Although the United States spends more for medical care than any other country in the world, our nation ranks poorly on many indicators of health and well-being. Studies comparing the health status of different population groups within the United States also repeatedly demonstrate marked variations in disease patterns associated with social, economic and environmental conditions. There is also growing recognition that decisions made outside the health sphere can have unanticipated effects that directly and indirectly affect the health of populations.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program seeks to improve the nation’s health by directing greater attention and resources to the full spectrum of factors that affect health. To increase the array of population-wide interventions, more scholars will need to explore the effects of contextual factors on behavior and biology. A new multidisciplinary field of population health is emerging, and there is a growing demand among government agencies, universities and public health organizations for interdisciplinary collaboration.

There are new sources of funding to support such work and a growing job market for individuals capable of researching, developing and implementing programs to improve population health. However, experts with such knowledge and skills are in critically short supply. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program helps fill the current void in training and bridges disciplinary perspectives and methods to develop the next generation of leaders who will expand the current knowledge base and extend their findings into practice.

This program is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Human Capital Portfolio, which seeks to build and maintain a strong and diverse leadership and workforce in health and health care, and to help develop specific fields.