The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently announced funding for research that identifies policies, laws and regulations that support all Americans leading healthy lives.

The program, Policy for Action (P4A), will fund up to $1.5 million for these cross-disciplinary research projects. The goal is to discover areas where policy can effect great change in health outcomes, such as the 1980’s seat belt laws, and to create a database for lawmakers to have the necessary backup to these policies. The grants will be broken up into $250,000 awards given to individual researchers over two years.

In addition to the funding, the P4A initiative also gives researchers access to “research hubs” – New York University, University of Michigan and the Urban Institute – for strategic support in conducting research within specific issue areas.

Healthcare experts, as well as principal investigators from urban planning, workforce development, transit departments, finance and commercial development are encouraged to apply. More information can be found on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Web site.