Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study
The program provides awards to pairs of dissertation advisers and their graduate students based on what HHMI values and considers essential components of the environment, particularly the institution and adviser’s commitment to creating a healthy academic ecosystem and the student’s potential for scientific leadership.
The goals of the Gilliam program are to ensure that students from groups historically excluded from and underrepresented in science are prepared to assume leadership roles in science and science education, and to foster the development of a healthier, more inclusive academic scientific ecosystem by partnering with faculty and institutions committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in the sciences.
Gilliam Advisers
Gilliam Advisers play a key role as change-makers who can foster the development of a more inclusive academic scientific environment. To facilitate this role, all Advisers participate in a year-long, culturally responsive mentoring skills development training, which is a hallmark of the Gilliam program.
Advisers are empowered to disseminate lessons learned to their lab, department, and institution to make an exponentially greater impact on creating a healthy academic scientific ecosystem. Additionally, Advisers receive a modest award to address challenges to diversity and inclusion at the graduate level.
Through their development of Diversity and Inclusion projects, Advisers are able to leverage their influence and implement activities that will remove undue burden from populations historically excluded and underrepresented in science.
Read About Advisers’ Projects »
 | “I used the knowledge gained from the Gilliam mentor training to develop workshops for faculty in my department on how to create and maintain an inclusive and diverse work environment. Faculty that participated see a visible change in the confidence of their underrepresented mentees.” |
Gilliam Fellows
Becoming part of a diverse, supportive, strong community where Fellows can focus on their science is a highlight of the Gilliam Fellows’ experience in the program.
Fellows’ attendance at the Gilliam Annual Meeting and participation in HHMI leadership training gives them the tools to use their strengths and experiences to the benefit of science, to influence the environment, maximize their collaborations and elevate their voices as scientific leaders.
Gilliam-specific sessions at the HHMI Science Meetings further enable them to engage with their peers, increase their scientific knowledge, and gain important insight and advice from leading HHMI scientists.
 | “The Gilliam community constantly inspires me. It has given me a group of peers to whom I can relate, who are passionate about scientific discovery, pursuing careers in academia, and making science a more inclusive space for people of all backgrounds. The support of my Gilliam family has been invaluable throughout graduate school, and I know these relationships will remain throughout my entire career.” |
About James H. Gilliam, Jr.
The Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study were created in 2004 in honor of the late James H. Gilliam, Jr., a charter Trustee of HHMI and chair of its Audit and Compensation Committee. Mr. Gilliam was a respected business and civic leader who spent his life nurturing excellence and diversity in science and education.
- Fellows are supported for up to three years of dissertation research, typically in years three, four, and five of PhD study.
- For the 2021-22 fellowship year the award amount is $50,000 per year. This includes an annual fellow stipend of $33,000, an institution allowance (in lieu of tuition and fees) of $10,000, a fellow’s discretionary allowance of $4,000, and an adviser allowance of $3,000 to support diversity and inclusion efforts at the graduate level.
Advisers' Benefits
- Engage in thirty-hour, year-long culturally responsive mentor skills development through interactive online modules and in-person meetings
- Build a community of advisers and share knowledge and experiences
- Learn best practices in improving communication, managing expectations, and developing equitable and inclusive mentoring relationships from nationally recognized facilitators
- Develop an implementation plan to disseminate mentor training with feedback from facilitators
- Receive support to address challenges to diversity and inclusion at the graduate level
Read About Advisers’ Projects »
 | “I chose to focus my initial dissemination efforts from the Gilliam Adviser training on teaching the faculty in my department about culturally aware and inclusive practices. Faculty learn specific actions they can take to improve mentoring and create a more inclusive culture in science. Most importantly, they appear to be discussing cultural awareness regularly and taking individual actions to effect positive changes in our graduate training environments.” |
Fellows' Benefits
- Become part of a vibrant, supportive community of Gilliam Fellows
- Enhance leadership and professional development skills in annual training
- Present research and network with other trainees and scientists at the Gilliam annual meeting and at HHMI science meetings
- Gain career advice and insight from HHMI investigators at Gilliam-specific discussion sessions
- Receive support to participate in discipline-specific meetings, advanced courses, and other professional development events and activities
 | “The Gilliam Fellows’ discussion with HHMI Investigator Dr. Samara Reck-Peterson was very worthwhile. I will utilize her advice in collaborating with lab members, being truly invested in their research, and effectively communicating my most valuable attributes when applying to postdoc positions. She was very open to sharing her own hardships and showed her humility and honesty in that teamwork is a key contributor to academic breakthroughs.” |
HHMI’s Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study are open to eligible pairs comprising thesis advisers and PhD students (“adviser-student pairs”). Application for the Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study is by invitation only.
- Adviser-student pairs from eligible disciplines must be nominated by the HHMI-designated institutional representative.
- Prospective fellows must be i) U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, undocumented childhood arrivals, or undocumented individuals who have been granted temporary permission to stay in the US (DACA), and ii) be from populations excluded from science, or alumni of the HHMI EXROP and iii) be at the appropriate stage of their PhD training.
Notifications will be sent to the designated institutional representative by HHMI in August, and the deadline for nominations for the competition is mid-September. (See Application tab)
The adviser-student pairs must be studying scientific problems in biomedical sciences, life sciences, or biological questions in related disciplines. This initiative does not support social science research.
Nominations must be made for students typically in their second or third year of a PhD program who have or will advance to candidacy by September 1, 2021.
Students who are enrolled in an MD/PhD or other dual-degree program are not eligible.
Note: Application for the Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study is by invitation only.
HHMI’s Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study are awarded on the basis of
- The commitment and demonstrated ability of the institution and the thesis adviser to develop outstanding scientists especially those from populations historically excluded from and underrepresented in science;
- The commitment of the institution and the thesis adviser to fostering a healthier, more inclusive academic scientific ecosystem; and
- The student’s promise as a scientific investigator, and potential for leadership in the scientific community, including as college and university faculty;
- An evaluation of all submitted materials, including the nomination, adviser, student, third-party reference. All these materials will be critical elements in the evaluation of the application.
Components of the application
Nomination (from the institutional representative)
- Due: September 14, 2020
Eligibility Confirmation (to be completed by the thesis adviser)
- Due: September 30, 2020
Application (institutional representative, thesis adviser, student)
- Opens: October 27, 2020
- Closes: December 10, 2020
External Letter of Support (from student’s previous research adviser)
- Opens: October 27, 2020
- Closes: December 10, 2020
Characteristics of successful applications for the 2020 competition can be accessed here. Please note that the application prompts are subject to change for each new competition. If you are submitting materials for the 2021 competition, please review the 2021 Gilliam Program announcement; see below.
For more information about the nomination and application components, please refer to the 2021 Gilliam Program Announcement (PDF).
Current Advisers and Fellows
| Thesis Adviser | Institution | Fellow | Cohort Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leslie Vosshall | The Rockefeller University | Veronica Jove | 2016 |
| David Baker | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | Sherry Bermeo | 2017 |
| James Collins | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center | Carlos Paz | 2017 |
| Catherine Drennan | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Lindsey Backman | 2017 |
| Susan Golden | University of California-San Diego | Marie Adomako | 2017 |
| Jean Greenberg | The University of Chicago | DeQuantarius Speed | 2017 |
| Stephan Lammel | University of California-Berkeley | Christine Liu | 2017 |
| James Olson | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | Eric Nealy | 2017 |
| Daniel Segre | Boston University | Alan Pacheco | 2017 |
| Jonathan Abraham | Harvard Medical School | Lars Clark | 2018 |
| Cristina Alberini | New York University | Luendreo Barbosa | 2018 |
| Jason Aoto | University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine | Susana Restrepo | 2018 |
| Kyriacos Athanasiou | University of California-Irvine | Erik Gonzalez-Leon | 2018 |
| Rudy Behnia | Columbia University in the City of New York | Jessica Kohn | 2018 |
| John Boothroyd | Stanford University | Abel Ferrel | 2018 |
| Elizabeth Brainerd | Brown University | Jeremy Lomax | 2018 |
| Jeanette Cook | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Juanita Limas | 2018 |
| Craig Crews | Yale University | Shanique Alabi | 2018 |
| Russell DeBose-Boyd | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center | Brittany Johnson | 2018 |
| Robert Froemke | New York University School of Medicine | Naomi Caraballo (Lopez-Caraballo) | 2018 |
| Margaret Gardel | The University of Chicago | Kate Cavanaugh | 2018 |
| Richard Gardner | University of Washington Medical Center | Amanda Bradley | 2018 |
| Margaret Goodell | Baylor College of Medicine | Jaime Reyes | 2018 |
| Lisa Goodrich | Harvard University | Isle Bastille | 2018 |
| Ann Griffith | University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio | Sergio Cepeda | 2018 |
| Elissa Hallem | University of California-Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine | Taylor Brown | 2018 |
| Lindsay Hinck | University of California-Santa Cruz | Stefany Rubio | 2018 |
| Erich Jarvis | The Rockefeller University | Cesar Vargas | 2018 |
| Angela Jefferson | Vanderbilt University Medical Center | Francis Cambronero | 2018 |
| Rachelle Johnson | Vanderbilt University Medical Center | Tolu Omokehinde | 2018 |
| Tracy Johnson | University of California-Los Angeles | Lauren Thurlow | 2018 |
| Elizabeth King | University of Missouri-Columbia | Patricka Williams-Simon | 2018 |
| Andrew Kowalczyk | Emory University School of Medicine | Amber Caldara | 2018 |
| Markita Landry | University of California-Berkeley | Abraham Beyene | 2018 |
| Tene Lewis | Emory University School of Public Health | Miriam Van Dyke | 2018 |
| David Linden | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Jessie Benedict | 2018 |
| Ben Major | Washington University in St. Louis | Megan Agajanian | 2018 |
| Ulrich Mueller | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Jose Llongueras | 2018 |
| Carole Ober | The University of Chicago | Charles Washington | 2018 |
| Paivi Pajukanta | University of California-Los Angeles | Marcus Alvarez | 2018 |
| Carrie Partch | University of California-Santa Cruz | Gian Carlo Parico | 2018 |
| Blake Peterson | The Ohio State University | Angelo Andres | 2018 |
| Robin Queen | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | Cherice Hughes-Oliver | 2018 |
| Michelle Lynne Reniere | University of Washington | Monica Cesinger | 2018 |
| Kaoru Saijo | University of California-Berkeley | Kurtresha Worden | 2018 |
| Daniel Schmidt | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | Willow Coyote-Maestas | 2018 |
| Jason Shoemaker | University of Pittsburgh | Emily Ackerman | 2018 |
| Christina Smolke | Stanford University | Matias Kaplan | 2018 |
| Melissa Spencer | University of California-Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine | Raquel Aragon | 2018 |
| Jonathan Staley | The University of Chicago | Cody Hernandez | 2018 |
| JoAnn Trejo | University of California-San Diego Medical Center | Aleena Arakaki | 2018 |
| Danny Winder | Vanderbilt University School of Medicine | Jordan Brown | 2018 |
| Cynthia Wolberger | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Sara Haile | 2018 |
| Todd Yeates | University of California-Los Angeles | Jessica Ochoa | 2018 |
| Carlos Aizenman | Brown University | Alexis Toliver | 2019 |
| Regina Baucom | University of Michigan | Nia Johnson | 2019 |
| Alistair Boettiger | Stanford University | Leslie Mateo | 2019 |
| Susan Carpenter | University of California-Santa Cruz | Apple Vollmers | 2019 |
| Peter Chien | University of Massachusetts, Amherst | Samar Mahmoud | 2019 |
| Seemay Chou | University of California-San Francisco, School of Medicine | Fauna Yarza | 2019 |
| Daniel Colon-Ramos | University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras | Ernesto Cabezas-Bou | 2019 |
| Susan Daniel | Cornell University | Ferra Pinnock | 2019 |
| Ian Davis | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Shelsa Marcel | 2019 |
| Marcelo Dietrich | Yale University | Gabriela Bosque-Ortiz | 2019 |
| Chris Dulla | Tufts University School of Medicine | Sadi Quinones | 2019 |
| Kafui Dzirasa | Duke University | Elise Adamson | 2019 |
| Ruth Anne Eatock | The University of Chicago | Selina Baeza-Loya | 2019 |
| Camilla Forsberg | University of California-Santa Cruz | Donna Poscablo | 2019 |
| Michael Francis | University of Massachusetts Medical School | Kellianne Alexander | 2019 |
| James Fraser | University of California-San Francisco | Roberto Efraín Díaz | 2019 |
| Rachelle Gaudet | Harvard University | José Velilla | 2019 |
| Jason Gestwicki | University of California-San Francisco | Kelly Montgomery | 2019 |
| J. Silvio Gutkind | University of California-San Diego School of Medicine | Michael Allevato | 2019 |
| Corey Harwell | Harvard University | Christopher Reid | 2019 |
| Mark Heise | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Brea Hampton | 2019 |
| Luisa Iruela-Arispe | University of California-Los Angeles | Gloria Hernandez | 2019 |
| John Jewett | University of Arizona | Natasha Cornejo | 2019 |
| Alec Kimmelman | New York University School of Medicine | Joel Encarnacion-Rosado | 2019 |
| Katherine King | Baylor College of Medicine | Daniel Morales-Mantilla | 2019 |
| Erez Lieberman Aiden | Baylor College of Medicine | Brian Glenn-St.Hilaire | 2019 |
| Scott Magness | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Kristina Rivera | 2019 |
| Rachel Martin | University of California-Irvine | Marc Sprague-Piercy | 2019 |
| Alea Mills | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | David Johnson | 2019 |
| Peter Mucha | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Andrew Hinton | 2019 |
| Jennifer Nemhauser | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | Román Ramos-Báez | 2019 |
| Medha Pathak | University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine | Jesse Holt | 2019 |
| Scott Pletcher | University of Michigan | Kristina Holme | 2019 |
| April Pyle | University of California-Los Angeles | Devin Gibbs | 2019 |
| Priya Rajasethupathy | The Rockefeller University | Josue Regalado | 2019 |
| Samara Reck-Peterson | University of California-San Diego | Donte Stevens | 2019 |
| Antonis Rokas | Vanderbilt University | Jacob Steenwyk | 2019 |
| Sunny Shin | University of Pennsylvania Perleman School of Medicine | Natasha Lopes-Fischer | 2019 |
| Michelle Southard-Smith | Vanderbilt University | Justin Avila | 2019 |
| Jorge Torres | University of California-Los Angeles | Erick Velasquez | 2019 |
| Laurence Trussell | Oregon Health and Science University | Tavita Garrett | 2019 |
| Robert Weiss | Cornell University | Irma Fernandez | 2019 |
| Danny Winder | Vanderbilt University | Kellie Williford | 2019 |
| Kim Woodrow | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | Jamie Hernandez | 2019 |
| Nicola Allen | Salk Institute for Biological Studies/University of California-San Diego | Jillybeth Burgado | 2020 |
| Graça Almeida-Porada | Wake Forest School of Medicine of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center | Martin Rodriguez | 2020 |
| James Alvarez | Duke University | Nina Marie Garcia | 2020 |
| Mark Andermann | Harvard University | Nghia Nguyen | 2020 |
| K. Mark Ansel | University of California-San Francisco | Priscila Muñoz-Sandoval | 2020 |
| Swathi Arur | University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center/Baylor College of Med | Jacob Ortega | 2020 |
| Luis Barreiro | University of Chicago | Katherine Aracena | 2020 |
| Douda Bensasson | University of Georgia | Jacqueline Peña | 2020 |
| Kivanc Birsoy | Rockefeller University | Mariluz Soula | 2020 |
| Kathleen Caron | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Hernán Méndez | 2020 |
| Yolanda Chen | University of Vermont | Erika Bueno | 2020 |
| Catherine Drennan | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Sheena Vasquez | 2020 |
| Siobain Duffy | Rutgers University, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences | Alvin Crespo-Bellido | 2020 |
| Monica Dus | University of Michigan | Thibaut Pardo Garcia | 2020 |
| Vivian Gama | Vanderbilt University | Gabriella Robertson | 2020 |
| Sharon Gerecht | The Johns Hopkins University | Franklyn Hall | 2020 |
| Rachel Green | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Miguel Pacheco | 2020 |
| Diana Hargreaves | Salk Institute for Biological Studies/University of California-San Diego | Matthew Maxwell | 2020 |
| Ritchie Ho | Cedars-Sinai Medical Center | Thomas Mota | 2020 |
| Joanna Jankowsky | Baylor College of Medicine | Gabriella Perez | 2020 |
| Thomas Kash | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine | Sofia Neira | 2020 |
| Alexis Komor | University of California-San Diego | Carlos Vasquez | 2020 |
| Lisa Komoroske | University of Massachusetts, Amherst | Nadia Fernandez | 2020 |
| Genevieve Konopka | University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center | Ana Ortiz | 2020 |
| Konrad Kording | University of Pennsylvania | Ilenna Jones | 2020 |
| Kelly Liu | Cornell University | Marissa Baccas | 2020 |
| Robert Malenka | Stanford University School of Medicine | Daniel Cardozo Pinto | 2020 |
| Ricardo Mallarino | Princeton University | Jorge Moreno | 2020 |
| Seth Margolis | The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine | Michael Hopkins | 2020 |
| Wallace Marshall | University of California-San Francisco | Ulises Diaz | 2020 |
| Andreas Martin | University of California-Berkeley | Santiago Yori Restrepo | 2020 |
| Robert Mauck | Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania | Ryan Daniels | 2020 |
| Douglas Melton | Harvard University | Alana Van Dervort | 2020 |
| Timothy Mitchison | Harvard Medical School | Lillian Horin | 2020 |
| Shruti Naik | New York University School of Medicine | Kody Mansfield | 2020 |
| Lauren O'Connell | Stanford University | Aurora Alvarez-Buylla | 2020 |
| Kathrin Plath | University of California-Los Angeles | Clara Cano | 2020 |
| Manoj Puthenveedu | University of Michigan Medical School | Candilianne Serrano-Zayas | 2020 |
| John Rawls | Duke University School of Medicine | Briana Davis | 2020 |
| Jennifer Robinson | University of Kansas | Pamela Johnson | 2020 |
| Amita Sehgal | Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania | Jessica Schwarz | 2020 |
| Aakanksha Singhvi | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington-Seattle | German Rojas | 2020 |
| Gina Turrigiano | Brandeis University | Andrea Guerrero | 2020 |
| Noah Whiteman | University of California-Berkeley | Jessica Aguilar | 2020 |
| Karen Zito | University of California-Davis | Nicole Claiborne | 2020 |
Program Alumni
Fellows’ Perspectives
Stefany Rubio
2018 Gilliam Fellow, University of California, Santa Cruz
“The discussion sessions with HHMI Investigators are very motivational. For me, their stories are the most memorable part of each Science Meeting. I am so grateful for their honesty and openness – they share failures and successes. Storytelling has a profound way of making someone that may feel like an outcast feel included and shift the way they fit into the scientific community. It allows us to identify with someone who we didn't know we shared so much with and makes us feel welcomed.”
Willow Coyote-Maestas
2018 Gilliam Fellow, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
“The HHMI Science Meeting was one of the most inspiring experiences of my academic career so far! The talks were extraordinary. I shared my science with a Nobel laureate in my field and I was inspired by how excited he got about what I was working on. Overall, I loved talking science with and felt supported by the investigators.”
Marc Sprague-Piercy
2019 Gilliam Fellow, University of California, Irvine
“The Gilliam annual meeting was invaluable for helping me believe that I can make a larger impact in my community than before. The connections and training that were offered by the meeting will be sure to have a profound impact on the rest of my career.”
Patricka Williams-Simon
2018 Gilliam Fellow, University of Missouri
"Imagine having a community of graduate students nationwide that support each other and create an environment where everyone can thrive while being their authentic and best self. That’s the Gilliam family. I love my Gilliam family!”
