Statistical information plays an important role in informing actions and policies to improve the health of individuals and communities. With this guiding principle, the National Center for Health Statistics and AcademyHealth developed the NCHS/AcademyHealth Health Policy Fellowship Program. After 20 successful years, AcademyHealth and NCHS are no longer offering this program, but will continue our partnership for the Data Visualization Challenge. Learn more about the Challenge here.

Fellowship Overview


The NCHS/AcademyHealth Health Policy Fellowship Program was designed to encourage the use of NCHS data systems and programs by the health services research community in response to current health policy questions, and provided a basis for future health policy. 

Each year, the program recruited one (1) fellow (preferably a senior investigator at the associate professor level, tenured or non-tenured) from the field of health services and policy research to conduct research on-site at NCHS for up to twelve months using the NCHS restricted data files, especially taking advantage of the Center’s linked data files. The duration of this appointment was approximately 12 months.

Information about past fellows can be found here.

2019 - 2022 Board of Advisors


Briesacher Headshot
Member, Researcher

Becky Briesacher, Ph.D.

Associate Professor - Northeastern University

Becky Briesacher is an Associate Professor in the School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy and Health Systems Sciences at the Bouvé College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. Read Bio

Leighton Ku Headshot
Member, Researcher

Leighton Ku, Ph.D, M.P.H.

Professor - George Washington University

Dr. Ku is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, and a Director in the Center for Health Policy Research at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. Read Bio

Marsteller Headshot
Member, Researcher

Jill A. Marsteller, Ph.D., M.P.P.

Associate Professor - Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Dr. Marsteller has been involved in health services research since 1993 and specializes in organizational behavior and theory. Read Bio

Moy headshot

Ernest Moy, M.D., M.P.H.

Executive Director - Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Health Equity

Ernest Moy, M.D., M.P.H., is a medical officer in the Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).  Read Bio