The Community Health Scholars Program (CHSP) was established in 1998 to train future faculty at schools of public health and other health professional schools, with skills in and career commitment to community-academic partnering, community-based participatory research, the study of social determinants of health and health disparities, multi-cultural competency, and public health policy. CHSP was, in many respects, a response to an earlier Kellogg-sponsored initiative, “Community-Based Public Health”. That 5-year program, developing models of community-academic-practice partnerships, made evident the lack of faculty at public health and other health professions schools who had expertise to develop community-academic partnerships or to engage in community-based participatory research.

The Scholars in Health Disparities Program (SHDP) was established in 2001 to train future faculty and policy-makers in the study of health disparities, behavioral and social science theories and methods, epidemiology and networking with national public health policy institutions related to the achievement of public health goals.

Both programs have incorporated the ecological view of disease causation. CHSP has provided training in community-based participatory research, highlighting relationships between academe, community and public health practice, and state and local policy relationships. SHDP has emphasized a multi-disciplinary approach to studying the social determinants of health disparities, and has highlighted relationships to national policy making bodies. The recruitment and selection processes of both programs have stressed the need to increase the diversity of faculty in schools of public health and other health-related academic institutions.

Since their inception, these two legacy postdoctoral programs have collectively enrolled over 90 scholars who are pursuing their fellowships and the 51 who have completed their fellowships are now pursuing academic, policy or health agency careers. Most Scholars alumni are Scholars of color, African American, Hispanic/Latino and Asian American.

The impact these two programs have made on the careers of each of their fellows, the institutions where they have trained and where they are pursuing their careers, and the communities where they have worked is evidenced by the of alumni of the Scholars in Health Disparities Program biographies (2004 Scholars, 2003 Scholars and 2001 Scholars) and the “Stories of Impact” and “Building the Movement for Community/Academic Partnerships” brochures issued by the Community Health Scholars Program (CHSP Alumni). Alumni from the two programs are now engaged in research, teaching and policy work on health disparities at 25 institutions and agencies

Scholar research on health disparities carried out during and following their traineeships has addressed issues of youth violence, smoking, environmental justice, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, women’s health, mental health, obesity, sexual health, air quality, bilingual training of health workers, hypertension among African American males, employment and health, genetics and disparities, stress, cancer, and substance abuse

Scholar alumni have played major roles in changing federal agency research funding to support community participation, directing a major program on African American men’s health, pioneering in CBPR applied to sexual health, assisting community-based organizations in receiving major grants, administering training programs for minority scholars, providing research support for the Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust, and enriching curriculum at historically Black universities. Scholars and scholar-alumni from both programs have authored or co-authored over 220 publications since the inception of their fellowships

In describing CHSP, its evaluator, Dr. Norge Jerome, stated “Two voices in unison, one in academia and the other in the community, to demonstrate…that this is the way you bring about change if you’re concerned about elevating the health of the public.” One community leader in describing the relationship with academe resulting from CHSP stated “What the relationship gives us is resources, information, assistance and sometimes personnel that we wouldn’t have access to in any other way. They help us fill in the gap.”

Speaking of SHDP, former President Jimmy Carter wrote “As they become leaders in their fields, this diverse cadre of 30 scholars—in disciplines ranging from medicine to sociology, political science to public policy—will make a real difference in sensitizing U.S. health policy.”

During the past four years, both programs have sought to connect with each other for their mutual benefit. Together with the Kellogg Health Policy Fellows Program, CHSP and SHDP have jointly planned and implemented four annual “Tri-Program SuperSymposia” in the Washington, DC area. At these symposia, Scholars from all three programs have shared their academic experiences, and through panels and break-out sessions, have met and had discussion with policy makers, policy advocates and community leaders.

The experiences of these past four annual meetings created for our scholars and the leadership of both postdoctoral programs a desire to combine efforts to form a growing community of future leaders to address health disparities, and to enable scholars in each program to gain skills and insights that are highlighted in each other’s programs. SHDP Scholars, for example, would gain an understanding of the value of community-based participatory research and academic-community partnerships. Conversely, CHSP Scholars, whose work often connects with state and local policy and practice organizations, would gain an understanding of how their CBPR findings can influence federal health policy development.

As the funding period for each of these two pre-existing program approach their termination, there was increasing discussion and planning of an extension of the programs that would achieve a closer connection between them, maintaining the strengths of each while enhancing both and realizing administrative efficiencies. The Kellogg Health Scholars Program is the result of that planning process.

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