Ostrom receives grant for health care research

Elinor Ostrom, distinguished professor of political science and co-director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis was recently awarded a $295,000 grant from the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation.

The grant will help several professors, including Ostrom, the 2009 co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, to explore applying Ostrom’s theories and ideas to health and health care.

Along with Ostrom, Michael McGinnis — a political science professor and director of the workshop — will conduct an 18-month research project.

Rippel Foundation officials said they hope the analysis and research will help Americans become healthier while paying lower and more sustainable costs for high-quality health care.

“The Rippel Foundation is excited about the prospect of extending professor Ostrom’s work to health care,” Laura Landy, president of the Rippel Foundation, said in a press release. “Managing the health care commons is a crucial challenge for our nation and the world, and Lin Ostrom and her team are uniquely qualified to lead that effort. We hope that this project will result both in valuable new insights and in practical tools for health care leaders and concerned communities.”

Other members of the project include Kathleen Gilbert, professor of applied health science; Claudia Brink, assistant director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis; and Joan Pong Linton, associate professor of English.

The Rippel Foundation was created by Julius Rippel in honor of his wife, Fannie Estelle, and the volunteer work she focused on during her lifetime.