PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cambia Health Foundation has announced the selection of 12 emerging palliative care leaders for its Sojourns® Scholar Leadership Program, marking the 10th and final group of Scholars to receive funding. Established in 2014, the program advances the next generation of palliative care leaders with a goal of increasing palliative care access, awareness and quality across the nation.
“We launched this program ten years ago because we believed that our ability to identify, cultivate and advance the next generation of palliative care leaders would improve the care of people with serious illness while supporting their loved ones,” said Peggy Maguire, president of Cambia Health Foundation. “Palliative care improves quality of life by providing an extra layer of support and focusing on the needs of the whole person who is experiencing a serious illness. The strength of the Sojourns® Scholars community gives me hope that whole person, compassionate care will become a standard part of one’s health care journey.”
Since the program started, Cambia Health Foundation has awarded more than $19 million to 108 Sojourns® across the country who specialize in a variety of palliative care disciplines such as nursing, social work, pharmacy, communications, health systems, psychology and spirituality. In addition to the Sojourns® Scholar Leadership Program, the Foundation has invested $65 million to advance palliative care access, awareness and quality, and remains committed to the field.
Each cohort is chosen following a rigorous selection process from a highly competitive pool of candidates that includes a variety of interdisciplinary team members and health systems professionals working to advance palliative care. Each Sojourns® Scholar receives a two-year, $180,000 grant ($90,000/year over a two-year period) to conduct an innovative and impactful project tied to a leadership development plan that positions the scholar for growth as a national leader in the field of palliative care. Scholars also join a collaborative learning community where they receive one-to-one mentoring from an established palliative care leader and targeted training on key leadership skills.
The latest cohort of Sojourns® Scholars was selected in 2023 and is the final group to join the program; their projects will be completed in 2025. With the induction of the tenth cohort, the Foundation fulfils its ten-year commitment to funding palliative care leadership development. “Ten years into the program, it’s an important time to celebrate all the accomplishments that the Sojourns® Scholars have achieved thus far and all the accomplishments that are yet to come,” said Maguire. “It’s an honor to welcome this new group of Scholars and I’m looking forward to supporting their work and sustaining the entire Sojourns® community as we move forward.”
Below are the 2023 Sojourns® Scholar Leadership Program grant recipients and their organizations:
- Allyson Chapman, University of California, San Francisco
- Anao Zhang, University of Michigan
- Andrya Rivera-Burciaga, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley
- Arika Patneaude, Seattle Children's Hospital
- Daniel David, New York University
- Eberechi Nwogu-Onyemkpa, Baylor College of Medicine
- Hyunjin Noh, The University of Alabama School of Social Work
- Jackelyn Boyden, University of Pennsylvania
- Jennifer Currin-McCulloch, Colorado State University
- Katherine Doyon, Boise State University
- Laura Emily Cotter, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
- Paul Galchutt, Rush University
The 12 Scholars include emerging leaders in the following disciplines: chaplain, nurse, physician and social work. To learn more about the individual scholars, please visit the Sojourns® Scholars page on the Cambia Health Foundation website.
About Cambia Health Foundation
Cambia Health Foundation is the corporate foundation of Cambia Health Solutions. Founded in 2007, the foundation has funded over $127 million in grants to advance patient- and family-centered care for all. We purposefully invest in ideas that expand access to behavioral health care to advance equity through whole-person health.
