WASHINGTON— The GW School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS), Department of Health Policy, has been selected to serve as the organizational home for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s new Commission to Build a Healthier America. The charge of the two-year Commission is to investigate how factors, including education, environment, income and housing affect Americans’ health. Based on this data, the Commission will identify proven strategies outside of the medical care system that will improve the health of all Americans.
“It is an honor to be the organizational home for the Commission to Build a Healthier America. It is at the core of our mission to work to improve the health and well-being of our local, national and global communities. We are so pleased to have been asked to contribute to this important charge,” said Sara Rosenbaum, JD, chair of the Department of Health Policy, SPHHS.
Led by Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, director, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at The Brookings Institution and former FDA commissioner and administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Alice Rivlin, PhD, senior economist at The Brookings Institution and former director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Commission’s members are innovators and experts from the academic institutions, non-profit organizations, for profit organizations, and media outlets that have the ability to cross traditional boundaries, mobilize partners and identify practical solutions. Rosenbaum and Marsha Lillie-Blanton, associate research professor in GW’s Department of Health Policy, will serve as senior advisors to the Commission, and Wilhelmine Miller, MS, PhD, associate research professor in GW’s Department of Health Policy, will serve as the associate director of the Commission. Additional faculty and researchers will staff the Commission.
The overall health of American citizens has an effect on many aspects of our country today, including our economy. The outcome of the Commission to Build a Healthier America’s research will draw attention to areas where changes need to be made to improve the health of Americans.
About the Commission to Build a Healthier America
The Commission to Build a Healthier America is based at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. David R. Williams, MPH, PhD, a renowned social scientist and Normal Professor of Public Health and professor of African American Studies and of Sociology, Harvard University, is the staff director of the Commission. Noted health policy expert Wilhelmine Miller, MS, PhD, associate research professor of Health Policy at GW, serves as the Commission’s Associate Director. The research team for the Commission’s work is headed by distinguished health researcher Paula Braveman, MD, MPH, professor of Family and Community Medicine at UCSF.
About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.
About The George Washington University Medical Center
The George Washington University Medical Center is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary academic health center that has consistently provided high-quality medical care in the Washington, DC metropolitan area for 176 years. The Medical Center comprises the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, the 11th oldest medical school in the country; the School of Public Health and Health Services, the only such school in the nation’s capital; GW Hospital, jointly owned and operated by a partnership between The George Washington University and a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc.; and the GW Medical Faculty Associates, an independent faculty practice plan. For more information on GWUMC, visit www.gwumc.edu.
To learn more about the School of Public Health and Health Services, please visit www.gwumc.edu/sphhs.
