Summary
Sixty-nine medical, dental, and veterinary students from 32 schools across the country will be engaging in laboratory research for a full year as participants in the HHMI Medical Research Fellows Program.
Highlights
- Five of the students will spend the year working with researchers at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), in Durban, South Africa. This marks the first time that HHMI medical research fellows will spend a full year under the mentorship of K-RITH scientists.
- A total of eight medical research fellows will be funded by HHMI’s six partner organizations this year: The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF), the Duchenne Research Fund (DRF), the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), the Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation (SIRF), Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), and K-RITH. Sixty-one awardees will be supported by HHMI.
- The Med Fellows program is a $2.5 million annual initiative with the goal of strengthening and expanding the nation’s pool of future physician-scientists and medically-trained researchers.
Sixty-nine medical, dental, and veterinary students from 32 schools across the country will be engaging in laboratory research for a full year as participants in the HHMI Medical Research Fellows Program, a $2.5 million annual initiative with the goal of strengthening and expanding the nation’s pool of future physician-scientists and medically-trained researchers.
This hands-on experience is intended to encourage the development of physician-scientists who will enjoy an extra edge when figuring out solutions to basic as well as clinical problems.
David J. Asai
The HHMI Medical Research Fellows Program allows medical, dental, and veterinary students to pursue biomedical research at academic or nonprofit research institutions anywhere in the United States except the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The fellows put their professional school coursework on-hold, and spend the year conducting basic, translational or applied biomedical research. This year, 250 students applied for the program, a 10 percent increase over last year.
“We expect that when medical students immerse themselves in a year of laboratory research, they will gain insights about the process of science,” said David J. Asai, senior director in Science Education at HHMI. “This hands-on experience is intended to encourage the development of physician-scientists who will enjoy an extra edge when figuring out solutions to basic as well as clinical problems."
Five of the students will spend the year working with researchers at the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH), in Durban, South Africa. This marks the first time that HHMI medical research fellows will spend a full year under the mentorship of K-RITH scientists.
K-RITH is a collaborative partnership between HHMI and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. K-RITH’s mission is to conduct outstanding basic science research on tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, translate the scientific findings into new tools to control TB and HIV, and expand the educational opportunities in the region.
“A year at K-RITH offers medical research fellows an unparalleled experience in global health research at the epicenter of TB and HIV,” said William R. Bishai, K-RITH’s director. “They will have the unique opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research that has the potential to offer meaningful new tools for the care of these diseases.”
A total of eight medical research fellows will be funded by HHMI’s six partner organizations this year, and sixty-one awardees will be supported by HHMI. The Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF), the Duchenne Research Fund (DRF), the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB), and the Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation (SIRF) will fund one fellow each. Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE), and K-RITH, both new partners this year, will fund two fellows each. The Institute continues to seek partnerships with outside organizations in order to expand the number of opportunities for highly talented students to participate in the year-long program.
Each applicant to the program submitted a research proposal to work with a specific mentor. Fifteen of the 69 full-year medical research fellows will work in laboratories of HHMI investigators and one student will work with a researcher at the Janelia Farm Research Campus. All of the awardees will be able to interact with HHMI scientists at an HHMI science meeting during the year.
Medical, dental, and veterinary students also had the opportunity to apply for the Summer Medical Fellows Program, an initiative developed last year to encourage students to seek research training in the labs of HHMI investigators or Janelia Farm Research Campus scientists for 8-10 weeks. Forty-seven students applied to the 2013 summer program, and 28 were awarded fellowships. Last summer, 26 students were selected for the program. Five of those students went on to apply to the year-long medical research fellows program, and four of those applicants received awards.
2013-2014 Medical Research Fellows
| Name | Fellowship Institution | School |
| Ruchi Amin | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania | Wayne State University School of Medicine |
| Katie Anderson Funder: BWF |
University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine | University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine |
| Deepak Atri | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
| Robert Bai | University of Massachusetts Medical School | Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University |
| Tova Berg | University of Michigan Medical School | University of Michigan Medical School |
| John Black | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
| Akshaar Brahmbhatt Funder: SIRF |
Mayo Medical School | University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School |
| Tyler Brown | University of Maryland School of Medicine | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Michael Burrow | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
| Kirk Cahill | The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine | The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine |
| Evan Chen | Stanford University School of Medicine | Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Daniel Cook | Weill Cornell Medical College | Weill Cornell Medical College |
| Jonathan Copp | University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine | University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine |
| Sarah Coughlin | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
| Erin Cummings | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
| Husain Danish | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Harvard Medical School |
| Alejandro de Feria-Alsina | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine |
| Kathleen Doherty | Harvard Medical School | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine |
| Daniel Eichberg | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | University of Maryland School of Medicine |
| Elizabeth Elimimian Funder: K-RITH |
K-RITH | University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health |
| Erika Ellis Funder: FFB |
Janelia Farm Research Campus | University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine |
| Benjamin Greenberger | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Harvard Medical School |
| Andrew Gregg | Rockefeller University | Weill Cornell Medical College |
| Abhijeet Gummadavelli Funder: CURE |
Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
| Nan Guo | Stanford University School of Medicine | University of Texas Southwestern Medical School |
| Charles Horres | Duke University School of Medicine | Duke University School of Medicine |
| Pawina Jiramongkolchai | Harvard Medical School | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine |
| Andrea Jones | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Aos Karim | University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health | University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health |
| Mark Kavesh | Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine | Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine |
| Geon Kim | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
| Grace Kim | Stanford University School of Medicine | Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Andrew Larson | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
| Jessica Lee | University of Michigan Medical School | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania |
| Ted Lee | K-RITH | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
| Andrew Li | Harvard Medical School | Harvard Medical School |
| Michael Li | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai |
| Xi Li | Stanford University School of Medicine | Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Billy Lockhart | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
| Sarah Low | Stanford University School of Medicine | University of Arizona College of Medicine |
| Olivia Lucero | University of Washington School of Medicine | University of Washington School of Medicine |
| Ethan Ludmir Funder: CURE |
Duke University School of Medicine | Duke University School of Medicine |
| Emma Lundsmith | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania | Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University |
| Kyle Miller | Duke University School of Medicine | Duke University School of Medicine |
| Ramin Morshed | The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine | The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine |
| Danny Mou | Emory University School of Medicine | Emory University School of Medicine |
| Ashley Nieves | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine |
| Cristen Olds | Stanford University School of Medicine | Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Jong Park | Harvard Medical School | Duke University School of Medicine |
| Sarah Parker | University of Minnesota Medical School | University of Minnesota Medical School |
| Jennifer Quon | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
| Sendhilnathan Ramalingam | Duke University School of Medicine | Duke University School of Medicine |
| David Roach | University of Washington School of Medicine | University of Washington School of Medicine |
| Kaileen Rohr | University of Washington School of Medicine | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University |
| Kapil Saxena | Baylor College of Medicine | Baylor College of Medicine |
| Eli Sayegh | Northwestern University, The Feinberg School of Medicine | Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons |
| Rima Shah | University of Texas Southwestern Medical School | University of Texas Southwestern Medical School |
| Jane Shin | Harvard School of Dental Medicine | Harvard School of Dental Medicine |
| Irina Shklyar Funder: DRF |
Harvard Medical School | Yale School of Medicine |
| Marko Spasic | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA |
| Asa Tapley Funder: K-RITH |
K-RITH | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
| James Tooley | Yale School of Medicine | Yale School of Medicine |
| Bhavana Vangara | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine | University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine |
| Jonathan Weyhenmeyer | Salk Institute for Biological Studies | Indiana University School of Medicine |
| Yasmine White | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine | University of Michigan Medical School |
| Benjamin Wolpaw | Case Western Reserve University | University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine |
| Kathleen Yip | University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine | Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University |
| Andrew Young | K-RITH | Yale School of Medicine |
| Haijing Zhang | Stanford University School of Medicine | Duke University School of Medicine |
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The Howard Hughes Medical Institute plays a powerful role in advancing scientific research and education in the United States. Its scientists, located across the country and around the world, have made important discoveries that advance both human health and our fundamental understanding of biology. The Institute also aims to transform science education into a creative, interdisciplinary endeavor that reflects the excitement of real research. For more information, visit www.hhmi.org.
Note: As of July 2016, K-RITH is now the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI).