Research Institute for Home Care Awards Second Round of Dissertation Grants
January 20, 2026
PhD students receive funding helping to cultivate the next generation of home care researchers
Alexandria, VA – The Research Institute for Home Care (the Institute) announced today a new series of awards for students seeking their PhDs with a focus on home care. Two additional students received grant funding to help pursue and complete their research.
Grants were awarded to Yiqing Kuang, MS, a doctoral student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Natalie Turner, MSW, a PhD student at the University of Washington School of Social Work.
Kuang’s dissertation, “Paying Family Caregivers: Impact of Self-Direction on Older Adults and Family Caregivers,” explores the impact of self-direction on the economic security of caregivers, hours of help received by older adults, and acute care use by older adults. Turner’s dissertation focuses on the impacts of state Medicaid spending on home- and community-based services (HCBS) use and outcomes across racial and ethnic groups.
“Home-based care is essential to caring for our growing, aging population, and it represents one of the highest-value solutions in healthcare today,” said Dr. Steve Landers, President of the Institute and CEO of the National Alliance for Care at Home. “Investing in the next generation of researchers through our dissertation grant program is critical to building the evidence base that will help policymakers, payers, and providers understand and expand access to home-based care. These emerging leaders will shape the future of our field, and we’re proud to support their important work.”
In the inaugural 2024 funding cycle, the Institute awarded three grants to PhD students in its first round of dissertation grant funding. The dissertation grants build on the Institute’s one-of-a-kind grant program which has funded ten larger scale grants aimed at enhancing evidenced-based research in home care.
The 2026 funding cycle is now open for applications, due by May 1. Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to doctoral students who have defended their dissertation proposals and passed oral exams with funding to complete their work in home care.
More information is available on the Institute’s website.
# # #
About the Research Institute for Home Care (the Institute)
The Research Institute for Home Care is a non-profit, national consortium of home care providers and organizations. The Institute invests in research and education about home health and hospice care and its ability to deliver quality, cost-effective, patient-centered care across the care continuum. The Institute is committed to conducting and sponsoring research and initiatives that demonstrate and enhance the value proposition that home care has to offer patients and the entire U.S. health care system.
CONTACT:
Jennifer Schiller
jschiller@researchinstituteforhomecare.org