The Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) Medical Research Fellows Program has selected 79 talented medical and veterinary students to conduct in-depth, mentored biomedical research. Fifty-three percent of the awardees are female, the greatest representation of women in the program to date. Starting this summer, each fellow will spend a year pursuing basic, translational, or applied biomedical research at one of 32 academic or nonprofit research institutions across the United States. Each medical fellow receives $43,000 in grant support, and fellows are eligible to apply for a second year in the program.
“The Med Fellows Program allows exceptional MD, DVM, and DDS students to effectively shift course and conduct rigorous research at top institutions throughout the country,” says David Asai, senior director in science education at HHMI. “It’s an extraordinary opportunity for future physicians, veterinarians, and dentists to explore the intersection of medicine and scientific discovery, and we hope that each student comes away further empowered to pursue a career as a physician-scientist.”
Now, 28 years after the Med Fellows Program was first launched, it has helped more than 1,700 medical, veterinary, and dental students establish a foothold in the research world. In this year’s group, 18% of the fellows are from minority groups typically underrepresented in the biomedical sciences, and seven fellows will continue their research for another year. Tolu Rosanwo, a second-year fellow and medical student at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, says the program is a gift, but for Rosanwo, it was a gift that left her wanting more.
“I couldn’t leave just as my research was starting to show promise,” she says. “I’m still intrigued by my initial question, and I want to see it through.”
That initial question dates back to Rosanwo’s childhood, growing up with two siblings with sickle cell anemia. Her curiosity about what caused them to be sick turned into a committed desire to understand and contribute to a treatment for the disorder. Now, in the laboratory of George Daley, Dean of Harvard Medical School and an alumnus of the HHMI Investigator Program, she’s trying to tackle that question. “An important and profound place to be is in between science and patients,” she says. “I want to be a physician whose patient care is informed by research, and vice versa.”
Anna Cheng, a first-year fellow and current medical student at University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, started dabbling in the scientific method as a high school student. Science had always interested her, but when her best friend and her godmother found themselves in a fight against cancer, Cheng decided to narrow her scientific focus.
“My best friend was diagnosed with leukemia and my godmother with ovarian cancer. I wanted to understand why – to figure it out,” she says. “Yes, I was interested in cancer research, but I had personal factors that really drove me.”
During her undergraduate studies at Duke University, Cheng continued to make time for lab research, fitting it in over summers and in between coursework. And though she valued the experiences, the fleeting glimpses of bench time only whet her appetite for more. The Med Fellows Program, she says, provided her the opportunity for more sustained exposure to research.
“I feel so fortunate, because now I get to pursue a project for an entire year,” she says. After a thoughtful pause, she amends her statement. “But the program’s experience isn’t really just a year. It’s something that will serve me well for the rest of my career.”
The Med Fellows Program takes a multilevel mentoring approach to help incoming fellows get off to a strong start, make new connections, and access a network of support throughout their fellowship year. Various meetings bring the fellows together to connect with newly minted Med Fellow alumni, early-career faculty, and senior investigators to participate in seminars and learn from physician-scientists at various career stages. The most direct form of support comes from each fellow’s mentor. Cathy Wu, an alumna from the early days of the Med Fellows Program and associate professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, will be mentoring her third Med Fellow this fall.
“The fellows are such a terrific bunch – they’re brimming with enthusiasm, super smart, and eager to learn,” Wu says. As someone who took great inspiration from her own mentors as a student in the program, Wu emphasizes that the mentor-mentee relationship is a crucial part in learning how to approach investigation.
“Part of the Med Fellows Program is getting a sense of the opportunities and resources available – having the latitude to explore and learn about the investigative process. When I was a fellow, the program helped me cement research as part of my medical career,” she says. “I’m eager for these students to have their year, too.”
In collaboration with HHMI, five partners – the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHGexternal link, opens in a new tab), Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWFexternal link, opens in a new tab), Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CUREexternal link, opens in a new tab), Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFBexternal link, opens in a new tab), and Parkinson’s Foundation (PFexternal link, opens in a new tab) – will fund 8 of the 79 aspiring physician- and veterinarian- scientists, bringing the program’s total investment to $3.4 million.
2017-2018 Medical Research Fellows
Name | Fellowship Institution | School |
Zachary Abecassis Funder: PF |
Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine |
Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine |
Oscar Alcoreza
Funder: CURE |
Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine | Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine |
Sarah Amalraj | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
Amir Ameri | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Annabelle Anandappa | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Sydney Ariagno | Weill Cornell Medical College | Weill Cornell Medical College |
Rahul Bhansali | Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine | University of Illinois College of Medicine |
Jessica Briscoe | Harvard Medical School | Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine |
Kelly Buchanan | Duke University School of Medicine | Duke University School of Medicine |
Joshua Casaos | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
Ankush Chandra | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | Wayne State University School of Medicine |
Leslie Chang | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine |
Tafadzwa Chaunzwa | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
Cynthia Chen | Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons | Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
Jasper Chen | University of Texas-MD Anderson Cancer Center | University of Texas Medical School at Houston |
Xiang Chen | University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine | University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine |
Anna Cheng | Harvard Medical School | USF Health Morsani College of Medicine |
Bennet Cho | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Janice Cho | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center |
Simon Chu | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
Michelle Chung Funder: FFB |
Harvard Medical School | Indiana University School of Medicine |
Shang-Lin Chung | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
Heather desJardins-Park | Stanford University School of Medicine | Stanford University School of Medicine |
Michael Dong | University of Virginia School of Medicine | University of Virginia School of Medicine |
Rebecca Fine | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
Alyssa Flores | Stanford University School of Medicine | Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth |
Mollie Friedlander | Stanford University School of Medicine | Stanford University School of Medicine |
Jonathan Gaillard | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
Adri Galvan | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center College of Medicine |
Alexandra Giantini Larsen | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Eva Gillis-Buck | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
Mary Guan | University of Michigan Medical School | University of Michigan Medical School |
Aditi Gupta | Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center | Weill Cornell Medical College |
Jennifer Hu Funder: ASHG |
Harvard Medical School | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University |
Charles Hwang | University of Michigan Medical School | University of Michigan Medical School |
Filip Istvanic | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
Christopher Itoh | Harvard School of Public Health | University of California, Davis, School of Medicine |
Christopher Jackson | Yale School of Medicine | Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
Hudin Jackson | Baylor College of Medicine | University of Connecticut Health Center, School of Medicine |
Audrey Kindsfather | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
Brandon Law | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Solomon Levin | Rockefeller University | Weill Cornell Medical College |
Selena Li | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Yuping Li | Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine | Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine |
Connor Liu | Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine | Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine |
Emily MacDuffie | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University |
Emily Marre | Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine | Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science |
Anna Martin Funder: BWF |
University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine | University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine |
Austin Moore | University of Texas Southwestern Medical School | University of Texas Southwestern Medical School |
Aaron Oswald | Rockefeller University | Weill Cornell Medical College |
Monica Pomaville | Harvard Medical School | Michigan State University College of Human Medicine |
Paula Rambarat | Duke University School of Medicine | Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
Michael Randall | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania |
Spencer Richardson | St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital | University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Medicine |
Jonathan Rick | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
Kevin Rolnick Funder: FFB |
University of Washington School of Medicine | University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health |
Harsh Shah | Harvard Medical School | Mayo Medical School |
Diana Shi | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Ornella Simo | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine | Meharry Medical College |
Kelsey Spaur | University of Colorado at Boulder | University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine |
Marta Stevanovic Funder: FFB |
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California | Emory University School of Medicine |
Erica Storm | Stanford University School of Medicine | Stanford University School of Medicine |
Amy Ton | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
Yoshiko Toyoda | Weill Cornell Medical College | Weill Cornell Medical College |
Katherine Turnbull Funder: BWF |
University of Michigan Medical School | Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine |
Amy Wang | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Nicholas Wilcox | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
Yuanxuan Xia | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
Erin Yamamoto | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University |
Steven Zhang | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | Stanford University School of Medicine |
Connie Zhao | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
Justin Zhuo | Duke University School of Medicine | Duke University School of Medicine |
2016–2017 Medical Research Fellows funded for an additional year in the program
Name | Fellowship Institution | School |
Thomas Chad Binns | Janelia Research Campus | University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine |
Benjamin Kress | University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry | State University of New York Upstate Medical University |
Gabriel Neves | Duke University School of Medicine | Duke University School of Medicine |
Joseph Park | Harvard Medical School | Boston University School of Medicine |
Tolulope Rosanwo | Harvard Medical School | Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine |
Andrew Sohn | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania | Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University |
Rukayat Taiwo | Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine | Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine |