Health Affairs

Here are some recent foundation blog posts that caught my eye. The subjects are varied, so there is something for everybody to read! Environmental Health; Disaster Planning On April 29 Lauren Linville, a communications associate with the Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN), wrote on its Giving Insight blog about lessons learned during Hurricane Sandy. In “Six... Read the rest of this entry »

The author is a senior editor at Health Affairs who focuses on global health. The April 2013 GrantWatch column noted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s announcement of the eradication of polio as one of its priorities. Subsequently, the foundation launched the Global Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan (2013–2018), together with other partners, at... Read the rest of this entry »

This post, with the orginal title of  “Expanding the Way We Look at Health,” was first published on the Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN) blog, Giving InSight, on April 1. (That post includes pictures, which are not shown here.) The author is executive director of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation, which exclusively dedicates... Read the rest of this entry »

I recently returned from covering the Grantmakers In Health (GIH) annual meeting in San Francisco, where Rebecca Onie was among the keynote speakers. She was a 2012 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Young Leader award winner and received a “genius grant” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in 2009. Health Leads, a Boston-based... Read the rest of this entry »

The president and CEO and the vice president of policy and communications at the Connecticut Health Foundation describe its new approach and the successes of its grantees. Foundations often employ the twin strategies of grant making and commissioning and advancing objective policy research, but rarely do the twain meet. Since its inception in 1999, the... Read the rest of this entry »

It is time for another People Post with news of comings and goings at foundations. Also, watch for more people news in my GrantWatch column in the February issue of Health Affairs—it will be released next week! Roger Fine, former corporate vice president and general counsel of Johnson & Johnson, has been elected chairman of... Read the rest of this entry »

A foundation in Seattle that focuses on oral health has been working to go where their partners in health have long focused: on addressing the health of children before they are born. The mission of the Washington Dental Service Foundation is to prevent dental disease and improve overall health for residents of the state of... Read the rest of this entry »

The author is a former Connecticut state legislator and the former president of a foundation in South Florida. In the aftermath of the unspeakable tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, what we all seek most are the answers to two questions—why did this happen, and what could have been done to prevent it? As a... Read the rest of this entry »

On December 4, this funder, based in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, announced its intent to invest nearly $13 million in health care funding to four national nonprofits and more than a dozen other locally and regionally focused organizations. Support will include not only cash grants but donations of health information technology. The Verizon Foundation aims to reduce... Read the rest of this entry »

It is time to catch up on “people news” at foundations: who has a new job where, and who has been appointed to a foundation board. Also, Karen Davis and Dick Jackson were honored for their work—each by a different philanthropy. And a foundation staffer was named to the Institute of Medicine. Lucia Corral Peña has... Read the rest of this entry »

A new GrantWatch article, “HIV/AIDS in African Children: The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation and Baylor Response,” was released this week as part of the July 2012 issue of  Health Affairs. The issue has the theme “Assessing the [U.S.] President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR].” The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Health and... Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time for GrantWatch Blog’s periodic listing of job openings at foundations and other grant makers around the country that have come to our attention. This time I am adding a couple of requests for proposals (RFPs) for those who have a job but are looking for grant funding. Please make sure to verify that... Read the rest of this entry »

If you are taking some time off this week for Easter or Passover, you may want to dust off that resumé and apply for one of these positions. I have included a few interesting points about each position, but read the full position description for many more details. These jobs were posted on foundation websites... Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some openings that I found today on various foundations’ web sites and by word of mouth. Positions range from foundation presidents to a program assistant! Three Foundations Are Seeking New Presidents The Commonwealth Fund, as many of you know, is seeking a new president, because its long-time and well-known president, Karen Davis, is stepping down... Read the rest of this entry »

Overuse of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance are serious problems that many people seem unaware of. Witness those who go into a physician’s office with a bad cold and insist upon being prescribed an antibiotic. A cold is caused by a virus, and antibiotics are ineffective on viruses. In today’s post, GrantWatch Blog looks at some... Read the rest of this entry »

More and more foundations, it seems, are interested in oral health these days. The topic generated some buzz at a Grantmakers In Health meeting earlier this month, I noticed. The November issue of Health Affairs, just released this week, has a peer-reviewed GrantWatch paper on oral health care for children. Its abstract is free to... Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a round-up of some “people news” at foundations and public charities around the country from the past few months. I have included staff and board of trustee changes and other news. Gary Cohen has been named chair of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Foundation’s board. Cohen is executive vice president... Read the rest of this entry »

GrantWatch Blog has been on its Fourth of July break. Below, in this post-holiday edition I’ve gathered links to several blog posts that you may want to add to your reading list. Global Health Malaria: “Saving Lives: When the Impossible Becomes Possible,” Alexandra Farnum on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Foundation Blog, June 24. In this... Read the rest of this entry »

Catherine Hess of the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) reports on how foundations are supporting efforts to foster dialogue between states and stakeholders during implementation of health reform. Facts, not ideology, should ground discussions was among the lessons learned at a meeting of state officials and advocates in southern states. Even in political... Read the rest of this entry »

Next week, Mental Health Month begins. Paul Gionfriddo, who has his own blog, “Our Health Policy Matters,” wrote this post. He is the former president of a foundation in South Florida. The United States has the highest rate of mental illness in the world. According to Mental Health America, one in four Americans has a... Read the rest of this entry »