Josh Fangmeier
Class of 2007
Health Policy Fellow
Hometown: Hebron, Nebraska
After receiving my HC degree in History and Political Science in 2007, I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in southern West Virginia. Traditionally, this region has experienced high rates of poverty, along with other social ills. Although my work focused on economic development, the history knowledge and writing skills that I developed at HC were tremendous assets in being able to understand and describe how our work could address these problems.
After my VISTA service, I completed a Master of Public Policy degree from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan in 2011. Although the tools of policy analysis usually involve economic or statistical techniques, I quickly learned that no policy issues develop in a vacuum. Instead, these issues usually emerge from complex political and social systems, where an understanding of history is critical.
Following graduate school, I began a fellowship at the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation, where I work on a variety of health policy issues. Few policy areas are as influenced by their history as the American healthcare system. Although most of my work involves quantitative analysis, having an understanding of this history has been equally important in my work. The history education I received at HC has been a key to my professional life and an experience that I will always appreciate.
