The Center for Health and Wellbeing (CHW) at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs has selected three U.S. Health Policy Scholars and three Global Health Scholars. The scholars, all juniors, will receive financial support for travel and research to pursue internships and senior thesis research projects related to domestic and international health care and health policy.

Up to eight juniors are selected each year for the program through a rigorous application and selection process focusing on both academic performance and plans for work and research on health policy issues.

The scholars are supported by the program throughout their junior and senior years. Scholars receive financial support to engage in health-related internships or independent research on health-related topics in the summer before their senior years and are expected to write senior theses with a health policy dimension.

The scholars may also participate in planning health policy seminars and lectures, and they have the opportunity to interact with distinguished speakers during their campus visits.

This initiative is part of the Center for Health and Wellbeing’s Global Health Program and its Program on U.S. Health Policy. The program’s key elements all relate to domestic and international health care and health policy, and include: seed grants to support innovative faculty research; conferences, workshops and policy forums; and graduate and undergraduate research/internship grants.

The three Class of 2016 Global Health Scholars are:

Helena Hengelbrok ’16, an anthropology major pursuing certificates in global health and health policy and Latin American studies. She will investigate how local communities in Peru perceive the impact of a heavy non-governmental organization presence on child health.

Richard Lu ’16, a chemistry major pursuing a certificate in global health and health policy. He will focus his research on Kenya, examining the intersection between entrepreneurship and technology in health care clinics.

Daniel Sikavi ’16, an ecology and evolutionary biology major pursuing a certificate in global health and health policy. He will study the dynamics of infectious disease among North African migrants in France.

The three Class of 2016 U.S. Health Policy Scholars are:

Elshaddai Ephrem ’16, a molecular biology major who is pursuing a certificate in global health and health policy. Her research goals are to uncover the flaws of using randomized clinical trials for evaluation of experimental cancer therapies and to focus on patient-centered outcomes research.

Lena Sun ’16, an economics major pursuing a certificate in global health and health policy. She plans to study the potential of locating “hot spots” of high utilizers of health care, a process for identifying the most costly patients in a given population and helping them to address complex health and social needs.

Erica Turret '16, a Woodrow Wilson School major pursuing a certificate in American studies. She will focus her thesis research on the role of state legislatures in the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion.

The Center for Health and Wellbeing is an interdisciplinary center within the Wilson School, which seeks to foster research and teaching on the multiple aspects of health and wellbeing in both developed and developing countries.

The U.S. Health Policy Scholars Program is a joint effort of Princeton's Keller Center and the Woodrow Wilson School's Center for Health and Wellbeing. The program is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Global Health Scholars Program is sponsored by the Program in Global Health and Health Policy, and it is administered through the Wilson School’s Center for Health and Wellbeing.