Society summary

Nicola Gray awarded international health care policy fellowship

Dr Nicola Gray, a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council, is to spend 10 months in the United States pursuing policy-orientated health care research, having been awarded a Harkness fellowship in health care policy by the Commonwealth Fund of New York. Her research will explore adolescents’ use of the internet as an information channel about health and medicines.

The fellowship period is from September 2001 to June 2002. She will be expected to present a final research report at the annual meeting of the Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy in Washington during June 2002.

Dr Gray told The Journal that, having discussed the matter with the Society’s Officers, she would retain her membership of the Council during her fellowship period. The terms of the fellowship allowed short periods of residency in the fellow’s home country, and she intended to arrange her return visits to Britain to coincide with Council meetings whenever possible. She would not be claiming travel expenses from the US for attendance at Council meetings.

Although she intended to play her part in Council business, the Officers had agreed that she should not serve on any Council committees during her fellowship period. She would, however, remain a sponsor of the Council’s membership initiative.

Dr Gray added that her fellowship period would allow the Society to test its electronic links with Council members. She will be able to receive Council documentation by e-mail and submit her observations for consideration by the Council.

Dr Gray sees her fellowship fitting in with policy on the personal development of Council members. She expects her experience to have benefits for the Council and the Society. Among other things, while in the US she intends to contact the American Pharmaceutical Association “to see how pharmacy is going over there”. She says that the Commonwealth Fund encourages Harkness fellows to look beyond their research projects, making contact with their opposite numbers in the US, attending symposia and meeting policy makers, to gain a broad view of US health care.

Dr Gray says that her fellowship will build on her doctoral research, which looked at the effects of health information channels on how young adults self-medicate and manage minor ailments. She will pursue her research with Professor Judy Cantrill and Professor Peter Noyce, from the drug usage and pharmacy practice group at the University of Manchester. While in the US, she will study with Dr Jonathan Klein, associate professor of paediatrics and of community and preventive medicine at the University of Rochester school of medicine in New York state.

Dr Gray told The Journal: “I believe that my selection as a Harkness fellow will raise awareness of the benefits of pharmaceutical input to health policy. I hope that my work will make a positive contribution to adolescent health policy.”.

Dr Gray is one of five UK health professionals who have won Harkness fellowships in health care policy this year. The others are a general practitioner, two health economists and a health service manager.

Only one UK pharmacist has previously won a Harkness fellowship. Dr Carmel H. Hughes of Queen’s University, Belfast, was awarded a 1998–99 fellowship for a project to evaluate prescribing and related clinical outcomes in US nursing homes as a basis for a UK model.

Harkness fellowships

Harkness fellowships in health care policy are offered by the Commonwealth Fund of New York to give mid-career professionals from the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand an opportunity to conduct a research project in the United States and to work with leading US health policy experts. Up to nine Harkness fellows are selected annually for a period of nine to 12 months. Fellows participate in a variety of events organised by the fund and others, including the fund’s International Symposium on Health Care Policy. Each fellowship project is expected to culminate in a peer-reviewed journal article.

Each fellowship provides support of up to US$75,000, which includes travel to the US, a monthly stipend, research expenses, tuition for academic courses, and health insurance.

The deadline for applications for 2002–03 fellowships is 1 October 2001. Application materials can be obtained from Robin Osborn, Director, International Program in Health Policy, The Commonwealth Fund, 1 East 75th Street, New York, NY 10021, United States (tel +1 212 606 3809; fax +1 212 606 3875; e-mail ro@cmwf.org) or through the fund’s website (www.cmwf.org).

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