The challenges facing our health care system remain at the forefront of national concern. To address these complex issues and improve health and health care for all Americans, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) created the Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research program, which supports cutting-edge research and bold new ideas to inform health policy in the United States. The program awards scholars and researchers up to $335,000 to explore innovative solutions to resolving challenges in health care. The eight award recipients are:

• Eiko Ikegami, PhD, New School University
• Carla Keirns, MD, PhD, Stony Brook University
• Suzanne Mettler, PhD, Cornell University
• Harold Pollack, PhD, MPP, University of Chicago
• Susan P. Shapiro, PhD, American Bar Foundation
• Anthony So, MD, MPA, Duke University
• Debra J. Umberson, PhD, MSW, University of Texas at Austin
• Susan M. Wolf, JD, University of Minnesota Law School

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, public and social policy, and others. A national advisory committee of distinguished experts from fields similar to those of the investigators reviews applications and makes funding recommendations to the Foundation.

The members of the 2011-2012 national advisory committee (NAC), which includes seven past Investigator Awardees, are:

• Paul D. Cleary, PhD, Yale University, NAC Chair
• Sheila Burke, RN, MPA, Harvard University
• Lawrence Casalino, MD, PhD, Weill Cornell Medical College, 1999 Awardee
• Susan Dentzer, Health Affairs
• Judy Feder, PhD, Georgetown University
• Bruce G. Link, PhD, Columbia University, 1995 Awardee
• Catherine G. McLaughlin, PhD, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
• Mark A. Peterson, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles, 1994 Awardee
• Jill B. Quadagno, PhD, Florida State University, 1999 Awardee
• Jeannette Rogowski, PhD, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
• Sara Rosenbaum, JD, George Washington University, 2000 Awardee
• Mark J. Schlesinger, PhD, Yale University, 1993 Awardee
• Alvin R. Tarlov, MD, University of Chicago (Retired)
• William A. Vega, PhD, University of Southern California
• Keith A. Wailoo, PhD, Princeton University, 2001 Awardee

RWJF’s Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research program supports talented researchers, typically in the more senior stages of their careers. 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 175 projects involving 224 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, PhD, 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, PhD, 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 supports thinking that is creative and cross-disciplinary in search of knowledge and solutions to emerging problems or vexing questions that will help to improve the nation’s health and health care,” Mechanic says.

A brief description of each new investigator project follows.