Health-and-Aging-Policy_300While many of our legacy grant programs continue to support the development of leaders in the field of aging and health research and education (see this week’s earlier Health AGEnda post about our latest Hartford/VA social work research scholars), new and growing investments under the John A. Hartford Foundation’s current strategic plan are also nurturing leaders in aging and health practice and policy change.

As part of our Leadership in Action funding portfolio, we recently approved a $1.6 million grant to co-fund the Health and Aging Policy Fellows program, in partnership with The Atlantic Philanthropies. The program, which offers fellows the experience and skills necessary to make a positive contribution to the development and implementation of health policies that affect older Americans, has just announced its 2014-15 class and we welcome them to the Hartford family and our community of Change AGEnts.

With representatives from many of our legacy strategy programs, including the Archbold Pre-Doctoral Nursing Scholars, the Social Work Doctoral Fellows and the Jahnigen Scholars in surgical and related medical specialties, we are assured that many of our academic program alumni are right there with us in the shift to our current portfolio of strategies focused on taking geriatrics expertise and evidence and making real and lasting improvements in health care delivery for our aging population.

The impressive bios (link opens as a PDF) of these 13 fellows show both passion for improving the lives of older adults and expertise in a variety of disciplines and issue areas. Drawing on and adding to their experiences and education as social workers, surgeons, lawyers, and other professionals, these participants will develop important skills through the fellowship’s intensive policy training.

These skills, along with mentorship and an expanded network of colleagues and experts to call upon, will help the fellows make even bigger change at a broader level by helping them influence the laws and regulations that guide the delivery of health care across settings from the operating room to the home. Whether taking a year to embed themselves in a Congressional office or agency, or remaining at their home organization and leading a policy change project, the Health and Aging Policy Fellows will be positioning themselves as true Change AGEnts and we look forward to learning from them and their work.

We know the potential of these Health and Aging Policy Fellows to make change based on those who have come before in the cohorts funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies since 2008. Current Hartford grant project leaders such as Diane Meier and Mary Tinetti were both Health and Aging Policy Fellows, and they are just two examples of the program’s participants who have had a significant impact at a national level.

Congratulations and good luck to this year’s Health and Aging Policy Fellows. They are:

  • Rachel Roiland, PhD, RN
    Special Advanced Geriatric Fellow
    William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital
    Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center
    (And we’re proud to note that Rachel is funded through a partnership between the Fellowship and the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence!)
  • Thomas Tsai, MD, MPH
    Research Associate, Department of Health Policy and
    Management, Harvard School of Public Health
    General Surgery Resident, Department of Surgery, Brigham
    and Women's Hospital
  • Patricia Yu, PhD, LCSW
  • Heidi Allen MSW, PhD
    Assistant Professor
    Columbia University School of Social Work
  • Shirley Bondon, JD
    Manager, Office of Guardianship and Elder Services
    Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts
  • William Hung, MD, MPH
    Assistant Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine
    Mount Sinai School of Medicine New York
  • Jason M. Johanning, MD, MS
    Chief Surgical Consultant, VISN 23 Veterans Healthcare Administration
    Professor of Vascular Surgery,
    University of Nebraska Medical Center
    (Fellowship supported by the Veterans Administration)
  • Amanda Lehning, PhD, MSS
    Assistant Professor
    University of Maryland School of Social Work
  • Rick Selvik, MPH, MSW
    Public Health Social Worker
  • Vorada Savengseuksa, MPA
    Aging & Adult Services Program Specialist
    Asian Counseling and Referral Service (Part of
    Seattle/King County AAA in WA State)
  • Lori Simon-Rusinowitz, MPH, PhD
    Associate Professor, Health Services Administration and Center on
    Aging, School of Public Health, University of Maryland
  • Victoria Walker MD, CMD
    Chief Medical and Quality Officer
    The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society
  • Beverly Xaviera Watkins, PhD, MA
    Assistant Professor of Public Health in Medicine
    Assistant Professor of Public Health in Integrative Medicine
    Weill Cornell Medical College

For full bios on each, visit the Health and Aging Policy Fellows site for the 2014-15 Cohort. (link opens as a PDF)