Four UK professionals selected to be Harkness Fellows 2024–25

The Commonwealth Fund, in collaboration with the Health Foundation and the National Institute for Health and Care Research, has chosen four people from the UK to be part of a cohort of 12 Fellows for the 2024–25 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 eight other countries. 

The Harkness Fellows will begin their fellowship in August 2024 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. 

The Harkness Fellowships were established by The Commonwealth Fund almost 100 years ago in 1925 and were modelled after the Rhodes Scholarships. The Fellowship provides leadership development experience for mid-career professionals — policymakers, researchers, clinical leaders, health care executives and journalists — from across nine countries.  

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 2024–25 UK Fellows are: 

• Mo Akindolie, a Consultant Ambulatory Paediatrician at King’s College Hospital, who will evaluate currently available programmes for clinical leadership development in child health in the US, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Sabrina Das, a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, who will research a range of innovations and harm-reduction strategies that address abortion access following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which removed US federal protection for abortion access in 2022.
• Catherine Falconer, Deputy Director of Health Equity and Inclusion at the UK Health Security Agency, who will take a case-study approach to identifying US health and education systems taking a multi-agency approach to tackling chronic absenteeism.
• Ed Middleton, Policy and Portfolio Director at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, who will develop a policy framework that describes the priorities for ensuring that large language models (LLMs) are used in health care in a way that reverses health inequities.

Applications for the 2025–26 Harkness Fellowships are expected to open on 1 June 2024, with a submission deadline of 1 November 2024. 

If you are interested in finding out more about this opportunity, an information call (via Zoom) is being held on 28 May 2024 from 18.00 to 19.00 BST. Register for the information call.

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