Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program
For more than three decades the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program has fostered the development of physicians who are leading the transformation of health care through positions in academic medicine, public health, and other leadership roles. The goal of the program is to integrate scholars' clinical expertise with training in program development and research methods to help them find solutions for the challenges posed by the U.S. healthcare system, community health and health services research.
At UCLA, scholars receive intensive training in the methods of creating health and health care change at community, practice and policy levels. The program generally involves two years of study with up to 80% of time dedicated to scholarly work and 20 % of time spent on clinical activities. Scholars spend their first year in intensive, community-based learning and project development, followed in subsequent years by advanced project completion and elective work. Recent UCLA graduates in Pediatrics have become faculty members at prestigious universities (including UCLA) and leaders at major health agencies, including the LA County Department of Health Services.
For detailed information about the program, please access the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program website and the UCLA Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program website
Associate Program Director for Pediatrics
Paul J. Chung, MD MS (CSP 2000-2002)
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy & Management
Chief of General Pediatrics
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Chung is an associate professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, an associate professor of health policy & management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, a senior natural scientist at RAND, and chief of general pediatrics at UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital. He is also health services research director of the UCLA Children's Discovery & Innovation Institute, co-principal investigator of the UCLA/RAND Prevention Research Center, and an associate director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program at UCLA.
His personal research interests focus on child, adolescent and family disease prevention and health promotion. Current and recent projects include family leave policy for parents of vulnerable children, community-academic-policy partnerships in research, pediatric primary care redesign, pediatric quality of care, early childhood development, academic achievement and health, childhood obesity, and adolescent health behaviors including substance use, delinquency, and sexual health risks. In 2009, Dr. Chung received the Nemours Child Health Services Research Award, given annually to a single emerging child health services researcher in the United States. In 2011, he became chair of the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) Public Policy and Advocacy Committee, which includes membership on the APA Board of Directors. He also co-chairs the APA's Task Force on Childhood Poverty and serves as an associate editor of Academic Pediatrics.
Recent Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program graduates currently in the Department of Pediatrics
Tumaini Coker, MD MBA (CSP 2004-2006)
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Email: [email protected]
Rebecca Dudovitz, MD MSHS (CSP 2009-2012)
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Email: [email protected]
Debra Lotstein, MD MPH (CSP 2002-2004)
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Email: [email protected]
Bergen Nelson, MD MSHS (CSP 2008-2011)
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Email: [email protected]
Current Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program fellow in the Department of Pediatrics
Elizabeth Barnert, MD MPH (CSP 2012-2014)
Email: [email protected]
Incoming (July 2014) Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program fellow in the Department of Pediatrics
Adam Schickedanz, MD (CSP 2014-2016)