Harkness Fellowship

The Harkness Fellowships (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowships) are a programme run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. They were established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several countries to spend time studying in the United States. The many notable alumni listed below include the president of the International Court of Justice; a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge; the controller of BBC Radio 4; the editor of the Sunday Times; directors of the Medical Research Council, the London School of Economics and the General Medical Council; and a vice-president of Microsoft. Harkness Fellows in Health Care Policy & Practice spend a year conducting research at American institutions such as Harvard University, Columbia University, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Kaiser Permanente, or the Veterans Health Administration. They gain an in-depth understanding of the U.S. health care system and policy challenges, enhance their research skills, and develop contacts and opportunities for ongoing international collaboration.

In addition, Fellows attend a programme of seminars during the year:

* September: Orientation and Qualitative Research Methodology Workshop
* November: International Symposium on Healthcare Policy, bringing together Health Ministers from Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States
* February: Washington Policy Briefing held on Capitol Hill with members of the United States Congress and senior government officials
* May: Canadian Policy Briefing on Federal and provincial health
* June: Final Reporting Seminar and the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting
The programme is funded and administered by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City, with additional support for some Fellows coming from external bodies[3], namely:

* B. Braun Stiftung[4] and Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany)
* Canadian Health Services Research Foundation[5] (Canada)
* Careum Foundation[6] (Switzerland)
* Nuffield Trust and the National Institute for Health Research (UK)
* The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (Netherlands)