summer fellowships / programs

[drstrangelove]

Hi all:

What are the more unique, unconventional summer fellowships or programs available or that you have participated in? Do they provide funding?

speculating--
research fellowship in UK or Europe
medical care / HIV in Africa
health policy internship
working for pharma or biotech out west or out east
sports medicine with a professional team

Can anyone point me to good websites compiling this kind of information?
I'll also take links to traditional research or NIH, but specifically interested in some of the non-traditional stuff.

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[JMD]

I did 2 months of research in Germany this past summer. Awesome experience, but no funding. I did however get extremely affordable housing ($100/month), and since I wanted to hang out in Europe for the summer after my first year it turned out to be much cheaper than any other options.

Go to www.ifmsa.org and click on "exchanges" They have hundreds of both clinical and research possibilities. This organization/exchange program is huge in Europe, South America, etc., but for some reason we Americans don't participate much.

PM me if you end up wanting any more info.

 

[dingiswayo]

I just posted this thread on the Operation Crossroads Africa program. It's a well-established 8-week service program currently in about 7 different African countries. I did it a few years ago--a health education project in rural Uganda. Great experience.

 

[drstrangelove]

JMD, that site is pretty good. Do you know if funding is available for most of those? Where does it say? Couldn't find it.

dingi--that's a cool program, but $3500 to go volunteer? How is that even feasible?

 

[JMD]

JMD, that site is pretty good. Do you know if funding is available for most of those? Where does it say? Couldn't find it.

dingi--that's a cool program, but $3500 to go volunteer? How is that even feasible?

The way it works for other countries (as you can see there are many involved) is that it is a bilateral exchange. So basically, say someone from Brazil goes to Germany for 2 months. The IFMSA reps. in Germany get them free housing and I think a little bit of a stipend. Then, a German student is able to go to Brazil for 2 months (doesn't have to be at the same time) at some point and gets the same benefits.

The problem is that the U.S. does not have any research programs/labs to which foreign student can exchange, so I had to go "Unilaterally," and pay for housing, etc. However, the German IFMSA Reps. still took good care of me- cheap housing, cooked some dinners, partied, etc. It is a shame that we do not have any opportunities over here because there are a ton of foreign students dying to spend some time in the states.


In just the small(er) city of Leipzig that I stayed in, there were 2 students from Taiwan, 1 from Spain, 1 from Lithuania, 1 from Austria, and 1 from Peru there at the same time that I was.

I am in the process of trying to find some labs at SUNY BUffalo who will take a foreign student for a few months so that in the future US students can participate for free.


Again, if you decide you want to look further into the process, let me know and I will give you some contacts, advice...


Oh yeah, I did a "research exchange." You might want to look into "clinical exchanges" because they might have more funding options. You may have to have 3 yrs. of med school under your belt for some of those though.

 

[dingiswayo]

dingi--that's a cool program, but $3500 to go volunteer? How is that even feasible?

Easy, Operation Crossroads helps with the fundraising. I rasied every penny. The website explains the fundraising aspect of the program. Most of my donations came from friends and family in $25- to $50-dollar chunks.