The U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced today that it will establish the National Academy of Medicine International Health Policy Fellowship Program with the goal of fostering a pipeline of health policy scholars who will put forth informed solutions to some of the world’s most critical health challenges. The first class of fellows for NAM’s first international fellowship is expected to be announced in 2018. As part of the program, one fellow — chosen by an NAM-appointed selection committee every year through a highly competitive nomination process in collaboration with The Chinese University of Hong Kong — will participate in a two-year fellowship based in Washington, D.C. Candidates will be evaluated based on their professional qualifications, scholarship, and the quality of professional accomplishments, as evidenced through publications, research grants, and current field expertise that is relevant to NAM’s work.
“The NAM has long been committed to improving health and health care worldwide” said NAM President Victor J. Dzau. “Our new international fellowship will train the next generation of health leaders to develop and champion sound, evidence-based medicine and policies that will foster better health in their home countries. But equally important, these fellows will also help shape a global network of expertise that will undoubtedly strengthen international efforts to improve health outcomes as well as responses to health threats that affect us all.”
“Today health issues cross borders. Key to solving the health issues facing mankind will be global partnerships among academic institutions, the private sector, governments, and non-government organizations such as NAM,” said Prof. Joseph Sung, vice chancellor and president, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. “The collaboration between CUHK and NAM aims to nurture future talent to address complicated health issues domestically and worldwide. Health policy goes beyond individuals to populations, both local and global, and has a long-lasting impact at many different levels. Sharing the experience of developed countries and the way that they cope with critical health challenges will be of enormous benefit to Hong Kong, as our own scholars and policymakers seek solutions to the same problems.”
The NAM International Health Policy Fellowship Program is for early- to mid-career scholars in the fields of bioethics, medical ethics and law, economics and health policy, and health care to experience and participate in health care or public health studies that improve care and access to care of patients in domestic and global health care systems. One of the program’s initial fellowships will focus on bioethics and include a fellow from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Each fellow from The Chinese University of Hong Kong will be awarded a two-year fellowship with 25 percent time residency in Washington, D.C., during which time they are expected to maintain their current faculty position and responsibilities. At the beginning of their fellowship, they will spend a concentrated three-month period at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to learn about the organizations’ activities. Throughout their program the fellows will learn about specific National Academies’ work, and each fellow will be assigned a faculty mentor who is a member of the NAM.
In addition to the International Health Policy Fellowship Program, the NAM administers four national health policy fellowship and scholar programs. More information on those programs is available here.
Watch an archived video webcast of the fellowship launch ceremony at The Chinese University of Hong Kong on June 2 here.
