Policy Researcher; NYSHealth

The New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) seeks a Policy Researcher to monitor and analyze health policy issues in New York State.

The New York State Health Foundation (NYSHealth) is a private foundation dedicated to improving the health of all New Yorkers, especially the most vulnerable. NYSHealth began operations in 2006; today, it has approximately $300 million in assets, as well as a $15 million annual grants and operations budget.

The Foundation is committed to making grants, but also to making a difference beyond grant dollars: informing health care policy and practice; spreading effective programs to improve the health system; serving as a convener of health leaders across the State; and providing technical assistance to grantees and partners. Today, the Foundation concentrates its initiatives in two strategic priority areas:
Empowering Health Care Consumers and Building Healthy Communities. NYSHealth also engages in responsive grantmaking through a Special Projects Fund and maintains a special interest in veterans’ health.

The Policy Researcher will strengthen the capacity within NYSHealth to identify ways the Foundation can inform key health policy issues related to its programmatic goals. In this role, the Policy Researcher will conduct both policy analyses and public health research.

The role includes identifying and tracking key New York State and local—as well as federal—policy initiatives that are relevant to the Foundation’s work. The Policy Researcher will conduct research on the extent of the problems and potential solutions. The person in this position will contribute to identifying ways in which the Foundation can align with or respond to those policy developments and help inform the Foundation’s strategic plans.

The Policy Researcher, in consultation with the Director, Policy and Research, will generate ideas for and lead research projects. The person in this position will analyze data and other materials and author issue briefs, data briefs, white papers, and other publications relevant to the Foundation’s priorities. It is expected that the portfolio of projects that the Policy Researcher will work on at any point in time will span a diverse array of public health and health care delivery system issues.

Although many of the projects are likely to be responsive to time-sensitive, near-term needs, the Policy Researcher will also be working on larger-scale projects with longer durations.

The Policy Researcher will work collaboratively and productively with the Foundation’s program staff to identify promising areas for analysis that can inform both NYSHealth’s work and the fields in which we work. The Policy Researcher will also work with the Foundation’s communications staff to prepare reports for external publication, create documents for the NYSHealth website, prepare materials for NYSHealth-sponsored convenings, and help operationalize more advanced data visualizations.

The Policy Researcher will be expected to represent the Foundation at public meetings, as well as to cultivate relationships with policy leaders throughout the State.

This position reports to the Director, Policy and Research. As a member of a small team, this position offers an excellent opportunity to be involved in a wide range of research projects informing policy issues at the national, State, and local levels. NYSHealth is committed to mentoring and providing learning opportunities.

The Policy Researcher will be responsible for:

• Developing and maintaining internal expertise on policy issues in New York State, keeping current on literature, and synthesizing issues for NYSHealth staff and leadership.
• Cultivating relationships with policy leaders throughout the State.
• Identifying new research ideas, including developing research designs, to inform priority areas of the Foundation.
• Conducting and/or overseeing assessments and background research to track policy developments and help determine how NYSHealth should respond to emerging issues.
• Conducting and/or overseeing statistical analyses.
• Writing NYSHealth-produced publications, including fact…