NAMOur WorkHealth Policy Fellowships and Leadership ProgramsNAM Fellowship to Advance State Health Policy

NAM Fellowship to Advance State Health Policy

The National Academy of Medicine’s NAM Perspectives health periodical provides a venue for leading health, medical, science, and policy experts to reflect on issues and opportunities important to the advancement of our mission.
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Upcoming Nominations

2026 Fellowship

​The next call for nominations will open in March 2026.

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The overall purpose of the NAM Fellowship to Advance State Health Policy is to provide talented, early-career health science scholars from Wisconsin with the opportunity to experience and participate in evidence-based healthcare or public health studies that improve the care and access to care of patients in domestic and global health care systems. This program is supported with funding from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin. The program especially welcomes nominations of historically underrepresented candidates. Individuals with residence in the state of Wisconsin are eligible for the program. The NAM Fellowship to Advance State Health Policy is part of the NAM Fellowships for Health Science Scholars program.

Fellows

Current Fellow

2024-2026 NAM Fellow to Advance State Health Policy

Dr. Anaya is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health and a Co-Director of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture (CESLAC) Accelerating Latinx Leadership Institute.  She is a faculty expert for the Latina Futures Lab, Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI), an Associate Editor for the Family Medicine journal, and a Physician Board Director for the UW Health Accountable Care Organization Board of Directors.  Clinically, she is a primary care doctor at Access Community Health Centers Wingra Family Medical Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center. 

Dr. Anaya is passionate about improving the health and healthcare of minoritized and marginalized communities.  Her research interests include Latinx and immigrant health, investigating and addressing aspects of healthcare delivery that act as barriers to healthcare equity, and issues of physician workforce diversity.  She is particularly interested in the application of research to promote policies and programs that address health equity.  Dr. Anaya has collaborated on various research and policy efforts with CESLAC, LPPI, and others, such as the California Health Care Foundation, as a subject matter expert in telehealth care equity, the Latina physician workforce, and pathway programs at various levels of the educational and professional pipeline.  She was honored with the bi-national Mexico-United States Zaragoza Award for her research and service to the immigrant community in 2021. 

Dr. Anaya obtained her BA from Occidental College and her MD and MPH from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.  She completed family medicine residency training at UCLA.  In 2023, Dr. Anaya was a Visiting Scholar at the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care in Washington, DC.  She is also a 2024 NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) Health Disparities Research Institute Scholar. 

Past Fellow

2022-2024 NAM Fellow to Advance State Health Policy

Dr. Weston is an Associate Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He serves as Chief Health Policy Advisor for Milwaukee County working to enhance the health of one million citizens. In addition, Dr. Weston is the Director of Medical Services for the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management, overseeing medical services for the 15 fire departments throughout the county. He practices clinically in the emergency department at Froedtert Hospital, a Level 1 Trauma Center. His research interests include prehospital care, resuscitation, health equity, and public health surveillance.

Dr. Weston served as the Medical Director for the Milwaukee County/City/Municipality COVID-19 Emergency Operations Center. He has been featured on MSNBC, CNN, BBC, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, and in Politico and The New York Times. He has provided medical direction and oversight for events including NFL, NBA, MLB, Indycar, and USA Triathlon. He has been selected as Milwaukee Business Journal’s 40 under 40, named the Public Health Leader of the Year, and listed as “Best of Milwaukee” in Milwaukee Magazine.

Dr. Weston received his MD and MPH from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and completed his emergency medicine residency at Hennepin County Medical Center. Dr. Weston is dual board-certified in Emergency Medicine as well as Emergency Medical Services by the American Board of Emergency Medicine after completing his Emergency Medical Services Fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Fellowship Description 

The NAM Fellowship to Advance State Health Policy is awarded for a two-year period. During this time, the fellow is expected to continue to work at their primary academic and research posts, while being assigned to a particular board at the National Academies. The boards are:

  • Children, Youth, and Families,
  • Food and Nutrition,
  • Global Health,
  • Health Care Services,
  • Health Sciences Policy, and
  • Population Health and Public Health Practice.

The fellowship requires a 10- to 20-percent commitment of time for two years, and includes attendance at a one-week orientation session, the NAM Annual Meeting and the meetings of the fellow’s designated board. Domestic travel expenses are covered for participation in approved fellowship activities. Additionally, the fellow will participate actively in the work of an appropriate study committee or roundtable, including contributing to its reports or other products. Studies that would enable the potential for the fellow to contribute to the value of integrating medicine and public health will be identified.

This experience will introduce the NAM Fellow to Advance State Health Policy to a variety of experts and perspectives, including legislators, government officials, industry leaders, executives of voluntary health organizations, scientists, and other health professionals. In addition, each fellow will be assigned to an NAM member who will serve as a senior mentor during the two years of the fellowship.

A flexible research grant of $25,000 will be awarded to each NAM Fellow to Advance State Health Policy, which will be administered through the appropriate department in the fellow’s home institution to advance the fellow’s professional and academic career. This grant is not intended for use as a salary offset for the fellow, and no indirect costs are allowed.

Get Started

Nomination & Selection Process

Nominees for the NAM Fellowship to Advance State Health Policy must:

  • Be nominated by an NAM member or a senior leader from a Wisconsin school or university
  • Hold a doctoral degree
  • Be a non-tenured member of an academic faculty
  • Be able to dedicate 10 to 20 percent of time to the fellowship for two years
  • Have endorsement by the dean, department chair, center director or comparable senior leader
  • Hold U.S. citizen or permanent resident status at the time of the nomination with residence in the state of Wisconsin

Nominees will be evaluated by an NAM-appointed committee based on their professional qualifications, scholarship, and quality of professional accomplishments as evidenced through publications and research grants, and relevance of current field of expertise to the work of the NAM.

Preference will be given to candidates who have a demonstrated interest in improving the health of Wisconsin, with a focus on health issues important to Wisconsin communities and scholarship related to community health, health equity, rural health, and/or policy/systems change.

A complete nomination packet must be submitted electronically through the online nomination system at https://namfellows.secure-platform.com/submission and will include the following documents:

  • A nomination letter from an NAM member or a senior leader from a Wisconsin school or university
  • Three (3) letters of reference
  • A supporting letter from the candidate’s dean, department chair, center director or comparable senior leader
  • An up-to-date curriculum vitae
  • A brief one-page bio
  • A one-page personal statement that describes the candidate’s reasons for wanting to be a fellow for this particular program at this phase of their career

Timeline

Fellowships will be awarded in even years.

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March 2026

Call for nominations opens

June 2026

Nomination packets are due at 3:00pm ET

July 2026

Awardee is notified

September 2026

Fellow orientation week at the NAM is held

October 2026

Fellow is introduced to the Membership at the NAM Annual Meeting

Program Administration

Inquiries about the NAM Fellowship to Advance State Health Policy should be directed to:

Yumi Phillips
Senior Program Officer

Health Policy Fellowships and Leadership Programs
National Academy of Medicine
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001

Phone: (202) 334-1506
Email: [email protected]

 The NAM Fellowship to Advance State Health Policy was established in 2022 with funding from the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin.