Four UK health professionals selected to be part of the Harkness Fellowships 2025–26 

The Commonwealth Fund, in collaboration with the Health Foundation and National Institute for Health and Care Research, has chosen four health professionals from the UK to be part of a cohort of 10 Fellows for the 2025–26 Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy and Practice.  

This is a unique opportunity to spend a year in the United States conducting research, with mentorship from leading US experts, alongside Fellows from six other countries.  

The Harkness Fellows will begin their fellowship in August 2025 and over the course of the fellowship year, will conduct internationally comparative research and engage in a series of leadership development activities with US policy, research, and care delivery experts and innovators. 

Fellows will be placed with mentors based at leading universities, research and health care organisations. They will conduct research on critical issues relevant to the health policy agenda in both the US and other countries, with the aim of improving health and health care for all.  

In the UK, the Harkness Fellowships have been supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research since 2010 and the Health Foundation since 2016.  

2025 marks 100 years of the Harkness Fellowships and was established by The Commonwealth Fund in 1925. The Fellowship provides leadership development experience for mid-career professionals – policymakers, researchers, clinical leaders, health care executives and journalists – from across the following countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore and the United Kingdom. 

The Fellows will be expected to publish the results of their research, which may include peer-reviewed journal articles or reports for a high-level policy audience.  

The 2025–26 UK Fellows are:  

• Chukwuebuka Anyaegbuna, Technical Product Manager at Scarlet is passionate about transforming health care through technology and innovation and will work on a project to optimise digital mental health interventions to improve access and outcomes for underserved populations in the US and UK.
• Rocco Friebel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE); Deputy Director, LSE Health; Director, Global Surgery Policy Unit will focus his research on the economics of health system delivery, health care regulation, and quality improvement examining the impact of private equity ownership on equitable health care access and quality in the US, with implications for the NHS.  
• Lucinda Hiam, Clarendon Scholar and DPhil Candidate, University of Oxford will examine health policy reform in an era of polarisation and will explore how the narrative and framing strategies used in successful health reforms in polarised contexts in the US could support reforms in the NHS.
• William Roberts, Chief Operating Officer, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is developing a framework to provide health care providers and policymakers with practical tools to evaluate and improve equity within service design, investment decisions, and incentive structures, supporting efforts to build more inclusive and efficient health systems.

Next call for applications

Applications for the next round of Harkness Fellowships 2027–28 are expected to open in June 2026. Please note there will not be a 2026–27 call for applications. 

To receive updates, including details on future information sessions and the next application cycle, join the Commonwealth Fund’s email list.

More information about the Harkness Fellowships can be found on The Commonwealth Fund website.