The candidate's overall career goal is to increase her capabilities to conduct relevant academic research evaluating the influence of international health systems and policies on health, with a specific focus on quality of care. This overall goal will be achieved through three specific objectives: 1) To develop the skills necessary to practice health policy research, initially by focusing on the potential of high quality care in addressing population health problems. 2) To apply the methods learned in formal training with the aim of conducting responsible, objective, and policy relevant research in the organization and financing of health systems internationally. 3) To launch an academic research career by utilizing the formal training and mentoring based on rigorous multidisciplinary approaches. The candidate's long-standing commitment to international health and evidence-based policies has developed over nearly ten years while working in low- and middle-income countries. This award represents a key facilitating element, which will enable the candidate to successfully modify the course of her career from a professional to an academic track. She intends to systematically prepare herself during the period of the award in three specific ways. She will obtain skills through focused coursework with direct applications; maintain strong support from mentors with established academic careers; and take advantage of a unique opportunity in Mexico: the PROGRESA evaluation based on a rigorous randomized experimental control design and panel data. The research plan serves as the vehicle for achieving these objectives. It proposes to address the long-standing challenge of evaluating the influence of care quality by accurately measuring both care quality and health outcomes, using a population-based sample to overcome selection biases, and explicitly addressing endogeneity in program placement. In summary, this award will allow the candidate to obtain the necessary academic and mentored training needed to initiate an independent career in international health policy and systems research, beginning with the proposed research.
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