(Boston)--Michael Rosario, a second-year PhD student in the Graduate Program for Neuroscience at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), has received a four-year, $120,000 Health Policy Research Scholarship from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Rosario is the first Boston University graduate student to receive this award.
Along with his mentors, Rosario will study a group of older African-Americans living in Boston, as well as people of African ancestry living in the United States Virgin Islands (where they represent the racial majority). This research aims to generate important hypotheses about the role of racial discrimination in inducing brain changes associated with early Alzheimer's disease.
Rosario completed his undergraduate studies in psychology at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix. In 2016, he participated in the BUSM STaRS (Summer Training as Research Scholars) program and later completed his senior thesis in the Brain Plasticity and Neuroimaging Lab at Boston University.
The Health Policy Research Scholars program is a leadership development opportunity for second-year doctoral students from underrepresented populations and/or disadvantaged backgrounds who want to apply their research to advance health and equity. Upon completion of the program, scholars are equipped to lead and collaborate across sectors, professions, and disciplines, as well as to frame systemic issues and build policy solutions.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is the nation's largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health.
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