Scholars Selected for Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Program

Madison, Wisconsin - The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health will host post-doctoral researchers James Broesch, Carolyn McAndrews and Emily Walton as a part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars program.

The three scholars were chosen along with 16 others to complete research at one of six nationally prominent universities. In addition to UW-Madison, Harvard University, Columbia University, the University of Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, University of California-Berkeley and University of California-San Francisco also host Health and Society Scholars.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation program emphasizes the importance of linking a multilevel array of causal factors to understand and improve population health and eliminate the great health disparities within society.

Beginning in August, the three scholars will arrive in Madison to begin their studies. They are trained to investigate the connections among biological, genetic, behavioral, environmental, economic and social determinates of health. The scholars will then work to develop and distribute information to improve public health.

The Madison program is directed by professors John Mullahy and David Kindig, of population health sciences, and Stephanie Robert, professor of social work.

"We are very excited to welcome our three new scholars," said Stephanie Robert, co-director of the Health and Society Scholars program. "Not only are they each outstanding scholars in their own right, but we expect there to be great synergies in solving population health problems by adding an anthropologist, urban planner and sociologist to our current cohort of scholars, which includes a developmental epidemiologist, economist and psychiatric epidemiologist."

Previous scholars have conducted research that led to policy recommendations such as the reduction of childhood obesity by limiting fast-food marketing and the importance of insurance coverage to ensure children's access to medical services.