Global Health Policy Fellows Program 2018

Deadline: April 30, 2018

The Center for Policy Impact in Global Health is now accepting applications for the Global Health Policy Fellows program. They are appointing up to two visiting Global Health Policy Fellows each year who will be based at Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. The fellowships will provide mid-career professionals the opportunity to join the Center’s research team, lead their own research project, participate in policy outreach activities, and take classes across Duke University.

The Center is an innovative policy laboratory that launched on December 1, 2016. They are looking for mid-career professional with a background in health policy and/or financing who would like to join us for five months from Fall 2018.

Fellows will gain experience in global health policy research using both quantitative and qualitative approaches (e.g., tracking health financing flows; modeling the impacts of health policies; and conducting key informant interviews with policy makers); communicating the findings of the Center’s research with policy makers; and writing policy briefs and scientific research papers.

The Center’s analytic and policy engagement activities, in which the fellows will participate, are aimed at helping to close critical gaps in global health financing.  In particular, the research focuses on closing:

• A gap in financing crucial but neglected “global functions” of development assistance for health. These functions include providing global public goods (e.g. research and development for diseases of poverty); managing negative cross-border externalities (e.g. preparing for pandemics); and fostering global health leadership and stewardship (e.g. promoting aid effectiveness).
• A “middle income gap” that can arise when countries graduate from development assistance for health. Despite graduation, many middle-income countries (MICs) still have large populations suffering a high burden of poverty and avoidable mortality. Such transitioning countries may not have sufficient domestic resources (e.g. from tax revenues) to tackle these stark health inequities.
• A domestic health financing gap in low-income countries (LICs) and MICs. Making progress in reducing the burden of death and disability from infections, maternal and child health conditions, and non-communicable diseases will rely heavily on improved domestic resource mobilization and increased allocation of these resources to the health sector.

Fellowship Components

The fellows program will last up to 5 months and is non-renewable. The fellowship provides a wide range of opportunities including academic coursework, research opportunities, participation in Duke University events, and a deeper and longer policy engagement after the end of the program.

The program is entirely for training and gaining experience in global health policy – fellows will not be required to perform any work for the Center.

• Participation in the Center’s analytic work
• Research project and publication
• Academic coursework
• Skill development
• Interaction with global health and policy leaders

Award value

Each fellowship will last up to 5 months, and each award is worth up to $25,000. This award will cover travel, accommodation, living expenses, visa costs, and medical insurance.

The fellowship is being funded by a small family foundation.

Eligibility

• Applications are invited from candidates in low- and middle-income countries who have a background in health policy, health financing and delivery, or government financing of health services.
• Candidates must have at least a masters’ degree and a minimum of five years of relevant work experience.
• Mid-career researchers are particularly encouraged to apply.
• The Center wishes to be flexible in terms of the preferred background skills of the candidate, as they recognize that fellows could come from academia, government, think tanks, NGOs, bilateral or multilateral development agencies, or consulting firms, and we want to be open to finding the right candidates from across any of these sectors.
• Experience in conducting health research (quantitative and/or qualitative) would be preferred.
• Preference will be given to candidates with at least a master’s level degree in health policy, public finance, health financing or another relevant field and up to five years of relevant professional work experience.

Application

Candidates must submit the following documents to apply to the fellowship program:

• Curriculum vitae including details of publications;
• A 500-word statement describing why you are interested in the fellows program;
• A project proposal of up to 1000 words that describes the research project that you would conduct during the program at Duke and how it would be aligned with the Center’s mission;
• Writing samples that demonstrate your previous work, your writing skills, and your ability to express original ideas (they prefer solo-authored writing samples, if these are available);
• Photocopy of your Masters and/or PhD certificate, whichever is applicable;
• Demonstrate English proficiency by providing one of the following documents as per Duke University regulations.;
• A photocopy of your passport; and
• The names of two professional references.

All application materials must be in English.

Note: While sending application materials and references, please state Global Health Policy Fellows Program in the subject line of the email.

Completed application materials must be sent by email to: cpigh@duke.edu