Global health fellowship interest

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

scrubbed_out

New Member
5+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2017
Messages
5
Reaction score
2
One of my friends who is a 3rd year just got a Doris Duke Fellowship for international research. She is going to do research in Peru I think for a year through the fellowship and UNC's med school. Anyways, I'm interested in global health and this seems like a cool way to get some research under my belt, with the downside being having to take a year off. Anyone have thoughts on this kind of program (like do they look good for residency, or are they competative, etc)

Members don't see this ad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Id love some input on this one too! Pretty much in the same boat.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Id love some input on this one too! Pretty much in the same boat.
Doris Duke is the only one I know of that pays you and has good mentorship. Would really like to get some thoughts on how good/bad/indifferent this kind of thing looks. I know HHMI and some other fellowships for research seem to be pretty prestigious, not sure about Doris Duke though.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
My school has a few options internally. Im definitely curious about how competitive they are, how they look for residency, and also summer options.
 
My school has a few options internally. Im definitely curious about how competitive they are, how they look for residency, and also summer options.
I did a summer global health program at my school. Definitely a good opportunity if done right.
Interested to hear about the year long research programs.
 
Hey Guys! Soooo I studied this a lot. And actually ended up applying to some fellowships but due to some personal/family issues I wasn't able to attend.

Your main options are:

1. Doris Duke - There are 6 schools that host Doris Dukes, you can apply to all 6 if you choose. Only UCSF requires you to find a mentor previous to applying and actually write a research proposal. I applied to the other 5 (Harvard, Yale, Duke, UNC, and Minnesota) and received 3 interviews from them. My global health experience isn't crazy amazing but I did run an independent project after my M1 year. Applications are due beginning of January.

2. Fogarty Fellowship - These are competitive because you are also competing against residents and fellows, not just medical students like with DD. In this case there are ~5 consortium of schools (They all have funny names and some actually make sense to be consortium together, like the UC schools, while others seem random). For the Fogarty Fellowship, you can only apply to 1 consortium and only 2 or 3 actually allow people from outside of the consortium to apply. You'd have to do your own research on this. This requires you to write a full research proposal and submit it. Much more time consuming. I did apply for and get an interview for this as well. Applications are due anywhere from beginning of December to end of January depending on consortium.

3. Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship - This does not exist this year because it did not get funding, but it will for next year! You apply through Fulbright for this and it acts much like a Fulbright Fellowship, in that you must contact mentors you are interested in working with and get there approval/help in the development of the project. This is similar to the regular Fogarty in this regard. These are also not only for medical students but I believe MPH and public health PhD students can apply for these as well. They are only offered in certain countries so you'd have to go on the Fulbright website to determine which countries are offering them for the coming year. Applications open in September and are due at the end of the year I believe.

From all the research I've done these are the only 3 options open to medical students located anywhere. If you have any questions about it please feel free to ask them here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Hey Guys! Soooo I studied this a lot. And actually ended up applying to some fellowships but due to some personal/family issues I wasn't able to attend.

Your main options are:

1. Doris Duke - There are 6 schools that host Doris Dukes, you can apply to all 6 if you choose. Only UCSF requires you to find a mentor previous to applying and actually write a research proposal. I applied to the other 5 (Harvard, Yale, Duke, UNC, and Minnesota) and received 3 interviews from them. My global health experience isn't crazy amazing but I did run an independent project after my M1 year. Applications are due beginning of January.

2. Fogarty Fellowship - These are competitive because you are also competing against residents and fellows, not just medical students like with DD. In this case there are ~5 consortium of schools (They all have funny names and some actually make sense to be consortium together, like the UC schools, while others seem random). For the Fogarty Fellowship, you can only apply to 1 consortium and only 2 or 3 actually allow people from outside of the consortium to apply. You'd have to do your own research on this. This requires you to write a full research proposal and submit it. Much more time consuming. I did apply for and get an interview for this as well. Applications are due anywhere from beginning of December to end of January depending on consortium.

3. Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship - This does not exist this year because it did not get funding, but it will for next year! You apply through Fulbright for this and it acts much like a Fulbright Fellowship, in that you must contact mentors you are interested in working with and get there approval/help in the development of the project. This is similar to the regular Fogarty in this regard. These are also not only for medical students but I believe MPH and public health PhD students can apply for these as well. They are only offered in certain countries so you'd have to go on the Fulbright website to determine which countries are offering them for the coming year. Applications open in September and are due at the end of the year I believe.

From all the research I've done these are the only 3 options open to medical students located anywhere. If you have any questions about it please feel free to ask them here.

I know this is kind of hard to assess but are these considered as prestigious as the HHMI type research programs? Also any idea if they stand out for residency programs?

I'm having a hard time assessing if they are a leg up in residency app process to justify time off (I know there are a ton of other reasons to it beyond residency, but I'm just wondering about this aspect)
 
I know this is kind of hard to assess but are these considered as prestigious as the HHMI type research programs? Also any idea if they stand out for residency programs?

I'm having a hard time assessing if they are a leg up in residency app process to justify time off (I know there are a ton of other reasons to it beyond residency, but I'm just wondering about this aspect)

Basically from my understanding (spoke to deans about this): it will not make up for a lower step score but it will certainly be the icing on the cake and give you a leg up over other people with similar step scores to you. So it probably won't get you into a higher tier residency (if that's such a thing lol) but it would put you towards the top of the pool in the tier your step score has you in. Does that make sense? lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Basically from my understanding (spoke to deans about this): it will not make up for a lower step score but it will certainly be the icing on the cake and give you a leg up over other people with similar step scores to you. So it probably won't get you into a higher tier residency (if that's such a thing lol) but it would put you towards the top of the pool in the tier your step score has you in. Does that make sense? lol
Thanks for the reply and insight!

One last question, based on the interviews you got, is there a difference in the quality of each school's program, or are they all generally the same?

Seems like a pretty unique opportunity either way.
 
Thanks for the reply and insight!

One last question, based on the interviews you got, is there a difference in the quality of each school's program, or are they all generally the same?

Seems like a pretty unique opportunity either way.

I think that it really comes down to 1) the past experiences/skills you are bringing to the table; 2) which PIs are currently looking to bring on new students; and 3) do 1 & 2 match.

I came with a good background in project management, statistics, and am bilingual so I'm sure that helped some, but there were some projects at schools that did not offer me an interview that seemed to be right up my alley - I assume the PI wasn't interested in being a mentor this year. Often times they have a million things going on, maybe in the middle of applying for grants or travelling, and simply do not feel they have the time to act as a mentor.

Overall I think all of the programs offer really unique and worthwhile experiences, regardless of school name. The name Doris Duke or Fogarty will mean more than the particular university involved. They are NIH funded in a similar manner so in many ways they are similar (similar pay, benefits, etc).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Top