Prestigious Fellowships?

[joachim128]

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So with all the great info all of you 4th years have provided, I haven't seen any mention of fellowships for year long research (Doris Duke, Howard Hughes, etc.). Of course, the time spent on research is helpful, but does anyone have an idea of how much weight is given to receiving and participating in these fellowship programs?

 

[Gfunk6]

I do know that Howard Hughes Fellowships are weighed very heavily (and rightly so). The cloister program allows you to work with top tier scientists in Bethesda and many students are able to publish in excellent journals. They like to get a fairly even split from across the country so if your state has been poorly represented in the past you may have a good shot.

It's the best thing you can do research-wise I think, short of getting a PhD.

 

[joachim128]

Thanks for the info. Does anyone know about other fellowships' prestige?

 

[napoleondynamite]

Thanks for the info. Does anyone know about other fellowships' prestige?

I know of a couple of good options that are only open to students who are between 3rd and 4th years.

One is the Fogarty-Ellison Fellowship. If you are at all interested in international medicine, you should check out. They have like 17 different sites around the world (Africa, S. America, China, etc) & all the projects are through the NIH. They give you a stipend of around 20K plus pay travel & lab expenses. It looks like an incredible program (I would have done it, but found out about it too late). Here is the website for that one:

http://www.aamc.org/students/medstudents/overseasfellowship/

The other program I know of is also through the NIH and completed between 3rd and 4th years (also a year). It is called CRTP (Clinical Research Training Program). It seems like the cousin to Howard Hughes. You go to Bethesda for a year, but the cool thing is you can pick ANY faculty member on campus to work with.. I have a friend who did this and she is pretty much writing her ticket for residency. Here is the website for CRTP:

http://www.training.nih.gov/crtp/index.asp

I would have done one of these programs, but I found out about them too late. I have researched them a lot since then, and they are both solid programs & I think would look good..but don't take my word for it b/c I haven't done them. Anyway, thought I'd pass these along. Good luck.

 

[DrJD]

Bump of a few year old thread!

Seemed silly to make a new thread with this one already going. I was just wondering if there were any more/current thoughts on Doris Duke, HHMI, etc. Generally are they worth devoting a year too in terms of helping ones chances?

 

[BraggPeak]

I know several people who have done the NIH CRTP (Clinical Research Training Program) or NIH-HHMI program who matched in Rad Onc. It looks like they both have an excellent track record of matching applicants in great residencies. Do the HHMI program if you want to do basic science. Do the CRTP program if you want to do something more clinical/translational. Doris Duke depends on the place you do it--- you have to do it at a place with a good Rad Onc program. In my opinion, the experience of working at the NIH is probably better....so many labs to choose from, group of other fellows doing the program with you, stimulating environment of the NIH, etc.

 

[thesauce]

I know several people who have done the NIH CRTP (Clinical Research Training Program) or NIH-HHMI program who matched in Rad Onc. It looks like they both have an excellent track record of matching applicants in great residencies. Do the HHMI program if you want to do basic science. Do the CRTP program if you want to do something more clinical/translational. Doris Duke depends on the place you do it--- you have to do it at a place with a good Rad Onc program. In my opinion, the experience of working at the NIH is probably better....so many labs to choose from, group of other fellows doing the program with you, stimulating environment of the NIH, etc.

I was in the HHMI-NIH program and I can say that this isn't really accurate anymore. These programs have become pretty much the same over the years, with HHMIers and CRTPers working in the same labs and on the same projects. I recommend applying to both concurrently and deciding based on whether you want to live in the Cloister or not.