Title: GALLAGHER AWARDED RWJF HEALTH POLICY FELLOWSHIP
Author:
Section/SPIG: Injury Control and Emergency Health Services
Issue Date:
Sue Gallagher, a former ICEHS Chair, has been selected for the 2003 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellowship Program administered by the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. This highly competitive fellowship provides an opportunity for outstanding midcareer scientists and health professionals to take part in health policy processes at the federal level. The Fellows will complete a wide range of activities designed to enrich their knowledge of the public-policy process and foster a better understanding of how government health and biomedical research activities relate to the mission of their home institutions and local communities.
During a three-month period of orientation, Sue will become acquainted with current health issues, federal health and research agencies, principal Congressional committees active in health affairs, and major health-interest groups. The Fellows then participate in a three-week schedule of further orientation sessions organized by the American Political Science Association in conjunction with its Congressional Fellowship Program. These three weeks provide the Fellows with a broadened perspective on the range of public-policy issues and the political process. After the orientation period, Sue will have a full-time work assignment in the U.S. Senate.
Sue will begin her stay in Washington for one year in September. In its 30-year history, only a handful of public health professionals have been recipients of the RWJ Health Policy Fellowship. Gallagher views the opportunity as a unique learning experience. "My objective is to be open-minded, to learn as much as I can about the way the system works," she said. "If I have an agenda, it's to make sure public health is better understood by policymakers. Most people don't understand what public health is, or what the approach is. Recently, with heightened concerns about bio-terrorism and SARS, people are starting to understand more about it. Normally, however, public health is invisible until the system breaks
down."
Sue will still be reachable at her Education Development Center e-mail address during the Fellowship: <sgallagher@edc.org>.