The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, the foundation focuses on access to

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

health equity Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health, specifically from wealth, power and prestige. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequitie ...

, leadership and training, and changing systems to address barriers to health. RWJF has been credited with helping to develop the

911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 911 ...

emergency system, reducing tobacco use among Americans, lowering rates of unwanted teenage pregnancies, and improving perceptions of

hospice care Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...

. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: supports the development of programs that can be used in community-led initiatives or by government bodies; funds research through surveys and polls; and makes impact investments. According to ''

Pensions & Investments Crain Communications Inc is an American multi-industry publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 non-US subsidiaries. History Gustavus Dedman (G.D.) Crain, Jr. ( Gustavus Demetrious Crain, Jr.; 1885–1973), pre ...

'' and Foundation Center, the foundation was the fifth-largest in the U.S. in investment assets, as of 2015. As of 2020, the value of its endowment was $13 billion.

History

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was initially established as the Johnson-New Brunswick Foundation in December 1936, and focused on charitable efforts in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and Middlesex County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The original board of trustees included

Robert Wood Johnson II Robert Wood "General" Johnson II (April 4, 1893 – January 30, 1968) was an American businessman. He was one of the sons of Robert Wood Johnson I, the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. He turned the family business into one of the world's l ...

, John Seward Johnson II, and others. It was renamed the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 1952.

left a bequest of 10,204,377 shares of

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

stock to the foundation upon his death in 1968. The foundation became a national philanthropy in 1972. The value of the stock was more than US$1 billion, making it the second-largest private foundation at the time.

1972–1985

Initially, the foundation worked on improving access to

, with a focus on

impoverished Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income

and

minority Minority may refer to: Politics * Minority government, formed when a political party does not have a majority of overall seats in parliament * Minority leader, in American politics, the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative b ...

groups, infant and elder care, and

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...

. It created a $15 million grant program to contribute to the development of emergency services systems in the United States. Then-president David E. Rogers established a partnership with the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

to increase oversight of how the funds were used and assess project outcomes. Ultimately, the funds were distributed to 44 grantees in amounts ranging from $350,000 to $400,000. The program funded primary aspects of

emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...

, including: technology access, such as equipping ambulances with radios; training for ambulance drivers and dispatchers; interagency coordination through a national centralized, regional-based system; and development of the

emergency system. In 1973, 11 percent of areas covered by the foundation's program had access to a centralized emergency services system. By 1977, when the program ended, coverage had increased to 95 percent. In 1985, the foundation partnered with The Pew Charitable Trusts to launch a new program to improve access to health care for the American homeless population. The organizations committed $25 million over five years to 19 pilot programs as part of their Health Care for the Homeless initiative. Approaches to the issue varied by city. For example, a

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

program connected hospitals with homeless shelters, so individuals experiencing homelessness had access to inpatient and

outpatient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...

care. Another program in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

focused on providing care in

soup kitchens A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center, is a place where food is offered to the hungry usually for free or sometimes at a below-market price (such as via coin donations upon visiting). Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, soup ...

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

followed the foundation's program for providing health care through shelters by passing the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Other early foundation efforts included: support for the

Nurse-Family Partnership Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a non-profit organization operating in the United States that connects mothers pregnant with their first child with registered nurses, who provide home visits until the child's second birthday. NFP intervention ...

, which partners at-risk pregnant women with nurses; establishing the Minority Medical Faculty Development Program (renamed the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program in 2004); and supporting development of the "swing bed" concept in rural hospitals, which allows patients to transition from

acute care Acute care is a branch of secondary health care where a patient receives active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery.Alberta Health ServicesAcute care.Acces ...

to skilled-nursing without having to transfer to a nursing home.

1986–2001

Beginning in 1986, the foundation focused on funding programs for the treatment

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

, despite the stigma surrounding the disease. It launched the AIDS Health Services Program in 11 communities around the U.S., which aimed to integrate a network of human services agencies for case management and favored community-care models for patients. By May 1989, the foundation had given $50 million to care services and prevention campaigns. The Ryan White CARE Act was partially modeled on RWJF's program. After Dr. Steven A. Schroeder became the foundation's president in 1990, he made substance abuse a major focus of the foundation’s work. Between 1991 and 2003, the foundation spent approximately $408 million on a variety of tobacco-related programs, including awareness campaigns on smoking cessation and the negative effects of tobacco use. The foundation launched Smokeless States in 1993, a program designed to educate local groups about the effects of tobacco and options for regulating tobacco usage. By 2007, 31 states and the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

had adopted the program. The foundation's Center for Tobacco-Free Kids was asked to participate as a "disinterested and trustworthy party" in state litigation leading up to the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement of 1998. Apart from substance abuse, the foundation also funded studies on

palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...

and worked with researchers to develop the chronic care model. In 1989, the organization funded a five-year, $28 million study on palliative care, publishing the results in 1995. The Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatment found that most Americans die alone in hospitals while receiving high-cost care and treatment, often against the patient's desires. The study led to the formation of several groups by the foundation, including Last Acts, 900 entities that have drafted best practices for

. Between 1989 and 2007, the foundation gave more than $148 million for research related to palliative care. By 2007, more than 500 hospitals throughout the U.S. had palliative care programs, most of which were created after the foundation and George Soros's

Open Society Institute Open Society Foundations (OSF), formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded and chaired by business magnate George Soros. Open Society Foundations financially supports civil society groups around the world, with a sta ...

began research and advocacy efforts. During this period, the foundation also contributed to efforts to enroll more uninsured U.S. children in Medicare (United States) medicare. A study published in Health Affairs noted that RWJF spent $55 million on its Covering Kids campaign, which lasted from 1997 until 2002. The study found that the overall rate of uninsured children in the U.S. decreased during the campaign.

2002–2017

In the early 2000s, under the leadership of Dr.

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey (born September 25, 1954) is an American medical doctor and executive who served as president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation from 2003 to 2017. She was the first woman and the first African-American to head t ...

, the foundation prioritized

childhood obesity Childhood obesity is a condition where excess body fat negatively affects a child's health or well-being. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on BMI. Due to the rising prevalence of ...

, and pledged of $1 billion for research and advocacy to raise awareness on the topic. Grants from this pledge, the first $500 million of which came in 2007, have been used to fund projects in cities throughout the United States. As early as 2003, the foundation was working in Louisville,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, providing more than $740,000 in grants between 2003 and 2011 to make infrastructure updates that encourage physical activity, such as widening sidewalks and adding the city's first bicycle lane. The foundation also continued to work on

eldercare Elderly care, or simply eldercare (also known in parts of the English-speaking world as aged care), serves the needs and requirements of senior citizens. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes (often called re ...

topics and provided funding for the

Green House Project The Green House Project is an American national non-profit organization dedicated to creating alternative living environments to traditional nursing home care facilities. The project creates “caring homes for meaningful lives” for elders w ...

, a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that offers a long-term care alternative to nursing homes. While nursing homes tended to be regimented, the Green House model allows residents to set their own schedules, and houses fewer people in more units designed like a single family home. In 2011, the foundation established a $100 million impact capital fund to develop the Green House model. By 2014, 27 states had adopted versions of the Green House Project. A 2017 study on Green House nursing homes funded by the foundation found that while imperfect, the model had better outcomes for residents, including fewer hospitalizations and a lower occurrence of conditions such as

pressure ulcers Pressure ulcers, also known as pressure sores, bed sores or pressure injuries, are localised damage to the skin and/or underlying tissue that usually occur over a bony prominence as a result of usually long-term pressure, or pressure in combi ...

. The foundation established the Commission to Build a Healthier America in 2008. The non-partisan group included individuals from business, academia, and politics and focused on studying ways to improve health in the U.S. outside of the health care system. The commission compiled five years' worth of research into a report it released in 2014. The report focused on

social determinants of health The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status. They are the health promoting factors found in one's living and working conditions (such as the d ...

and detailed three strategies to improve health in the U.S.: early-childhood education; community-based health initiatives; and

preventative care Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, consists of measures taken for the purposes of disease prevention.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental hea ...

. In 2010, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partnered with the University of Wisconsin's Population Health Institute to launch the County Health Ranking program, which calculates and compares the health of each county, nationwide. The counties are measured and ranked on various health and social factors, which include more than 30 indicators such as obesity, tobacco use, mental health, employment and poverty rates, and access to healthy food. Over time, the foundation added coaches and competitions to the program to support communities' efforts to improve local health. This was done in response to growing evidence showing that social factors and individuals' actions could affect a population's health more than the quality of medical treatment. The foundation also partnered with

Federal Reserve Bank A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve A ...

s to engage impact investors, banks, and community developers in health and wellness-based projects through the Healthy Communities Initiative. In 2014, the foundation announced a major shift in its approach to health issues. It had previously focused on specific health issues, and would instead focus on changes that could lead to large-scale social shifts by building what it called a "culture of health." The change built on the Culture of Health Action Framework adopted by the foundation in 2013. Critics of the shift expressed concern that funding for some areas—such as leadership training for doctors, and programs for nursing and health policy—was being discontinued as part of the shift. When describing the changes at the

Aspen Ideas Festival Founded in 2005, the Aspen Ideas Festival (AIF) is a week-long event held in Aspen, Colorado in the United States. The Aspen Ideas Festival program of events includes discussions, seminars, panels, and tutorials from journalists, designers, innova ...

, Lavizzo-Mourey said, “We have to make a seismic shift in the way we deal with health, and it has to come from the ground up.” A 2017 survey conducted by RWJF, NPR, and

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

found that people in America report that their personal experience with discrimination regularly affects their lives and drives decisions that influence their health, safety, and well-being. Experiences with discrimination correlated to an increased risk for health conditions such as coronary heart disease. In 2018, the foundation co-funded a study along with the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

that found police killings of unarmed black Americans led to adverse mental health affects among black American respondents. Other public opinion polls RWJF worked on with NPR and Harvard University have covered issues such as the burden of stress in America (2014), education and health in schools (2013), trust in public health (2021), income inequality (2020), and experiences during the pandemic (2021).

2018–present

Under

Richard Besser Richard E. Besser (born August 29, 1959) is an American doctor and executive who has served as president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation since April 2017. Besser served as the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and P ...

's leadership, the foundation prioritized

and removing barriers to health resulting from discrimination. In an address given at the Sanford School of Public Policy at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, Besser pointed to where people live, recreate, and work as well as access to healthy food and livable wages, and removal of cultural barriers as important factors in individual health. The foundation funded a 2021 analysis by the Urban Institute which found that black patients experience "dangerous bleeding, infections and other serious problems related to surgical procedures" more frequently than white patients who receive care in the same hospital. In 2019, the foundation worked with the Global Reporting Initiative and others to develop the Culture of Health for Business Framework. The framework provides 16 best practices for companies to measure health policies and practices against, ranging from environmental to social and governance issues. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the foundation partnered with organizations such as NPR to research financial, educational, and health impacts of the pandemic. The foundation also has ongoing surveys with the

Rand Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

, one of which found that many Americans agree that minority communities have been more affected by the pandemic, but do not believe structural racism is a barrier to health. The foundation's other activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic included collaborating with

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

to develop a database of state policies enacted in response to the pandemic, and hosting teleconferences and virtual discussions on how the pandemic unveiled the impact that systemic racism and other forms of discrimination have on health in America. During this period, RWJF partnered with the Ford Foundation to establish the Presidents' Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy. The group includes 17 grant making organizations. The council's focus is on improving inclusion of disability issues in philanthropy. The foundation also funded the Childhood Opportunity Index, which ranks neighborhoods across the U.S. on access to childhood development resources that can affect health and life expectancy, and income later in life. The index was initially published in 2014, and an updated version was released in January 2020.

Leadership

The foundation's first president was David E. Rogers, who served from 1972 until 1987. Leighton E. Cluff served as the foundation's president from 1986 until February 1990, when he was succeeded by Steven A. Schroeder. The foundation's board of trustees selected Schroeder to lead the foundation, knowing he wanted to take it "in the direction of working on substance abuse problems".

was the first woman and African American to be the foundation's

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, a role she held between 2002 and 2017. She was succeeded by Richard E. Besser, who was named president and CEO in April 2017. Besser previously worked as the medical editor for

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

and acting director of the Centers for Disease Control.

References

External links

* {{authority control Johnson & Johnson Political advocacy groups in the United States Organizations established in 1972 1972 establishments in New Jersey Non-profit organizations based in Princeton, New Jersey Medical and health foundations in the United States