Research & Service

Health & Society Scholars (top to bottom):
Jason Fletcher,
Mark Hatzenbuehler
and Cate Taylor

The Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars Work to Improve Public Health by Exploring Environmental, Social and Psychological Connections to Illness and Health Disparities

Three new members of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health & Society Scholars® program have joined Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health for an intensive, two-year research program. Each year, the Health & Society Scholars program at Columbia University selects a new cohort of scholars who have completed their doctoral training and whose work shows outstanding potential to improve the health of populations.

The new Health & Society Scholars, who began work in August, will receive mentorship and training to rigorously investigate the connections among biological, genetic, behavioral, environmental, economic and social determinants of health. This year, a total of 19 scholars were selected for the program nationwide.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). It is based on the principle that progress in the field of population health depends on multidisciplinary collaboration and exchange.

Columbia University is one of six nationally prominent universities where Health & Society Scholars for 2010–2012 serve. Here is a quick look at the participants at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and their projects:

Jason Fletcher, who is on leave from his position as an assistant professor in the School of Public Health at Yale University, will explore the intersection of biology and health policy by combining genetic and social science research questions.

Mark Hatzenbuehler, a clinical psychologist, will study stigma as it relates to population health with the goal of developing evidence-based policies and interventions that improve the health of socially disadvantaged individuals.

Cate Taylor, a sociologist, will consider ways in which the relationship between social arrangements and biological processes relates to health outcomes – for example, the workplace environments and stress response of women in male-dominated occupations and of men in female-dominated occupations.

Health & Society Scholars are selected based on their potential to contribute creatively to the field of population health, demonstrated openness to new ideas, demonstrated critical thinking skills, an active interest in interdisciplinary collaboration, commitment to a career consistent with the program’s purpose and goals, and quality of past research.

 “As our nation struggles with identifying the best strategies to improve the health of our people, this incoming group of Health & Society Scholars will seek to answer questions critical to guiding future health policy,” said Jo Ivey Boufford, MD, co-director with David Vlahov, PhD, RN, of the national program office for the Health & Society Scholars program, and president of The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM). “This program is providing the opportunities for a new generation of interdisciplinary scholars who can help tackle important health and societal issues from a variety of perspectives.”

The incoming Health & Society Scholars join a prestigious group of past scholars whose research initiatives have led to studies and recommendations that aim to reduce population health disparities and encourage better health outcomes.

September 7, 2010