The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has announced the twenty-six recipients of its 2012 Clinical Scholars program.

Selected from a pool of more than ninety applicants enrolled in medical and surgical residencies across the country, this year's clinical scholars will each receive two-year grants to examine the delivery, impact, and organization of health care in America. They also will receive training in leadership, health policy, health services research methods, and the community-based participatory research (CBPR) model, which seeks to improve health behaviors while bringing resources and greater visibility to health issues within a particular community.

A program partner for more than thirty years, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will support twelve of the twenty-six scholars through VA Medical Centers affiliated with the participating academic institutions — Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, and the University of California, Los Angeles. The participating schools also will support six scholars in combination with RWJF and VA funding.

"The Clinical Scholars program is one of [the foundation's] flagship programs and is among the oldest and most prestigious fellowships awarded to physicians," said RWJF Human Capital team director David M. Krol, an alumnus of the program. "Clinical Scholars have paved the way for physicians who want to take a leadership role in improving health and health care in the United States."