Policy Center Notes is published bi-monthly by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College. The mission of the RWJF Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College is to provide leadership in health policy education along with research and reform on a national, state and local level while continually supporting the historic mission of Meharry Medical College to improve the health and health care of minority and underserved communities. For more information visit www.meharryhealthpolicy.org

1. JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2012
POLICY CENTER
Notes
Robert
Wood
Johnson
Center for
Foundation Health Policy
at Meharry Medical College
HEALTH POLICY
News
PHYSICIANS’ PRESCRIPTION:
ADDRESS UNMET SOCIAL
NEEDS
A recent Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation survey of physicians
indicated that four out of five
physicians agreed that unmet social
needs are connected to declining SCHOLAR Spotlight
health for many Americans. With
a substantial grant from e Physi- Class Matters: Achieving Health
cians Foundation Health Leads, a
Boston organization, trained college Equity by Tackling Poverty
student volunteers in five cities to
Written by Health Policy Scholars Orville Bignall II, Kevin Blythe, Kenisha Cantrell,
“assist” physicians to “prescribe” food,
Eleanor Fleming, and Piia Hanson
housing and fuel assistance, or other
resources for their patients – just as
they do medication. Research shows that poverty may have a greater impact on health
View full article here
disparities than race. Research continues to point to a declining
significance for race and instead suggests class and socioeconomic
COMBATTING OBESITY status as more efficacious determinants of health status within the
AMONG LATINO CHILDREN community. Childhood economic status, not race, more directly
In Texas and across the nation, half correlates with increased risks of chronic medical conditions such as
of Latinos born today will develop
diabetes. Salud America, e Robert
diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Socioeconomic status is a more
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) easily defined metric for promoting health equity. It allows for specific
Research Network to Prevent Obesity environmental and social determinants of health to be more directly
among Latino Children, engaged addressed.
more than 1,800 researchers, com-
munity leaders, policymakers and
other stakeholders to increase the
e recent global financial crisis has shed light on America’s
number of researchers and advocates evaporating “middle class” and income inequality has been implicated
seeking environmental and policy as a direct culprit of our nation’s worsening health status. As opposed
solutions to address Latino childhood to race, a new focus on addressing socioeconomic status allows clearly
obesity. identifiable aspects of a community’s infrastructure to be leveraged
View full article here. to improve their health outcomes. Further, socioeconomic status
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

2. PUBLICATIONS Brown, Tyson H. 2011. “The Intersection and Accumulation
of Racial and Gender Inequality: Black Women’s Wealth.”
The Review of Black Political Economy. Forthcoming.
SCHOLAR Spotlight
WORTH Noting CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
e Center for Health Policy’s Scholars and Fellows are a dynamic is a more easily measurable
group of students from Meharry and Vanderbilt who explore characteristic than the subjective
health policy as it relates to their primary fields of study. Read category of race. Race today is
more about three Scholars and Fellows below. informed not by the scientific
process, but by social politics; it
Eleanor Fleming, PhD, DDS, a member of the is an enormously complex and
first cohort of Health Policy Scholars, was selected to variable idea, grossly understated
serve as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Of-
by the five standard choices often
ficer at the Center for Disease Control. Dr. Fleming
received a doctoral degree in Political Science from offered. erefore it makes little
Vanderbilt University and graduated from Meharry’s clinical sense to base treatment
School of Dentistry with a Doctor of Dental Surgery and therapeutic conclusions on a
in May 2011. Fleming is the Center’s first scholar to subjective, self-reported variable
secure a post graduate position, and most notably, a
such as race.
position in which she will draw on experiences gained
as a Health Policy Scholar.
For decades, sociologists such
as William Julius Wilson and
Piia Hanson, MSPH is among the first group of political scientists such as
graduates in the Health Policy Scholars’ Program.
Ms. Hanson is now the Women and Infant Health Carol Swain have suggested a
Program Manager at the Association of Maternal and declining significance of race and
Child Health Programs (AMCHP) in Washington, growing influence of class and
D.C. In this new position, Ms. Hanson is respon- socioeconomic status as a way
sible for the development, implementation, and of critiquing social policy. By
evaluation of program and policy activities related to
women’s and infant health and maternal and child shifting our focus to class and the
health data and assessment through cooperative effects of poverty, these scholars
agreements. have suggested that institutional
and structural burdens have
Sydney Jones, RWJF/Meharry Health Policy created the stressors that result
Fellow is a second year doctoral student in the in the social disparities. It is our
Political Science department at Vanderbilt Univer- recommendation that efforts to
sity. During the summer of 2011, he experienced the eliminate health disparities focus
life of a health policy scholar abroad as an intern in on addressing poverty rather race.
the British Parliament in London, England. During
his time in Parliament, Mr. Jones shadowed Parlia-
ment member Rosie Cooper of the Labor Party and
member of the Select Health Committee. e Health Excerpted from Class Matters: Achiev-
Committee provides oversight and accountability on ing Health Matters by Tackling Poverty
health and health care issues in the United Kingdom. http://www.meharryhealthpolicy.org/wp-
content/uploads/Class-Matters1.pdf
POLICY CENTER NOTES JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

3. Ross LE, Fletcher A, Anderson MC, Meade, SAM, Powe, BD, Howard DL. “Complementary and
Alternative Medicine Use among Men with a History of Prostate Cancer” Journal of Cultural
Diversity: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 18(4), Dec. 2011.
DIRECTOR’S Desk
As the Center embarks on its third year, I am delighted to report
that our objectives have been achieved with tremendous success.
ey include:
development of a program focused on the recruitment,
selection, and matriculation of African American and
Hispanic students interested in health policy through
collaborative PhD programs in economics, politcal science,
and sociology at Vanderbilt University (VU);
development of a scholars’ program in health policy that
leads to the award of the certificate in health policy for Daniel L. Howard, PhD
current MMC students; Executive Director
development of a visiting professor program in health Robert Wood Johnson
policy that involves nationally-regarded faculty; Foundation Center for
implementation of a pilot project mini-grant program Health Policy at
that supports health policy research for both MMC and Meharry Medical College
VU faculty;
establishment of a prominent National Advisory Board.
e Center will continue to grow and thrive as we fulfull our
mission to increase the diversity of health policy leaders in the
social, behavioral, and health sciences, (particularly economics,
sociology, and political science) who will one day influence health
policy at the national level. To that end, we are committed to
advancing key initiatives such as the new Health Policy Professional
Development Program and the Health Policy Alumni Program.
ese are student-focused initiatives aiming to develop a new
generation of national health policy leaders.
We invite you to peruse our first edition of Policy Center Notes.
is month, we spotlight several Scholars and Fellows who are
already on the path to becoming health policy leaders.We also look
at the impact of class on health disparities. is and all bi-monthly
editions of Policy Center Notes will highlight opportunities and
resources available to health policy enthusiasts.
We value your support of the RWJF Center for Health Policy.
POLICY CENTER NOTES JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012

4. EVENTS & Academy Health’s 2012 National Health Policy Conference
The first comprehensive look at year ahead in health policy.
Opportunities February 13-14, 2012 in Washington D.C. For information
http://www.academyhealth.org/Events
2012 Annual Meeting Call for Abstracts Now Open HEALTH POLICY News
e American Public Health Association is announcing the Call for Abstracts for the CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
2012 Annual Meeting. e theme is Prevention and Wellness Across the Lifespan.
Abstracts in all areas of public health are encouraged along with papers that focus SODA TAX WOULD SAVE LIVES
on the Annual Meeting theme. All abstracts must be submitted online by February AND BILLIONS
6-10, 2012 depending on the Section, SPIG, Caucus or Forum to which the topic Over the past 10 years, Americans drank
is focused. All submissions will end at 11:59 pm (PST) on the due date listed on the more sugar-sweetened beverages than
Call for Abstracts. No late submissions will be accepted. APHA membership is not ever—as much as 13 billion gallons a
required for submission, but does imply a commitment to make the presentation at year—making these drinks arguably, the
the annual meeting October 27-31 in San Francisco, CA. single largest dietary factor in the current
To submit abstract, click here: http://apha.confex.com/apha/140am/oasys.epl obesity epidemic. In a study conducted
at Columbia University Medical Center
and the University of California, San
National Scholars Seminar Series Francisco, researchers estimated that a
Leading experts lecture on provocative health and health higher, penny-per-ounce tax would result
policy issues. e Seminar Series, a course for RWJF in an approximately 15% reduction in
Health Policy Scholars, is also open to the general public. consumption and reduce the prevalence
February 1, 2012 12:00-1:30 pm of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular
MMC, Learning Resource Center, Hall 1 disease.
View full article here.
Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD
Research Director on Social Determinants of Health and
Equity Centers for Disease Control and Prevention DIABETES HURTS YOUTH
LEARNING AND EARNING
National Scholars Seminar Series Having diabetes can carry many health
February 15, 2012 12:00-1:30 pm consequences, but a new study in the
MMC, Learning Resource Center, Hall 1 January issue of Health Affairs shows
that it also highly influences a young
person’s ability to complete high school,
Senator William Frist, M.D, Physician & Former US Senator be employed, and earn a living wage.
RWJF Center for Health Policy National Advisory Board Member High school dropout rates among young
people with diabetes are six percentage
points higher than for young people
Academy Health’s 2012 National Health Policy Conference without the disease. What’s more, young
February 13-14, 2012 adults with diabetes can expect to earn
Now in its 12th year, the National Health Policy Conference is the nation’s first $160,000 less in wages over their work-
comprehensive look at the year ahead in health policy, providing an insider’s view ing lives compared to peers without
into the nation’s health policy agenda. is conference brings together more than diabetes.
800 senior health care decision makers from academia, government, foundations,
hospitals and the health care industry. More information can be found here. View full article here.
Policy Center Notes is published bi-monthly by the Robert Wood Johnson Founda-
tion Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College. e mission of the RWJF
Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College is to provide leadership in
health policy education along with research and reform on a national, state and local
level while continually supporting the historic mission of Meharry Medical College
to improve the health and health care of minority and underserved communities.
For more information visit www.meharryhealthpolicy.org
POLICY CENTER NOTES JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012