2022-2023 Winston Fellows
Allison Crha, MPH, BSN, RN
Harvard University
Allison Crha will receive her Master’s in Public Health from Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in May 2022 with concentrations in Health Policy and Maternal Child Health. Her academic interests include supporting and sustaining healthcare clinicians and improving health care delivery. As a registered nurse, she has over six years of clinical experience working across the Emergency Department, Critical Care, and Mental Health in rural and urban settings. Ally enters health policy to take an upstream approach to health injustice. Outside of her clinical and academic pursuits, Ally is a member of the Harvard Innovation Lab, where she runs Nurse Voices. As a passionate patient and caregiver champion, she founded Nurse Voices to educate and empower nurses as health policy advocates. Selected as a One Young World Global Health Scholar in 2019, Ally sat down with former Prime Minister Brundtland of Norway in a roundtable discussion on the future of international health care. She was also invited to speak at a U.S. Congressional Hearing on behalf of Health Hazards Facing First Responders. Currently, she works at Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in their Maternal Child Health Bureau’s Office of Policy and Planning as a Policy Intern. Ally received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Gonzaga University and is originally from Seattle, Washington.
It is with immense gratitude that I embark on this year as a David A. Winston Fellow. As the first clinician selected for this role, my policy work will be informed by my practice as a nurse and my patient's experiences. The David A. Winston Fellowship provides unparalleled exposure to health policy experts and key stakeholders. Utilizing this opportunity, I will contribute to a health system where patients and caregivers are able to reach their highest potential.
Samantha Burkhart, MPH
Boston University
Samantha Burkhart will receive her Master’s in Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) in May 2022. At BUSPH, Sam’s certificate in Health Policy and Law focused on health care reform and maternal health equity. Outside of her coursework, Sam served on the Student Senate and then as the Student Representative on the BUSPH Governing Council. During her time on Student Senate, Sam developed a partnership with the Boston Area Health Education Center, part of the Division of Child and Adolescent Health at the Boston Public Health Commission, to help create an introductory course to public health for high school students. As Student Representative on the Governing Council, Sam combined her belief in policy as a tool to create equity with her passion for advocating for students’ needs. She successfully advocated for investment in student mental health support, scholarship initiatives, and furthering the school’s commitment to and implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Outside of school, Sam has held a number of roles including at the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP). As the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Intern for AMCHP she worked with colleagues and state health officials to create a case study template to capture the work that states are doing to respond to the needs of women and children during the pandemic. Sam then interned for the AMCHP Government Affairs team where she created an advocacy plan to achieve bipartisan support for the Black Maternal Health Momnibus. Sam currently works as a Health Policy Intern in the Massachusetts Statehouse for Representative Christine Barber. Sam received her Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Northern Arizona University and is originally from Phoenix, Arizona.
I am incredibly honored to have been selected as one of the David A. Winston Health Policy Fellows. The Fellowship is a once in a lifetime experience that will serve as an invaluable opportunity for me to learn from the leading experts in health policy. I am incredibly grateful to the Board for investing in my career. This investment will allow me to continue my mission of creating a healthier, more equitable nation through policy. I look forward to beginning my work and honoring the bipartisan legacy of David A. Winston.
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2020-2021 Winston Scholars Announced!
2021-2022 Winston Fellows Picks!
…I hope that everyone involved with this fellowship realizes what a wonderful legacy you have created in honor of David Winston…. The Winston Fellowship will generate the next generation of health policy experts, and I will always be proud to say I was a Winston Fellow.
The Fellowship was a wonderful opportunity that provided unparalleled access to health policy experts. Every day of my one-year stint, I met with individuals from the top of their field and learned about the nuances of the issues from them. The Fellowship continues to be a resource and asset for my career in health policy.