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Alison Hernandez was a surgical trauma nurse at Chicago ¡®s Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital when she decided to pursue a PhD so she could contribute to her profession through research. As she moved through the program, Hernandez started thinking about how her research work might affect broader change nationally and even globally. ¡°As a researcher I wanted to learn how to use my work to influence policy makers and legislation,¡± she says. Then Hernandez heard about a two-year post-doctoral fellowship being offered by Northwestern University¡¯s Feinberg School of Medicine that would focus on disability healthcare policy. The first year would provide advanced training in research skills and grant writing, and the second year would be an internship in Washington. ¡°Research can be a lonely island sometimes. Being in policy is a way to effect change on a very broad scale,¡± she says. Hernandez is now finishing up her fellowship in Washington, D.C., as an aide to U.S. Congresswoman Donna Shalala, a former Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Clinton administration who currently represents a district in Florida.  

Ivorie Stanley, another Feinberg disability policy fellow, is nearing the end of her stint on the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, working for U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat who heads the committee. Before the fellowship, Stanley was a physician specializing in occupational and environmental medicine, a field where she was examining the health and safety aspects of being employed in particular jobs like sheet-metal working. Now her work includes monitoring the rate of COVID-19 infections and fatalities among U.S. healthcare workers and working to come up with standards for safer workplaces. ¡°The fellowship has been a great way to gain additional tools to address structural concerns that are more social in scope,¡± she says. ¡°Being able to engage policy makers really appealed to me because I¡¯m very interested in addressing the social determinants of health and prevention.¡±

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown into sharp relief how government policies affect healthcare outcomes. But few people in Congress have healthcare backgrounds and even fewer are knowledgeable about disability issues. In order to increase the number of healthcare professionals involved in shaping and enacting policy, the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) began funding a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in disability policy in 2017. The first such grant went to the University of Washington in Seattle. Northwestern¡¯s Feinberg School was awarded the second grant a year later. Hernandez and Stanley are the first two fellows from Northwestern to complete the disability policy program.

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Both women feel they¡¯ve gained a new respect for the political process and the people who devote their lives to shaping healthcare policy. And they¡¯ve added new skills that have already changed the trajectories of their careers. ¡°My biggest takeaway is that I¡¯m much less intimidated about engaging with the offices of politicians either local or federal,¡± says Stanley, 36. ¡°I have a lot of respect for the process and the difference I can make in that space. No matter what, I see myself being more engaged as a citizen.¡± She plans to move to Charlotte, North Carolina, when the fellowship ends and resume her clinical work. But she also is thinking about becoming active in local politics, possibly at the city council level.

For Hernandez, the fellowship has resulted in a career change. ¡°I love it. I¡¯m very energized by the work. It¡¯s pretty chaotic sometimes. They call it drinking out of a fire hose. It¡¯s exhausting because it can go on for three weeks at a time but you¡¯re getting things done.¡± Assuming Shalala is re-elected in November, Hernandez, 34, will become one of her full-time staffers. ¡°We need more scientists and clinicians telling us what the issues are, not politicians. I am the voice for a group of people who don¡¯t have time to do the science. That¡¯s why it¡¯s so meaningful.¡±

As the first Feinberg cohort of disability policy fellows finishes up, their advisors are even more convinced about the need to have people with in-depth healthcare experience on Capitol Hill, where U.S. legislation and funding originates. ¡°There are so many federal programs that affect people with disabilities. It¡¯s important to have a cadre of scholars that are knowledgeable about how federal policy is established, modified and implemented,¡± says Allen Heinemann, PhD, Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Outcomes Research (CROR) at the Shirley Ryan С¶÷ÑÅ and co-project director of the disability policy fellowship with Megan McHugh, PhD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Feinberg.

The disability policy fellowship is one of three training grants funded by NIDILRR and overseen by Heinemann and McHugh to encourage evidence-based healthcare research. One of them focuses on health and function and attracts candidates like therapists, physicians, or nurses who are interested in studying certain diseases or sharpening their research skills, said Heinemann, who is also a  Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Feinberg. For example, one fellow wanted to research Parkinson¡¯s disease while another was interested in multiple sclerosis. The third and newest fellowship option is designed to appeal to people with an interest in increasing employment of people with disabilities.

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Most disability policy fellows spend their first year doing a scoping review of the literature around their area of interest while taking classes in research ethics, grant writing and writing for peer-reviewed publications. ¡°We aren¡¯t born knowing how to write publishable papers,¡± Heinemann notes. While the disability policy interns are working in Washington, the others spend their second year focused on writing grant proposals and getting them funded. Some fellows actually succeed in finding a funder and get started on their research, which may help them find a permanent position because the funding goes with them. Others write a five-year training plan with a research project that is portable and can be adapted for a new employer.

In addition to fellowships through Northwestern, CROR also funds post-doctoral fellowships through its Center grants on employment and home and community-based services.

Applicants for all the fellowships must have terminal degrees in their disciplines, either an M.D. or a Ph.D. Those with professional doctoral degrees in occupational or physical therapy are also considered if their work has a research emphasis. Stipends vary from $52,000 to $64,000 based on an applicant¡¯s experience.