NIH-Funded Global Health Emerging Scholars Fellowship

Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley and the University of Arizona run this 12-month mentored global health research fellowship as a consortium, funded by the NIH Fogarty International Center and hosted by the Yale Institute for Global Health. U.S. doctoral and health professional students who have passed their qualifying exams spend 10 to 12 months at a partner research institution in one of 15 low- and middle-income countries, carrying out a research project they propose with a U.S. mentor and a mentor at the host site. It pays a monthly stipend for the whole year, plus research funds, a round-trip flight, health insurance and visa costs.

What you get:

• A monthly stipend for all 12 months, set on the NIH stipend scale with your paired U.S. university, to cover food, housing and basic transport (the amount is not published, and stipends may be taxable)
• $10,000 in research support for supplies, reagents and field team costs, which also covers visa and passport fees
• A further $5,000 available to your project and mentorship team for costs the research budget does not cover
• A reimbursable budget for international health insurance and a round-trip flight to your research site, which varies by U.S. home institution
• Required vaccinations covered
• Travel and accommodation for the orientation at the National Institutes of Health in July
• Mentoring from a GHES faculty member at one of the four universities and a mentor at the host institution, plus training in Innovation Design, Rigor and Reproducibility, Leadership, and Data Science/AI

What you'll do:

• Line up a GHES mentor at Stanford, the University of Arizona, UC Berkeley or Yale and a GHES mentor at a partner site before applying; each writes you a letter of support
• Propose a research project you can finish within the year, on topics such as noncommunicable diseases, HIV and other infectious diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, injuries and trauma, mental health, or delivering health care where resources are scarce
• Spend 10 to 12 months full time at your research site in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bangladesh, India, Lebanon, Malaysia or Samoa
• Attend a mandatory five-day orientation at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, expected mid-July
• Give 100 percent of your time to the fellowship for 12 months; no other job is allowed, even part-time

Key dates:

• Applications close October 1, 2026 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time
• First fellowship offers likely in April, with a second round likely between May and June
• Training for the 2027 to 2028 fellowship year begins July 1, with the mandatory NIH orientation expected mid-July

More information:

• Talk to the GHES program manager at your U.S. mentor's university before applying; each of the four universities has one, listed on Yale's contact page, and they can help match you with mentors. General questions go to ghes@yale.edu
• Yale advises allowing at least six weeks to prepare an application
• U.S. doctoral students can also apply separately for a Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship in Public Health through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program

• U.S. citizen (including U.S. territories and possessions) or U.S. permanent resident; permanent residents must give their permanent resident number
• Currently enrolled in a doctoral (such as PhD or DrPH) or health professional (such as MD, DO, DDS or DVM) degree program at any U.S. college or university; you do not need to study at one of the four consortium universities
• Passed your qualifying exam or exams by the time you apply
• Health professional students who pause their studies for a year or more to do full-time research are eligible
• Two primary mentors: a GHES faculty member at Stanford, the University of Arizona, UC Berkeley or Yale with whom you have a professional relationship, and a GHES faculty member at a partner institution in one of the 15 countries
• Able to spend 10 to 12 months at the research site and work full time on the fellowship for 12 months, with no other job
• Required: the online application, a research proposal following the GHES guidelines, two or three letters of recommendation (one from each primary mentor, signed and on letterhead), an unofficial transcript, and NIH biosketches for you and your mentors on the NIH Common Form through SciENcv, with an ORCID iD linked to eRA Commons
• Not eligible: master's and undergraduate students, and anyone who is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, including international students at U.S. universities