Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program Now Accepting Applications

Dear Colleague,

I am pleased to announce the 2nd year of the Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program, a unique professional fellowship opportunity.

Supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies and directed by Harold Alan Pincus, MD, Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University (in collaboration with the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program), this national program seeks to provide professionals in health and aging with the experience and skills necessary to make a positive contribution to the development and implementation of health policies that affect older Americans. The program offers two different tracks for individual placement: (1) a residential track that includes a nine-to-12-month placement in Washington, D.C. (as a legislative assistant in Congress, a professional staff member in an executive agency or in a policy organization) or at a state agency; and (2) a non-residential track that includes a health policy project and brief placement(s) throughout the year at relevant sites. Core program components focused on career development and professional enrichment are provided for fellows in both tracks.

The program is open to physicians, nurses and social workers at all career stages (early, mid, and late) with a demonstrated commitment to health and aging issues and a desire to be involved in health policy at the federal, state or local level. Other professionals with clinical backgrounds (e.g., pharmacists, dentists, clinical psychologists) working in the field of health and aging are also eligible to apply. Under special circumstances, exceptions may be made for non-clinicians who are in positions that can impact health policy for older Americans at a clinical level.

We are delighted to announce our partnership with the John Heinz Senate Fellowship in Issues of the Aging. Our programs have combined to create the joint John Heinz/Health and Aging Policy Fellowship. Each year, one individual will be designated the John Heinz/Health and Aging Policy Fellow.

Our goal is to create a cadre of professional leaders who will serve as positive change agents in health and aging policy, helping to shape a healthy and productive future for older Americans. To this end, we seek your assistance in informing potential candidates of this opportunity. Please feel free to forward this notification to prospective applicants or others in the field who may know of such individuals, or to suggest other methods and/or venues for marketing the program.

The application deadline for the 2009-2010 fellowship year is April 15, 2009.

For further information, please visit our website at www.healthandagingpolicy.org or contact me or Phuong Huynh, Deputy Director of the program ( huynhpt@pi.cpmc.columbia.edu or 212-543-6213) directly.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Best regards,
Harold Alan Pincus M.D.
National Director, Health and Aging Policy Fellows
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University
Director of Quality and Outcomes Research, New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Senior Scientist, RAND Corporation
1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 09
New York, NY 10032
Phone: 212 543 5401
Fax: 212 543 6063
Email: pincush@pi.cpmc.columbia.edu