Colleagues standing together in group talking.
Pioneering Ideas

  The equitable future we all deserve won’t simply arrive—we must create it together.

We work with scientists, anthropologists, engineers, artists, and other creative thinkers across the nation to explore and accelerate cutting-edge ideas that could pave the way toward a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

Together, we can build a future where health is for everyone. 

Funding Opportunity

Exploring Equitable Futures

We seek to provide grants to visionary thinkers—scientists, anthropologists, engineers, technologists, creatives, and others—to uncover new and unconventional ideas that will contribute to our collective efforts to dismantle structural racism and transform health in our lifetime.

Learn more and apply

Related Initiatives

 

New technologies, scientific discoveries and cultural shifts are redefining our future. We support research and pilot projects that shine a light on how these forces are shaping our future and uncover solutions that can help us tap into these emerging trends. The initiatives featured here are examples of ideas that could help us achieve health equity faster and together.

Three doctors collaborating about patient care.

Challenge Assumptions

Rather than leading to bad decisions, "crowdsourcing" can actually improve medical decisionmaking.

Visit Network Dynamics Group
A woman preparing fruit in restaurant kitchen.

Upend the Status Quo

Gig work can be made more equitable with fair pay, stable hours, and safe working conditions.

Visit aspeninstitute.org
Three women looking at computer screen together.

Explore Emerging Trends

Could generative AI pomote collaboration, compassion, and other behaviors in online communities?

Visit news.yale.edu
Pedestrians crossing the street within a city crosswalk.

Expand Thinking

Often overlooked as a health issue, noise can trigger stress and heart-related conditions.

Visit communitynoiselab.org
A nurse designing a gadget to improve care.

Offer New Perspectives

Nurses with a "maker" mindset are improving care at the bedside. 

Visit makernurse.com
A young man in a baseball cap smiling.

Ideas from Other Fields

Using Afrofuturism, high school kids are imagining a healthier future where Black and Brown people thrive.

Visit mocha.org

Related Content

 

Research
Two construction workers build a wooden frame.

Work and Health: What Does the Future Hold?

RWJF is exploring how changes in the nature and structure of work may impact the health equity and well-being of people, their families, and their communities.

2-min read

Social Determinants of Health
Blog Post
A man driving a car.

How the Future of Work May Impact Our Wellbeing

The health of workers in a rapidly changing work environment is often overlooked. In a time when incomes, schedules, and healthcare are becoming less predictable.

6-min read

Healthcare Coverage and Access Pioneering Ideas
Blog Post
A nurse presents a prototype of the shower sleeve she designed.

How the Maker Movement is Innovating Healthcare

Nurses are natural problem solvers. That's why MakerNurse encourages nurses to continue devising their own solutions, then give them the tools to create them.

3-min read

Healthcare Quality and Value Pioneering Ideas
Research
Future of Evidence

Evidence and Health: What Does the Future Hold?

As we build the evidence base leading to wellbeing and health equity, we must harness the research trends and ideas that are most promising, while being vigilant in mitigating potential harms that could arise from these shifts.

3-min read

Public and Community Health

Featured Resources

 

Unscripted mobile hero

Unscripted: Candid Conversations About the Future of Research

Six visionary thinkers take the mic to rethink the way society produces, collects, shares, and uses knowledge about health to advance health equity.

1-min read

Purple graphic, featuring a light bulb, that reads: Do You Have A Hunch?

Hunches

A hunch is an inkling, a possibility, a sneaking suspicion about the future. We don’t often share our hunches, but when we do, amazing things can happen. Share yours!

Visit shareyourhunch.org
What's Next Health graphic

What’s Next Health

Our publication explores a range of signals, emerging trends, and pioneering ideas that can help us all anticipate and influence a more equitable future.

Visit medium.com
Take Us to a Better Place: Stories book cover

Take Us to a Better Place: Stories

Using the power of fiction, this collection of 10 short stories published by RWJF helps readers imagine possible pathways to a future where health is for everyone.

5-min read

Pioneering Ideas
Read the stories