Meredith Hughes, assistant professor of health policy and management, School of Public Health, is one of three inaugural fellows in the pilot State Health Policy Fellowship (SHPF) program, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced.
Hughes, who has been at the University of Pittsburgh since 2021, will focus on aging policy and implementation of the new “Aging Our Way” master plan in the Pennsylvania Department of Aging. She will attend training in Washington, D.C., in mid-September.
“This program is illustrative of the interconnectedness among science, policy and practice,” said Maureen Lichtveld, dean and Jonas Salk Professor of Population Health in the School of Public Health, who worked to help develop the program. “Through this fellowship program, we ensure that health policy and planning is not only undergirded by the most contemporary science but also seamlessly translated into evidence-based practice to benefit our communities on the public health frontline.”
A JD/MPH by training, Hughes’s research focuses on Medicaid, innovative approaches to aging in place, the intersection of housing and health, family caregiving and long-term care. “I provide regulatory research support for projects at the Pitt Healthy Home Laboratory, which is focused on designing and testing solutions to help older adults and individuals with disabilities remain independent and age in place,” she said. She has worked on grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including a program looking at implementing environmental hazard detection into existing eligibility assessments for community services, she said.
“I'm part of a new HUD-funded project starting in the fall, looking at how you can use commercially available smart technology to detect and prevent falls in the home environment,” she added.
The new program mirrors the NAM-Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Federal Health Policy Fellowship, which has operated since 1973. “I'm excited to see a new program start at the state level because state policy is also incredibly important,” Hughes said.
The other inaugural fellows are Brandi Freeman of the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Rachel Bernard of the Medical College of Wisconsin.
The fellowship is made possible by a collaboration between NAM and the National Academy for State Health Policy.
Along with Lichtveld, Everette James, associate vice chancellor for health policy and planning, health sciences, and M. Allen Pond Professor of Health Policy and Management in the School of Public Health, helped to create the program.
“States have always been laboratories for health care reform and are where policy meets people to deliver essential health programs like Medicaid and the Women, Infants and Children program, WIC,” James said. “The state’s role in regulating hospitals and licensing health care professionals is critical to protecting public health. Fellows will gain deep knowledge of these ever-changing programs and regulations and be in a strong position to ensure they continue to evolve to meet the needs of all people they serve.”
The program will partner with organizations in each participating state, including the University of Pittsburgh Health Policy Institute, of which James is the director.
Each state partner organization will select the fellows, organize funding to support fellow salaries and travel, and establish placements in state governments and legislatures, James explained. “The Pitt Health Policy Institute is pleased to partner with NAM, the University of Colorado Eugene S. Farley, Jr. Health Policy Center, and the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin to support this essential training program for future state health leaders,” he said. “We expect many other like-minded organizations and institutes in other states to join the program in coming years.