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For nearly 50 years, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health Policy Fellows program has sought to build a strong, diverse network of leaders and maintain a workforce skilled in health policy. By connecting health professionals with the first-hand opportunity to participate in the federal policy process, this nonpartisan program aims to improve health equity, health care, and health policy.

When it comes to the world of federal health policy, there is nothing that compares to being there, in the room where it happens. “Working in Congress is really something that you can only understand being right in it,” said Ann Sheehy, class of 2021-2022 RWJF Health Policy Fellow, right after she wrapped up her placement in the House of Representatives. “I felt like no amount of reading books or taking courses would give me that sense.”

When it comes to the world of federal health policy, there is nothing that compares to being there, in the room where it happens. “Working in Congress is really something that you can only understand being right in it,” said Ann Sheehy, class of 2021-2022 RWJF Health Policy Fellow, right after she wrapped up her placement in the House of Representatives. “I felt like no amount of reading books or taking courses would give me that sense.”

Brian Williams was at the top of his field as a surgeon and was looking for a way to expand his impact beyond the patients that he cared for every day. “I was at a stage in my career where I just needed a nudge to get to that next level of impact. And I didn’t know how to make that happen or who to talk to, or where I’d get the skills for that,” he said.