” to keep track of their health records, provide much of their care, and suggest referrals. Clinicians will have the information and incentives to continually enhance quality. SecureChoice also facilitates improvements in areas ranging from malpractice to pharmaceuticals and establishes new roles for key stakeholders such as health insurers.
 |
|
A comprehensive analysis of medical malpractice from legal, medical, economic, and insurance perspectives that considers why past efforts at reform have not worked and offers recommendations for realistic, achievable policy changes.
Most experts would agree that the current medical malpractice system in the United States does not work effectively either to compensate victims fairly or prevent injuries caused by medical errors. Policy responses to a series of medical malpractice crises have not resulted in effective reform and have not altered the fundamental incentives of the stakeholders. In Medical Malpractice, economist Frank Sloan and lawyer Lindsey Chepke examine the U.S. medical malpractice process from legal, medical, economic, and insurance perspectives, analyze past efforts at reform, and offer realistic, achievable policy recommendations. They review the considerable empirical evidence in a balanced fashion and assess objectively what works in the current system and what does not. Sloan and Chepke argue that the complexity of medical malpractice stems largely from the interaction of the four discrete markets that determine outcomes--legal, medical malpractice insurance, medical care, and government activity. After describing what the evidence shows about the functioning of medical malpractice, types of defensive medicine, and the effects of past reforms, they examine such topics as scheduling damages as an alternative to flat caps, jury behavior, health courts, incentives to prevent medical errors, insurance regulation, reinsurance, no-fault insurance, and suggestions for future reforms.
Medical Malpractice is the most comprehensive treatment of malpractice available, integrating findings from several different areas of research and describing them accessibly in nontechnical language. It will be an essential reference for anyone interested in medical malpractice.
 |
|
For at least a generation, experts have warned us not reach out to others. Too much help makes people passive and dependent, we are told, and self interest is the only motive that spurs people to work and contribute to society. Liberals and conservatives alike have endorsed this new moral code for government. The Samaritan's Dilemma challenges this conventional wisdom. We are born needing help, we die needing help, and we live out our days getting and giving help. We live by everyday altruism. So when leaders define the ideal citizen as someone who pursues his self interest and withholds help from others, good people are repelled by politics.
The Samaritan's Dilemma calls on us to restore the public sphere as a place where citizens can fulfill their moral aspirations. If government helps the neighbors, citizens will once again want to help govern. With unforgettable stories of how real people think and feel when they practice kindness, Stone shows that everyday altruism is the premier school for citizenship. At a time when millions of citizens ache to put the Bush and Reagan era behind us and feel proud of their government, award-winning political scientist Deborah Stone offers an enormously hopeful vision of politics.
Section InfoThis section contains information about all of the projects and researchers that have been funded through the Investigator Awards program since the first grants were made in 1993. The indexes in this section can be used to identify investigators by name, area of expertise, or year of award. Throughout the site, you will find that each investigator’s name links to details including contact and project information.
September 2009
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has announced the selection of this year's recipients of its Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research. Sixteen scholars affiliated with major universities across the country will receive awards of up to $335,000 to support 10 new research projects. The winning researchers will tackle major challenging policy issues facing America today, as well as wide-ranging concerns about the nation's health and health care system.
This prestigious and highly competitive funding program attracts investigators from a wide range of fields including medicine, nursing, public health, economics, sociology, political science, psychology, history, law, ethics, journalism, communications, and public and social policy. A national advisory committee of distinguished experts from fields similar to those of the investigators reviews applications.
RWJF created the Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research program to support talented researchers throughout the stages of their careers whose cross-cutting and bold new ideas promise to contribute meaningfully to improving U.S. health policy. Funded projects produce enduring insights and sophisticated analyses of pressing problems, potential solutions for improving health and health care, and evidence that can inform policymakers, the media, and the public. Since 1992, the Foundation has supported 157 projects involving 202 investigators.
"Through the Investigators' program, the Foundation invests in ideas and individuals - investments that pay off long after the research grants have ended," said Lori Melichar, Ph.D., economist and senior program officer in Research and Evaluation at RWJF. The books and articles resulting from Investigators'' research contribute to the public discourse in health policy. The program also provides the Investigators with opportunities to join the debate on health policy issues, and influence how policymakers think about the challenges of providing and financing health care and improving the health of the nation.
David Mechanic, Ph.D., leads the RWJF Investigator Awards program, which is headquartered at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. "This program stimulates thinking that is creative and crosses disciplinary boundaries in search of knowledge and solutions to vexing issues affecting health and health care in the United States," Mechanic says.
For details of the 2008 Investigator Awards click "Show Awards" below.
Show Awards
Eric M. Patashnik, Ph.D., M.P.P. | Inadequate Medical Evidence: Political Incentives and the Prospects for Sustainable Reform Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractThe effectiveness of many medical treatments and procedures remains unknown, despite concerns that the United States spends too much on ineffective care. Why has the federal government invested so very little in rigorous effectiveness research up to now? Co-PIs Alan S. Gerber, Ph.D. and Eric M. Patashnik, Ph.D., M.P.P. believe that the answer lies in the incentives built into our political system. Their project, Inadequate Medical Evidence: Political Incentives and the Prospects for Sustainable Reform, explores the lack of a strong policy response to the need for medical evidence. Drs. Gerber and Patashnik consider a range of factors, including the influence of health care providers and other special interests, lack of policy initiative, insufficient federal agency capacity, the limits of patient advocacy, and the silence of the wealthy and powerful. Results should provide fresh insights into the opportunities and challenges that emerge as the Obama Administration adopts comparative effectiveness research as a strategy for controlling U.S. health care spending by reducing ineffective care. |
Neal H. Hooker, M.A., Ph.D. | The Diet-Health Nexus: Communicating Emerging Evidence Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractAs increasing numbers of Americans try to eat healthily and reduce their risk of chronic disease, they are paying more attention to product ingredients, labeling, advertising, and information from a variety of sources about the health benefits of foods and beverages. They are also spending more on foods that they believe are "heart-healthy" or can reduce their risk for certain cancers. But given the level of scientific uncertainty surrounding the health effects of food, what are consumers getting for their money? Co-PIs William K. Hallman, Ph.D. and Neal H. Hooker, Ph.D. study how information is used in food claims and marketing, as well as how adeptly consumers grasp the information provided. Their project, The Diet-Health Nexus: Communicating Emerging Evidence, examines how information is crafted and conveyed; how older consumers understand and evaluate food claims and dietary advice; and whether the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) regulatory approach has educated consumers about the limits of scientific evidence and the accuracy of health claims. Drs. Hallman and Hooker will produce recommendations on how to inform consumers better. Their project should help shape the FDA's efforts to revise, or perhaps even revamp, its policies for regulating health claims by food and beverage manufacturers and producers. |
| After the Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Health Legacy of the 1960s Civil Rights Era in a Southern Community Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractDuring the years immediately following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, gaps in health and access to medical care between black and white Americans began to narrow. How did civil rights legislation and newly created social programs help lead to those health improvements? Sherman A. James, Ph.D. probes this question in his project, After the Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Health Legacy of the 1960's Civil Rights Era in a Southern Community. Through a case study of Pitt County, North Carolina, a poor rural southern community, Dr. James looks at the activities of those who led the desegregation of the county hospital and efforts by citizen activists, voluntary organizations, community leaders, and the press to open the doors of opportunity. Using the fundamental cause framework developed by Investigator Awardees Jo Phelan, Ph.D., and Bruce Link, Ph.D., Dr. James analyzes how access to money, knowledge, prestige, power, and social connections is linked to population health and to the success of public policies. His findings should help illuminate the role civil society plays in distributing life-enhancing resources more fairly and in facilitating or impeding public policies aimed at improving the health of all Americans. | |
| The Making and Unmaking of Alzheimers Disease Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractWhen is Alzheimer's disease (AD) a diagnosis and when is it a prediction? As we develop new tests to identify a person's propensity for the disease, and as we expand the definition of Alzheimer's to include patients with "preclinical AD", "prodromal AD", and mild cognitive impairment, we blur the line between diagnosis and risk assessment. With that comes the potential to harm patients and to overburden our system by treating what is actually normal, age-related cognitive change. Jason Karlawish, M.D. explores how our understanding of brain aging is changing and raising controversies. In The Making and Unmaking of Alzheimer's Disease, he examines issues such as disagreements among experts about how to define and treat dementia, the use of neuroimaging, Medicare reimbursement for PET scans, genetic testing, healthy brain initiatives, and the emerging market for brain fitness activities. Dr. Karlawish considers the actors involved - from clinicians, researchers, and pharma to advocacy organizations, patients, and families - as well as the ethical, economic, and policy implications of changes in how AD is defined and measured. The project's results will contribute to policy debates about the value of costly testing, preventive treatments, and public health initiatives to maintain brain health. | |
Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D. | On the Content of our Character: The Myth of Meritocracy and African American Health Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractMany people believe that, with the right mix of talent, ability, hard work, and opportunity, anyone can achieve the wealth and success that the American Dream has come to represent. Yet the rise to the top in America is limited, especially for those who live in segregated neighborhoods and those who have few educational and economic opportunities. Co-PIs Naa Oyo A. Kwate, Ph.D. and Ilan H. Meyer, Ph.D. propose that, for African Americans, living in a culture that so highly values self-determination can lead to demoralization, unhealthy coping strategies, and higher rates of illness and early death. In their project, On the Content of Our Character: The Myth of Meritocracy and African American Health, Drs. Kwate and Meyer look at how widely ingrained such beliefs are across the United States. They also consider how meritocratic beliefs may be linked to political views about the role of government and the plight of the disadvantaged, and to disparities in health and well being. This project will shed light on the hidden consequences of meritocratic beliefs. |
Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D. | Mobilizing Citizen Support for Climate Stabilization and Adaptation Policies Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractClimate change poses a potentially significant threat to the public's health, and addressing it is among President Obama's top priorities. Co-PIs Edward W. Maibach, Ph.D., M.P.H. and Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D. believe that citizens and stakeholders need to play an active role in formulating effective public policies and investments in greenhouse gas reduction. Their project, Mobilizing Citizen Support for Climate Stabilization and Adaptation Policies, investigates how best to engage Americans on climate control issues and analyzes the extent to which a health perspective can enlist community interest and participation. Through surveys and interviews, Drs. Maibach and Nisbet explore people's beliefs and motivations and test their reactions to various policy proposals and messages about climate change and its health implications. Their research findings could help galvanize the public health community and provide policy experts, government agencies, journalists, and other stakeholders with practical guidance on how best to increase public understanding of the implications of climate change. |
Carolina Milesi, Ph.D. | Early Childhood Conditions, Reproduction of Socioeconomic Inequalities, and the Persistence of Adult Health Disparities Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractDespite increased attention to the disturbing problem of disparities, certain groups of Americans remain healthier than others, due largely to differences in race and ethnicity, income, education, residential segregation, and other social factors. Co-PIs Alberto Palloni, Ph.D. and Carolina Milesi, Ph.D. seek to better understand the mechanisms that lead to health gaps by probing the connections between child and adult health. Their project, Early Childhood Conditions, Reproduction of Socioeconomic Inequalities, and the Persistence of Adult Health Disparities, employs innovative methods to study how pathways to fair or poor health in adulthood unfold from early childhood. Drs. Palloni and Milesi analyze a host of factors, including the effects of parents' socioeconomic status, their health and use of tobacco and alcohol, child health outcomes, development of personality traits such as tenacity and perseverance, exposure to stressful environments, and educational attainment. Project findings should help improve the design of strategies aimed at reducing disparities by identifying options for mitigating the consequences of poor health in children. |
Stephen P. Hinshaw, Ph.D. | ADHD Medication in America: Society, Schools, and Public Policy Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractAttention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects over 4 million children in the United States. The disorder inhibits academic achievement and the development of social relationships, life skills, and independence. Yet the causes of ADHD and its diagnosis and treatment remain mired in controversy. Co-PIs Richard M. Scheffler, Ph.D. and Stephen P. Hinshaw, Ph.D. examine clinical and policy issues surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Their project, ADHD Medication in America: Society, Schools, and Public Policy, considers ADHD's biological basis and risk factors; market influences on diagnosis and medication rates; prevalence and treatment disparities; the impact of relevant federal and state laws on schools, children, and their parents; and the cost effectiveness of treatment options. Drs. Scheffler and Hinshaw will produce evidence-based policy recommendations for reducing diagnostic and treatment disparities, for improving access to effective treatments, and for increasing use of the most cost-effective treatments. Their research findings should inform policy debates and expand our understanding of how to treat children with ADHD more effectively and improve their quality of life. |
| The Sweetening of a Nation: The History, Politics and Health Effects of Sugar and High-Fructose Corn Syrup Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractOver the last 150 years, Americans have increased their intake of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) dramatically, so that caloric sweeteners now comprise 20 to 25 percent of the calories we consume. While most experts agree that such large amounts of either sugar or HFCS are bad for our health and should be avoided, we still don't know if they can lead to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Gary Taubes, M.S.E., M.A. seeks to learn more about the possible relationship between excess consumption of sweeteners and chronic health problems and about how special interests may have influenced research and policy development in this area. In The Sweetening of a Nation: The History, Politics, and Health-Effects of Sugar and HFCS, Mr. Taubes investigates not only past research on the health effects of sugar consumption, but how the Western diet became saturated with caloric sweeteners to begin with, and how industry and other special interests may have thwarted government efforts to rein in sugar consumption and limit scientific inquiry. Mr. Taubes' investigation should enhance the knowledge we need to develop a fuller range of policy options that protect Americans' health and more adequately address the epidemics of obesity and diabetes. | |
| Health, Hardship, and Renewal: Economic Strategies among Black Women Living with HIV/AIDS Award Year: 2008 Show AbstractPeople with HIV are living longer than ever before, giving us a new window on chronic illness and economic hardship. How do poor and working-class black women with HIV continue to make ends meet and take care of themselves as their disease progresses? Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Ph.D. collects the first longitudinal ethnographic data to study the economic and social survival strategies these women use to get by. In Health, Hardship, and Renewal: Economic Survival Strategies among Black Women Living with HIV, Dr. Watkins-Hayes examines employment opportunities and barriers, disability benefits, access to a complicated array of public services and providers, help from family and friends, and other informal sources of support. She also investigates how survival efforts might promote or undermine the health and well being of disadvantaged black women with HIV, and whether they are at increased risk of becoming homeless, engaging in prostitution or drug dealing, or being exposed to other infectious diseases. Research findings should help advance our understanding of the economic and social challenges that women coping with HIV/AIDS must face. |
Section InfoThis section provides information about how to apply for an Investigator Award as well as background information about the program.
Next Important Date:December 15, 2009 - Notification letters emailed to proposal applicants.
2009 Application Cycle:| Announcement of Call for Applications | ||
(5 p.m. ET) | Deadline for receipt of letters of intent. Applications must be received by 5 p.m. | |
| Applicants will be notified by email whether they have been selected to submit a full proposal. | ||
| Deadline for receipt of full proposals. | ||
 | Notification letters emailed to proposal applicants. | |
| Acceptable start dates for projects. | ||
Home | The Program | Investigators & Projects | Publications
Awardees | Reviewers | Contact © 2009 Investigator Awards In Health Policy Research 55 Commercial Ave., Third Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1340
Tel: 1-732-932-3817 | Fax: 1-732-932-3819 | Email: depdir@ifh.rutgers.edu
Awardees | Reviewers | Contact © 2009 Investigator Awards In Health Policy Research 55 Commercial Ave., Third Floor, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1340
Tel: 1-732-932-3817 | Fax: 1-732-932-3819 | Email: depdir@ifh.rutgers.edu