FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:       Jennifer Martinez, The Waters Pelton Organization, 561-626-0026, ext. 19

WEST PALM BEACH (January 15, 2007) – Jan Rodusky, Vice President of Grant Programs for Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc., has been awarded the prestigious Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF) for 2008.  She, along with 15 other fellows, will spend 25 days this spring in Europe visiting institutions, societies and cultures and learning about economic, political and social issues facing the United States and Europe. 

As only the second Floridian to be selected since the program’s inception, Rodusky is proud to represent her state and Palm Beach County as she travels to Brussels, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Warsaw, Krakow, and Bratislava from February 7 through March 2. With her professional background in grant making and nonprofit organizations, she will focus her work on a range of health related issues including healthcare economics, the provision of healthcare access and insurance, healthcare emergency response practices, global healthcare workforce shortages, physical fitness, nutrition and the diabetes epidemic.

“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to build transatlantic relationships with our European counterparts and look forward to working with them on a variety of international and domestic policy challenges”, said Rodusky. “Palm Healthcare Foundation is poised to be a great partner in advancing health in Palm Beach County as well as internationally as opportunities arise.”

Fellows are selected through a competitive nationwide process and come from politics, government, media, business, and the non-profit sector.  The MMF program began in 1982, when the inaugural group of German MMFs visited the United States.  Now entering its 26th year, the MMF program currently includes Fellows from 21 European countries and the United States.  GMF and its partner institutions have been instrumental in developing and maintaining a vital network on both sides of the Atlantic committed to transatlantic relations.

The Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF) was created by the German Marshall Fund to introduce a new generation of European leaders to America's institutions, politics, and people.   In 1999, GMF launched a companion program to expose future U.S. leaders to a changing and expanding Europe.   The program attracts the best and brightest from all sectors, including politics, media, business, and nongovernmental organizations.  Fellows come from across the United States and from 21 European countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, France, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia including Kosovo, Slovakia, Spain, and Turkey).  GMF works closely with partners in more than 50 cities on both sides of the Atlantic to make the MMF program possible. 

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (www.gmfus.org) is a nonpartisan American public policy and grant making institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between the United States and Europe. Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany as a permanent memorial to the Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, GMF has seven offices in Europe: Berlin, Bratislava, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, Ankara, and Bucharest.

Palm Healthcare Foundation, Inc. was chartered in 2001 as an independent community healthcare foundation. Believing that “Together We Can Do More,” the foundation’s mission is to transform healthcare challenges by bringing together the talents and resources of the community to create innovative solutions that deliver high-impact results. The Foundation’s funding priorities—access to healthcare, healthcare quality and safety, healthcare technology, healthcare policy and healthcare workforce—are designed to empower non-profit healthcare organizations and healthcare professionals to create programs and services that improve the quality of life for Palm Beach County’s underserved citizens.  Since 2001, the Foundation has distributed more than $20 million to over 80 non-profit organizations in Palm Beach County operating over 130 programs that met its funding goals.