Health Policy Research Scholars (HPRS) is a four-year national leadership development program for full-time doctoral students from a wide range of nonclinical, research-focused disciplines in which policy is a key lever for change.
Donor Name: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Territory: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands
Type of Grant: Program
Deadline: 03/12/2025
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 4 Years
Details:
Health Policy Research Scholars (HPRS) builds on RWJF’s vision of leadership as a dynamic, transformative, relational process of change aimed at repairing damage from historical and structural injustices and oppression. The program is for doctoral students who are deeply committed to research that works to advance antiracism and structural change work aligned with the health needs of the most impacted communities. HPRS supports researchers from diverse backgrounds, particularly those with lived experiences of inequity, marginalization, and oppression.
The program is for doctoral students who want to ensure their research is aligned with the health needs of communities and in service of health, wellbeing, and equity; to challenge longstanding, entrenched harmful systems; to exhibit new ways of working; to collaborate across disciplines and sectors; and to bolster their leadership skills. HPRS offers training in health policy, including the various stages of the policy process, approaches to systems change, and how to craft an actionable research question that can inform solutions to advance health equity—as well as mentorship, and career and leadership coaching. HPRS is a community of research leaders who will advance health equity and make impactful societal change. Up to 40 scholars will be selected for the 2025 cohort, which will be the program’s final cohort.
Program Goals
After completing the HPRS program, the scholar should:
- Have extensive knowledge of health equity and the ability to translate and disseminate their research to various end users, including policymakers, communities, and other decisionmakers.
- Have the capacity to exercise individual and collective leadership.
- Be able to apply research and interdisciplinary collaboration skills to engage multiple sectors (e.g., policy, education, business, communities, government) to effectively translate research findings that will inform and influence policy to advance health equity).
- Engage diverse interdisciplinary networks of researchers.
- Establish meaningful and sustained relationships and collaborations with HPRS and other RWJF leadership programs and program participants.
- Contribute to research and a national dialogue on the policy changes necessary for creating the conditions for good health, including the dismantling of structural racism.
Funding Information
Grant funds from RWJF will include:
- Award funds: $30,000 per year for up to four years or until recipient completes their doctoral program (whichever is sooner).
- Administrative fee: Home institutions receive an administrative fee of $1,000 per year ($4,000 in total) added to the grant amount to cover the administrative costs of managing the award.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicants must be starting full-time, second-year doctoral studies in a research-based program in fall 2025 at a degree-granting institution based in the United States or its territories. Applicants must remain full-time doctoral students while enrolled in HPRS;
- Applicants must have at least three academic years remaining in their doctoral program and not expect to graduate before spring/summer 2028;
- Applicants must be from marginalized backgrounds, and be able to describe how their background, identity, or lived experiences have positioned them to contribute to the goals of the program. Examples of marginalized backgrounds include, but are not limited to, first-generation college graduates; individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds; individuals from minoritized populations, and individuals with disabilities.
- Applicants cannot be a recipient of a national fellowship program that prohibits participation in additional programs such as HPRS. Applicants should make sure to check the policies of other fellowships;
- Applicants must be at least 21 years old as of September 1, 2025;
- Federal, state, tribal, and local government employees are eligible to apply unless they are considered government officials under Section 4946 of the Internal Revenue Code;
- Applicants must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or individuals granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Status or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the time of application. As federal policy or laws change, they may need to consider adjustments in eligibility and grant terms;
- Individual candidates for receipt of award funds cannot be related by blood or marriage to any Officer, Manager, or Trustee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, or be a descendant of its founder, Robert Wood Johnson.
For more information, visit RWJF.
