The CCJS assistant professor was recently named an Alumni Representative of the foundation’s Health Policy Research Scholars program

Demar F. Lewis IV, an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, first joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Policy Research Scholars (HPRS) program—a leadership development program for doctoral students from historically marginalized backgrounds—as a rising second-year doctoral student at Yale University in 2018.

Inspired by HPRS’ mission to create a community for scholars seeking to build healthier and more equitable communities, Lewis felt immediately drawn to join the program’s third cohort.

Now, having amassed career and life expertise as a scholar that recognizes the inextricable connections between social determinants of health and social determinants of safety, Lewis was recently appointed to serve a two-year term as one of the alumni representatives on the HPRS’ National Advisory Committee (NAC).

“As an alumnus of the HPRS program, I'm truly excited for this opportunity and look forward to using my position to continue supporting doctoral students—at UMD and across the U.S.—who desire to use their research to have a real-world impact by helping give them access to the resources, training, and mentorship they need to bring their visions for creating healthy communities into fruition” said Lewis.

A major incentive to apply for the role, he said, came from noticing minoritized populations and resource-deprived populations falling further under attack. 

“In an era where there’s attacks on progressive causes that purportedly pose a threat to people in different positions of power, I think it’s even more important to train the next generation of leaders who are going to be in these fights, and prepare them to navigate spaces where people are going to try to defund the work that they’re doing,” he said.

In his new role, Lewis will support the ongoing work of the NAC. The NAC currently advises HPRS program director Dr. Keshia Pollack Porter, a Bloomberg Centennial Professor of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The NAC also works diligently to support HPRS program leadership in achieving its mission of providing doctoral students with critical resources and professional development to translate their research to policymakers and other nonacademic audiences that actively work to advance the cause of health equity across the globe.

Lewis knows firsthand the kind of impact that this kind of mentorship and access to a supportive environment can have on scholars.

“I’m really excited to be at the conferences that the students are attending or spaces where they're meeting or presenting their work. As HPRS alumni and members of the NAC, we can very much play an active role in their development and enhance their experience in the program,” he said. “I look forward to seeing HPRS continuing the important work of transforming doctoral students’ lives, and by extension, improving the lives of the myriad communities and causes HPRS scholars have dedicated their lives and careers to."