Overview

AcademyHealth, with generous support from the Doris Duke Foundation, is pleased to announce the launch of a new program that will provide researchers and others in health services and prevention research an opportunity to hone their policy and communications skills and share evidence with policymakers in their local communities.

The Champions for Health Services and Prevention Research Program seeks to foster trust, champion evidence, and communicate effectively with policy audiences. AcademyHealth will train and mobilize a cadre of 20 Research Champions to promote the use of evidence and data to improve health and health care through targeted educational outreach to federal and state policymakers in their local communities.

The most effective way to reach elected officials (at either the federal or state level) is often through constituents in their home states, and this program presents a crucial opportunity for champions who can be authentic and effective messengers for the importance of sustaining support for evidence that improves health.

Program Details:

  • The program will support 20 Research Champions mobilizing in their local communities
  • Program length: 15 months
  • Online training course for 2 months with required participation (didactic videos, live sessions, and homework)
  • Engagement with policy audiences over 13 months with required participation (action plans, virtual group discussions with peer cohort, meetings with policy contacts)

Who Should Apply?

We expect applicants will:

  • Be early- to mid-career researchers or others working in the area of health services and prevention research.
  • Be passionate about making a difference in health policy.
  • Have some past experience engaging with policymakers and/or lay audiences about health services and prevention research.
  • Be based in the United States with a focus on the U.S. health care context.

The individuals who can convey the importance of health research most effectively are those who work in health care, research, and prevention every day, producing and using evidence and seeing first-hand the real-world impact of evidence informed policymaking on individual and community health. The expertise and lived experience of professionals doing this work across the country are uniquely compelling, and the program will rely on participants’ instincts and knowledge of their states and communities to help guide their efforts.

Program Participation Requirements

Full participation in the program is required—applicants must commit to and save all dates when applying. Please ensure approval from your organization/employer to participate in this program. There is no cost to participate. However, once selected, all Research Champions must be AcademyHealth members, if they are not already.

How to Apply

Applications are now closed. Notifications will be sent out in mid-September 2025.

What Does the Program Entail?

Online Training Course (October 6, 2025 to November 21, 2025)

To support this effort, AcademyHealth is launching a new online course focused on health policy and communications to prepare research producers and users to become effective Research Champions.

  • Course Content: Comprised of seven online modules, the course will provide participants with the knowledge and skills they need to be effective educators and advocates. The first three modules will focus on communicating for impact, providing participants with the ability to identify appropriate audiences and messages, as well as practical experience in effectively delivering such messages. The remaining four policy modules will focus on the three branches of federal government, the federal budgeting process, and state policymaking, with a focus on how the policymaking process really works.
  • Course Format: Each module consists of a 20-minute didactic video, a live, interactive 90-minute webinar comprising both small group work and discussion among all trainees, and a subsequent homework assignment to reinforce the content.
  • Course Timing: The course duration will be from Monday, October 6, 2025, to Friday, November 21, 2025, with live sessions occurring every Tuesday from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET during the course. The estimated time commitment is approximately 3 hours per week, inclusive of the live sessions.

Engagement with Policy Audiences (December 2025 to December 2026)

Following completion of the course, participants will engage with elected and appointed policymakers and staff in participants’ home states, beginning a process of building trust for long-term engagement.

  • Developing Action Plans: AcademyHealth staff will work with participants to develop individualized action plans to guide participants’ outreach efforts with specific messages for their identified policymakers.
  • Virtual Group Discussions: AcademyHealth will host regular live, virtual sessions for the cohort of participants to meet in small groups to share their experiences, brainstorm with peers, and celebrate successes, reinforcing that their individual efforts are an important part of the collective action the field is taking. The live, virtual cohort group discussions will take place on Tuesdays from 2:30-3:30 p.m. ET, occurring biweekly in December 2025 (on Dec 2 and 16) and then monthly from January through December 2026 (second Tuesday of every month starting on Jan 13).
  • Policy Engagement: Each participant is expected to meet with their policy contacts in their home states between one and three times between January and November 2026.
    • Important: The Champions for Health Services and Prevention Research Program is not intended to support lobbying, and participants are prohibited from using program funds or supports to lobby on behalf of AcademyHealth or program sponsors. All outreach will be educational in nature, raising awareness of current, relevant research and its impact or potential impact for improving health and health care.
  • Sharing Successes: AcademyHealth will also work with participants to promote their efforts more broadly via blog posts, short videos, presentations, etc.

Questions

Questions about this opportunity can be submitted to [email protected].