School of Public Health student wins Kaiser-sponsored essay contest
| May 08, 2007 | |
Photograph of Brad Wright
Brad Wright, doctoral candidate in the Department of Health Policy and Administration, has received an award from the Kaiser Family Foundation for his essay, “AmeriChoice: The Right Choice for Health Care Reform.” KaiserEDU.org, the Foundation’s website for students and faculty interested in health policy, recently invited students to outline the health policy platform of an imaginary 2008 presidential candidate and propose a strategy for communicating the plan to the public. Wright’s essay was chosen from among nearly 200 graduate student entries to receive the $1000 prize. Judges included Scott McClellan, former White House press secretary for the current President Bush; Michael McCurry, White House press secretary for former President Clinton; Judy Feder, professor and dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute; Drew Altman, president and chief executive officer of Kaiser; and Diane Rowland, Kaiser’s executive vice president. According to Alina Salganicoff, vice president and director of KaiserEDU.org, essays were received from students across the United States in a broad range of disciplines, including public health, medicine, nursing, law and political science. Wright’s essay, she said, “stood out as exceptionally insightful, thorough, and well-researched.” Wright says he entered the contest because of his strong interest in health care for underserved populations. He believes that “major reform of the health care system is an integral component of meeting the needs of the indigent, chronically ill and others who…are unable to obtain [private] health insurance or do not qualify…for public programs.” He designed and named “AmeriChoice” to address those needs. Wright’s essay is available online at http://www.kaiseredu.org/essayprizes_wright.asp.
School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
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