The Medical Research Fellows Program encourages the development of future medical-scientists by providing a year of full-time, mentored laboratory research training to medical, dental, and veterinary students who have demonstrated an interest in and commitment to biomedical research, but who are not enrolled in an MD/PhD (or equivalent) program.
The Medical Research Fellows Program enables students to be immersed in a high-impact, intensive research experience at a critical time in their professional education, before they make plans for residency or postdoctoral training. Unique aspects of the program include national and regional professional development activities, mentorship by physician-scientists, interaction with HHMI investigators, and integration into a community of like-minded peers.
Each student selects and works with a mentor to develop a basic, translational, or applied biomedical research proposal. Both mentor selection and the research proposal are key components of the fellowship application; working with an HHMI scientist is encouraged but not required. Mentors can be at any academic or nonprofit research institution in the United States (excluding the National Institutes of Health and any other government agency) or at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, VA. There are special requirements for the Med Fellows Program at Janelia, including a prescreening application deadline in early November.
Med Fellows may be supported by organizations partnering with HHMI:
Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy, American Society of Human Genetics (mentor must be ASHG member), Foundation Fighting Blindness (inherited retinal degenerative disease research only), Duchenne Research Fund, Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation, Parkinson's Disease Foundation, Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation (mentor must be SIR member), Burroughs Wellcome Fund (veterinary students only).