In 1998, when the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) approved a T32 grant that funded the planning, creation and 2000 launch of the SUMR program, Penn Medicine physician, researcher and LDI Senior Fellow Jerry Johnson volunteered to be one of the four members of the committee that selected the first three SUMR scholars. He has been an ardent supporter of the program ever since. Now a Perelman School of Medicine Professor Emeritus, Johnson is a member of the Internal Advisory Board of Penn's Prevention Research Center and Chairs the Steering Committee of Philadelphia Crescenz VA Medical Center's Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP).