‘Feed your soul’: The RWJF Health Policy Fellows Program Enabled Michelle Dennison to Revolutionize Diabetes Nutrition Policy
During her fellowship year, Michelle Dennison (right) worked in the office of former Surgeon General Jerome Adams (center). Photo: Michelle Dennison
By Marisa Coulton
Dr. Michelle Dennison loved her work as a diabetes dietitian in a clinic, but it was quickly burning her out.She saw that her patients were coming up against obstacles outside of her control. For example, they told her that they couldn’t afford the healthy foods she recommended, that they needed more cost-effective ways to feed their kids after soccer practice. It began to wear on her.These were systemic issues, Dennison realized, requiring systemic solutions. She needed to reformulate the food system itself to help her patients overcome existing barriers.
“I really wanted to see a bigger impact on the health of the patients I served,” she said.
Dennison leapt into the policy world by joining the State of Oklahoma Diabetes Caucus. “How can we make it easier to choose healthy foods?” she asked herself. “How can we make it easier to be more active?”
She began to fall in love with the policymaking process, she said. Developing policies to nourish her constituents, nourished her. “I didn’t have to paint with the small brush anymore; I could paint with the big brush.”
Dennison’s passion for nutrition dates back to her time at Oklahoma State University, when she became the first in her family to go to college. Her father worked in an oil field and her mother was a homemaker.
She pursued a Bachelor of Science in Dietetics, and later went on to a Master’s in Food and Nutrition Management from the University of Central Oklahoma.
Dennison, who is a member of the Kaw and Osage Nations, wanted to give back to the Indian Health Service system. “That was my comfort place.”
In the Native American community she grew up in, diabetes was everywhere, and seemed “inevitable,” she said.
Until it wasn’t. Early in Dennison’s career, research by the Diabetes Prevention Program revealed that Type 2 diabetes could actually be prevented or delayed. The discovery was so shocking, so groundbreaking, that even leading health care practitioners had trouble coming to terms with it, said Dennison.
That’s when Dennison decided to dedicate her career to diabetes prevention, with the ultimate goal of supporting good health policy for American Indian health, regardless of disease state. After several years of state-level policy work, Dennison was happy with her progress—she had had some modest wins. But she was hungry for more, and on the national stage. After finding out about the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows Program, she realized it would give her the connections, the policy knowledge, and the experience she needed to get there.
Dennison (front row) and staff from the Office of the Surgeon General at a Washington Nationals baseball game. Photo: Michelle Dennison
Michelle Dennison and her family on a weekend adventure to George Washington’s Mount Vernon during the fellowship year. Photo: Michelle Dennison
The program began with a three-and-a-half-month orientation, where Dennison and the other fellows had the opportunity to meet with briefers, a who’s who of American health organizations and policymakers. Briefers included think tanks, key executive branch officials, national leaders, Members of Congress, and their staff. The orientation content evolves from year to year in line with the changing health policy landscape in order to give the fellows the best education possible.
“I felt so valued. I felt like I was able to contribute meaningfully. I was busy every day. I didn’t ever feel like I didn’t have anything to do or something to contribute.”
After two months of orientation, Dennison, along with others in her cohort, started the placement interview process, which exposed her to a range of agencies and offices. She had one-on-one interviews with the offices she was most interested in and ultimately accepted a placement in the Office of Jerome Adams, then-Surgeon General, in the Department of Health and Human Services during the first Trump Administration.
“I walked in, and it just felt comfortable, at home… it was almost like it was familiar to me,” she said. Dennison felt empowered; she thought, I can do this.
The placement was everything she thought it would be and more. “I felt so valued. I felt like I was able to contribute meaningfully,” she said. “I was busy every day. I didn’t ever feel like I didn’t have anything to do or something to contribute.” The work nourished her, and fed her soul, she said.
There, she conducted research on the effects of marijuana on the developing brain of babies in utero, as well as adolescents. The full report, “Community Health and Economic Prosperity,” was published in January 2021. “That was such a neat thing when that came out, to know that those words came from me, and I was able to be a part of the team that created that,” she said.
Dennison (far left) alongside former Surgeon General Adams with the governor of the Chickasaw Nation and Leadership from the Chickasaw Nation during a field visit to Oklahoma. Photo: Michelle Dennison
Through her research, she was able to recognize Native American communities doing exceptional work in improving the health of their people, including the Chickasaw Nation, which had made “extraordinary progress to lift its people out of poverty and improve opportunities in severely distressed communities,” Dennison wrote in the report.
“Leaders of the Chickasaw Nation have created businesses to support the tribal government and offer opportunities to tribal citizens and community members,” she continued.
Dennison knew of the good work the Chickasaw Nation had been doing because she had witnessed it firsthand.
Years before, the Chickasaw Nation Medical Center had treated Dennison’s father, a veteran amputee with serious ulcers. “You could see bone,” she said. “You could see bone through the ulcers.” The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said they couldn’t do anything for him except amputate further, Dennison said.
The Chickasaw Nation Medical Center, on the other hand, was able to treat her father’s injuries. “They treated his wounds that the VA had given up on, and that extended his life by several years. You can’t put a price on that,” Dennison said. They really didn’t. “They don’t charge a dime for any of their services.”
The Chickasaw Nation puts the revenues from its businesses into the health system. “That’s a prime example of reinvesting back into your community,” Dennison said. “Taking your earnings and profits and abilities and investing in the health of those around you.”
The fellowship had a big impact on Dennison. For one, it gave her a much better understanding of how policy works at the federal level.
“I was able to take those connections back to my home organization with me, where I was able to build a coalition around initiatives that were important to the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic.”
Upon her return to Oklahoma, her former employer, the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic, offered her a new job as Health Policy Liaison and Metabolic Care Center Administrator, moving into grants management with 50% of her time dedicated to policy work at the state and federal level, writing grants for metabolic disorders, like diabetes.
Of all of the aspects of the fellowship, the placement had the greatest impact on Dennison’s career, because it connected her directly with Indian Health Service frontline and management personnel. “I was able to take those connections back to my home organization with me, where I was able to build a coalition around initiatives that were important to the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic,” she said.
Through the placement, “We were able to identify a couple of Oklahoma-based entities that were doing good work in investing in communities for the health of all,” she said. Upon her return to Oklahoma, she liaised with these organizations with ease, because being a part of the Surgeon General’s team had lent additional credibility to her, and her work, she said.
The members of the RWJF Health Policy Fellows class of 2018-2019. Photo: RWJF Health Policy Fellows Program
Dennison also resumed her work in the Oklahoma Diabetes Caucus, as a member and co-chair of the Diabetes Self Management Training and Diabetes Prevention Program reimbursement workgroup. She could now work more effectively and efficiently. During the RWJF Health Policy fellowship, she had expanded her network, which enabled her to be “more impactful in (her) work,” she said.
Today, she works as Vice President of Policy and Prevention at the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic. She oversees their policy efforts and their explorations into ‘traditional healing’—a new policy area and hot topic, she said.
Dennison has also joined a number of boards, including that of the RWJF Health Policy Fellows program, the Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, The Lynn Health Institute and the OKC Key to Home BOA. “I don’t think I would have been invited to any of these boards without my experience with the RWJF Health Policy Fellows program,” she said.
Dennison advises prospective applicants to “submit the application… if it’s at all interesting to you,” she said. “If you get through to the next rounds, then you get to learn a lot more about it. Then you decide if it’s going to be a good fit for you.” But don’t discount yourself early on, she added.
She finds her current projects extremely fulfilling. “I see the benefits of what’s happening, even if it’s small baby steps.” It feeds her soul, she said.
Feed your soul. The application period for the 2026-2027 class of RWJF Health Policy Fellows is open from August 1 to November 3, 2025. Learn more at HealthPolicyFellows.org
Follow the RWJF Health Policy Fellows program on LinkedIn or email info@healthpolicyfellows.org to get in touch.
About the author: Marisa Coulton is a journalist based in Toronto, Canada. She holds a Master of Journalism and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University.