Dakota Cintron, Project L/EARN cohort of 2011 and a 2014 graduate from the Bloustein School with a BS in public health and economics, was selected to the second cohort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholars. He is one of three Rutgers/Project L/EARN alumni who were selected to the inaugural RWJF Health Policy Research Scholars cohort.

The other scholars are Laurent Reyes, Project L/EARN cohort of 2012/BA in social work and women and gender studies from Rutgers, who is about to begin her second year in the MSW/PhD program at the Rutgers School of Social Work and Patricia Calixte-Civil, Project L/EARN cohort of 2012/Rutgers with a BS in psychology, is entering the second year of her doctoral program in psychology at the University of South Florida.

Dakota earned an MS in applied statistics and an EdM in measurement and evaluation from Columbia University and will be starting the second year of his doctoral program in educational psychology at the University of Connecticut.

“Project L/EARN is proud to have prepared these three Rutgers alumni to contribute their talents and perspectives to this important initiative,” said Jane Miller, Faculty Director of Project L/EARN and a professor at the Bloustein School. “To have three students from our university among the first 100 chosen for this elite and highly competitive program speaks volumes about the caliber of education and mentoring we provide. With their diverse range of interests and career goals and the preparation the Health Policy Research Scholars will provide to them, they are poised to make real contributions to their respective professions.”

The Health Policy Research Scholars is a “leadership development opportunity for first- and second-year full-time doctoral students from underrepresented populations and/or disadvantaged backgrounds—students whose ethnicity, socioeconomic status, ability, and other factors allow them to bring unique and diverse perspectives to their research. They want to apply their research to advance health and equity, and their innovation helps build a Culture of Health, one that enables everyone in America to live longer, healthier lives.”