Introductions

The Kellogg Health Scholars Program, supported by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, is intended to develop new leadership in the effort to reduce and eliminate health disparities and to secure equal access to the conditions and services essential for achieving healthy communities. Through this Program, leaders will be trained in the competencies needed to undertake research adding to our knowledge about the nature of social disparities in health and about interventions to reduce those disparities; the capacity to partner with communities in carrying out research and building policy advocacy; and the skills to inform and support policy makers who seek to reduce and eliminate health disparities. The Kellogg Health Scholars Program consists of two tracks and offers two-year postdoctoral fellowships at eight training sites. In 2008, eight fellowships will be in the Community track and eight fellowships in the Multidisciplinary track. The Community track highlights communitybased participatory research, and relationships between academe, community and public health practice. The Multidisciplinary track highlights a multidisciplinary approach to studying the determinants of health disparities. Both tracks highlight the translation of health research into policy. All scholars will participate once a year in a networking meeting/workshop at which policy and practice experts from the affiliated policy development/ advocacy organizations, public health agencies and Community leaders will share their expertise with the scholars and the scholars will share their work with each other and with the Program's National Advisory Committee. In addition, two additional small annual meetings of the scholars and electronic thematic miniworkshops will be held. At the small meetings scholars will share their research plans and projects with each other, lessons learned, challenges faced and strategies developed in their traineeship experience; gain leadership skills such as writing and publishing journal articles; learn to seek, write and manage grants; build teams and share their vision; and get tips about the job search and job talk. And, the mini-workshops will provide opportunities for scholar to link up with panels of selected alumni, mentors, program leadership or invited guests sharing leadership skills in a selected area.