The Association of Health Care Journalists International Health Study Fellowship is a Commonwealth Fund-supported six-month program allowing veteran U.S.-based health care journalists to pursue a story or project comparing a facet of the U.S. health care system to that of another country.
Fellows pursue the projects with the support of their newsrooms or freelance outlets, which commit to publish or air the work. The project could evaluate a key component of the health care system, a health outcome, access, performance, providers, efficiency, or other focal point.
Guidance is provided by AHCJ fellowship leaders through customized seminars, conference calls, and email consultations. The fellowship covers the cost of traveling to the seminars and the international reporting sites, as well as lodging and meal and incidental expense stipends.
The 2025 fellows and their projects are:
- Karen Brown, New England Public Media: Exploring how Norway and the United Kingdom have developed mental health guardrails to reduce problem gambling, through regulation and technology — and what U.S. public health leaders can learn from these policies geared to make gambling less addictive.
- Drew Hawkins, Gulf States Newsroom/NPR: Investigating what the Gulf South can learn from the Netherlands’ approach to opioid use disorder treatment.
- Cecilia Nowell, The Guardian: Examining Swedish midwives, who’ve been integrated into their country’s health care system for the longest of any developed nation, and who provide second-trimester abortion care in a model making its way to the U.S., Africa and humanitarian crisis zones.
- Sandhya Raman, CQ Roll Call: Examining how changing regulations of smokeless nicotine and tobacco affect youth and adult public health in Sweden and the U.S.