In 2021, ACHI established the G. Richard Smith, MD, Fellowship in Health Services and Policy Research. The one-year fellowship honors Dr. Smith, the founding director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI) and a major contributor to the health of Arkansans through patient care, service at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and his impact on the health and healthcare systems of the state. This unique early career fellowship will support health services and policy researchers, providing an opportunity to work with novel and comprehensive healthcare data with guidance and mentorship from a diverse team of nationally renowned researchers and health policy leaders.

The G. Richard Smith, MD, Fellowship in Health Services and Policy Research is a 12-month, full-time experience available to either post-doctoral graduates or PhD candidates at the dissertation stage of program completion. The ideal recipient will be an early career health services research professional with research design and statistical analytic skills. The tenure of the fellowship will be pursued on-site, at ACHI, in Little Rock. The fellowship will consist of experiential learning, working on ACHI-specific projects, and pursuit of an independent year-long project that aligns with ACHI paths of research inquiry.

As a member of ACHI during the fellowship tenure, fellows will have access to years of seminal research and policy data and experienced analytic support to help effectively incorporate and link data to address proposed research questions. To disseminate project findings, fellows will commit to submitting at least one manuscript for peer-review during the tenure of the fellowship.