# Health Policy Training Grant

> **NIH AHRQ T32** · HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL · 2024 · $425,856

## Abstract

Project Abstract
We are applying for support to continue the Harvard Health Policy Training Program and seek monies over a
five-year period for eight predoctoral students. This program is embedded in Harvard’s Interfaculty PhD
Program in Health Policy, which aims to train a diverse set of investigators in health policy and health services
research, consistent with the mission of AHRQ. Our students have written dissertations on topics related to
many of AHRQ’s strategic research goals, including quality and patient safety, prevention and care
management, health care access and equity, and evaluating organizational and payment interventions. The
PhD Program is a collaboration among six Harvard faculties and is administered by a 57-member faculty
committee that is appointed by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences; the Committee is chaired by
David Cutler, the Program Director for this grant application.
The philosophy of the PhD Program is that students will work as part of an interdisciplinary research team and
therefore need a discipline that they bring to the team, as well as an understanding of the disciplines of other
team members or potential readers of their work. To implement this philosophy, students choose one of five
disciplines (decision sciences, economics, management, methods for policy research, political analysis) in
which they take most of their coursework; additionally, they take a year-long survey course in health policy, as
well as coursework in three other disciplines. Students also receive instruction in grant writing, and training in
oral and written presentations. Due to intensive monitoring and advising, most students finish their degree in
five or six years. Of the 345 students who have ever begun the PhD Program, 257 have graduated and 67 are
currently enrolled.
We have had our current training grant since 1994 and over that time have appointed 135 students as AHRQ
trainees, typically for two years. We have attracted a high-quality applicant pool and have many more qualified
persons who could be trainees; we have always filled our training grant slots. Our trainees have taken jobs in
academia, research institutions, and government, and they generally have received multiple job offers. Several
have won awards for their predoctoral research and also for their research and teaching after the degree. For
example, eight students from our program have received the AcademyHealth Outstanding Dissertation Award
and one has received Honorable Mention, and five have received the Alice S. Hersch Emerging Leader Award
from AcademyHealth.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10869974
- **Project number:** 5T32HS000055-31
- **Recipient organization:** HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID M CUTLER
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** AHRQ
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $425,856
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1994-09-30 → 2028-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10869974

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10869974, Health Policy Training Grant (5T32HS000055-31). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10869974. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*