Gregg Margolis, PhD, NREMT-P, a NAEMT member who serves on the NAEMT Education Committee, has accepted a fellowship with the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships Program in Washington, D.C., as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The one-year fellowship begins this September.

The Health Policy Fellows is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation with direction and technical assistance provided by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The Foundation’s non-partisan fellowship program is the nation’s most prestigious learning experience that connects health science, policy and politics and offers exclusive, hands-on policy experience working with congressional and executive offices in the nation’s capitol.

 
Margolis will have the opportunity to work directly with top figures in federal health policy and will be able to gain an insider’s perspective of the political process, develop leadership skills, and build a strong professional network. “It is a great honor to have been selected for such a prestigious fellowship,” Margolis says. 

The fellowship opportunity is of particular importance to the EMS community since this is the first time an EMS professional has participated in the program. “While I am personally excited, this represents success for the entire EMS profession,” Margolis notes. “EMS is profoundly affected by federal health policy and we have been largely absent from the process. Through this opportunity I hope to learn how we, as a community, can become an effective participant in the national healthcare policy and reform conversations.”

Margolis serves as associate director for the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT). NREMT executive director William E. Brown, Jr. says, “We are very excited about this opportunity for Dr. Margolis to serve the nation's citizens in this capacity. EMS will have a paramedic expert working within the federal decision-making process as our nation transitions its health care system.” He noted that NREMT will make staffing adjustments to assure smooth workflow during the year. “We consider our one-year loss of his talent at the NREMT to be for the greater good for Gregg, our profession and EMS,” he says.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, and focuses on the pressing health and healthcare issues facing our country.