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The Julius B. Richmond Fellowships at the Center on the Developing Child support dissertation research for Harvard University doctoral students. The Richmond Fellowships were established in 2006 by a grant from the Foundation for Child Development in honor of Dr. Richmond’s birthday. This year, the Center saw a three-fold increase in applications, including the first submissions from students at the Graduate School of Design and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. This year, the Center will fund the research of five Harvard students:

  • M. Clara Barata is a fifth-year doctoral student in Human Development and Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research is on the impact of early childhood education on development, particularly in the domain of executive function. Currently, she is on the evaluation team of an integrated health and education preschool intervention program in Chile.
  • Dustin Duncan is a third-year doctoral student at Harvard School of Public Health in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health. Duncan’s dissertation research seeks to advance scientific knowledge on neighborhood environmental determinants of obesity risk among children and adolescents.
  • Carmel Salhi is a fourth-year doctoral student in Global Health and Population at Harvard School of Public Health. Salhi’s general research area of interest is on understanding the role of displacement on the mental health of children and youth using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.
  • Sabrina Selk is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Society, Human Development and Health at Harvard School of Public Health. Her research as a Richmond Fellow will focus on exploring the association between childhood abuse and adverse adulthood reproductive outcomes.
  • Amie Shei is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Health Policy program at Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.  Her research examines the health impacts of Brazil’s Bolsa Família program, a program aimed at reducing poverty, encouraging healthy child development, and building human capital.

 

About the Fellowship


This one-year Fellowship provides students a $10,000 stipend in support of their independent research. During their fellowship, students create a work plan for the year, deliver a brown-bag presentation, and attend Center-sponsored events. Each Richmond Fellow is asked to identify a faculty mentor whose responsibilities include attending the brown-bag session and identifying other faculty members who can provide feedback to augment the mentor’s expertise. There is an expectation that significant progress will be made on the Fellow’s research during the Fellowship year; specific benchmarks will be determined individually with input from the faculty mentor. 

Candidates should have excellent academic records and defined research interests in child health and development. Priority will be given to candidates whose work crosses disciplinary boundaries and has implications for social policy.

The Richmond Fellowship applications for the academic year 2010-11 will be due on April 30, 2010. The Fellowship year will begin in September 2010.

 

About Julius B. Richmond


The Richmond Fellowship is named for Julius B. Richmond who, until his death in 2008, was the John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Policy Emeritus in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As a pioneer in public health and development in early childhood, Dr. Richmond was the first National Director of Head Start in the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson and served as Surgeon General in the Carter administration, where he was instrumental in leading the first public health campaign against the tobacco companies.  Dr. Richmond cherished the fact that the Fellowship was established in his name. Since his death, the Center has renewed its dedication to promoting the professional development of young scientists. Read the Harvard School of Public Health obituary for Julius B. Richmond.

 

Past Fellows

Learn more about the research interests of previous classes of Julius B. Richmond fellows.