For Medical Student Researchers

U.S. Grants & Fellowships for Medical Students in Research

• Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Research Fellowship for Medical Students: These fellowships which are open to MD or MD/PhD students give students the opportunity to perform heavily clinical oriented research at one of the 10 approved institutions.  Each institution typically accepts in the range of 5-10 students a year with typically half of the slots going to internal students and the other half to external students.  Students typically pursue these fellowships in between their second and third year of their medical school training.  Currently the 10 participating institutions (who all have their own website) are: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Harvard Medical School, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, University of Iowa, Roy J. and Lucile A. Carver College of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and Yale University School of Medicine.

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Research Training Fellowships for Medical Students: These fellowships are typically awarded to medical students in their second year of medical school to perform a year of research before entering the third year of medical school. This fellowship awards an annual stipend of $27,000, an annual fellow's allowance of $5,500, in addition to an annual research allowance of $5,500. These fellowships are open to only medical and dental school students and not to MD/PhD students or students enrolled in other degree granting programs leading to a PhD.  Typically 40-45 awards are made each year.

• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) - National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Scholars Program (NIH Cloister Program): The program was established in 1985 to give outstanding students at U.S. medical schools the opportunity to receive research training at the NIH.  Research Scholars spend nine months to a year on the NIH campus, conducting basic, translational or applied biomedical research under the direct mentorship of senior NIH research scientists.  The Howard Hughes Medical Institute provides the administration and funding for the program, including the salaries and benefits for the Research Scholars. The NIH provides advisors, mentors, laboratory space, and equipment and supplies for laboratory work.  The annual stipend is currently set at $27,000 and includes fully paid health, dental, and vision insurance, moving expense reimbursement, furnished on-campus housing, and an allowance for conference travel, related books and courses.

• Sarnoff Fellowship Program: These fellowships are awarded to medical students and to give them a chance to take a year to conduct intensive research.  Fellowships are typically awarded to second and third year medical students.  These fellowships are open to only medical and dental school students and not to MD/PhD students.  This fellowship awards an annual stipend of $27,500, an annual fellow's allowance of $7,000, and additional travel funds to attend the Sarnoff Annual Scientific meetings, American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, NIH Clinical Investigator Student Trainee Forum, and two national conferences.  Typically 18 fellows are funded each year.

• American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation Seed Grant Research Program: This annual program provides $2,500 grants to medical students (MD, MD/PhD, MD/MPH, etc.), physician residents and fellows to conduct basic science, applied, or clinical research in a variety of areas. Applications are usually available in early fall every year, and grants are awarded in early spring of the following year.

• The David E. Rogers Student Fellowship Award This fellowship is meant to enrich the educational experiences of medical and dental students through projects that bear on medicine and dentistry as they contribute to the health of communities, and to address the human needs of underserved or disadvantaged patients or populations.  The content of the Fellowship might include clinical investigation, public health/epidemiology, health policy analysis, activities linking biomedicine, the social infrastructure and human or community needs. Funding of $4,000 is provided to sponsor a 10-12 week project in the summer between the student’s 1st and 2nd years of medical/dental school.