MD/MPHS Student Spotlight Featuring Cynthia Wang
JMANN Applications
FIHTM-JMANN
Application Due Date: Sept. 15, 2017
Website: http://fihtm.wustl.edu/?opportunities
Contact Roz Robinson at omsr@wustl.edu for more information.
Dean’s Fellowship, NIDDK, & NHLBI
All funding comes from the Office of Medical Student Research and Scholarship. The program consists of 2.5 months of full-time basic or clinical research in the WUSM SRP.
Application Due Date: March 15, 2017
Contact Roz Robinson at omsr@wustl.edu for more information.
Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship Program
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation provides fellowships for medical students to take a year off from school to conduct mentored clinical research in developing countries.
Application Due Date: January 10, 2017
FIHTM Student Opportunities Abroad Program
The Forum for International Health and Tropical Medicine (FIHTM) brings together students and physicians at Washington University who are interested in international health. First year students are eligible to apply for a Student Opportunities Abroad Program (SOAPs) scholarship grant of $3,000 for an international medical experience during the summer between their first and second years
Application Due Date: February 2017
Website: http://fihtm.wustl.edu/?opportunities
Contact Angela MacBryde at macbrydea@wustl.edu for more information.
MIR Summer Research Opportunity
Funding comes from the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR). The program consists of 10 weeks of full-time research on topics in Radiological Sciences.
Application Due Date: February 13, 2017
Siteman Cancer Center Fellowship
Funding comes from the Siteman Cancer Center. The program consists of 10 weeks of full-time research.
Application Due Date: January 31, 2017
SMERF Opportunities
Summer Medical Education Research Fellowship (SMERF) supports medical students to conduct summer research in medical education.
Application Due Date: March 2017
Contact Roz Robinson at omsr@wustl.edu for more information.
TL1 Predoctoral Program
Funding comes from the Clinical Research Training Center (CRTC). The Predoctoral Summer Program consists of 2 months of full-time clinical research and didactic coursework. The TL1 Intensive Predoctoral Program is a twelve-month clinical and translational year-out research experience.
Application Due Date: February 20, 2017
Website: http://crtc.wustl.edu
Contact Jessica Chafe at JChafe@DOM.wustl.edu for more information.
Outlook Magazine: Learning Labs
For most medical students, there’s a major obstacle to doing research: being in medical school. Not at Washington University.

Medical student Margery Gang collaborates on an acute myeloid leukemia project with Timothy Ley, MD, the Lewis T. and Rosalind B. Apple Chair in Oncology.
On top of mastering enormous volumes of material, sitting for exams, going through clinical rotations and applying for residencies, medical students don’t have a lot of spare time.
Yet health-care professionals recognize the importance of research experience, even for students headed into clinical practice. Strong research skills and strong clinical skills are inextricably linked.
Doctors must scrutinize an endless barrage of primary scientific literature; only by thinking critically can they determine the best course for individual patients.
At the School of Medicine, student research opportunities abound — in basic, clinical and translational science, global health, device and technology development, and in nearly every discipline. More than 2,100 faculty mentors stand ready to guide.
To learn more:
Two medical students named Howard Hughes fellows
Two medical students at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been selected to receive mentored training with top biomedical scientists through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s (HHMI) Medical Research Fellows Program.
The $3 million annual initiative gives aspiring physicians and scientists $41,000 each in grant support, allowing students to spend a year conducting basic, transitional or applied biomedical research in a laboratory.
To learn more about their work:
Research training symposium celebrates 10th year
For the past 10 years, students, residents and junior faculty at Washington University School of Medicine have presented basic, clinical and translational research projects at an annual research training symposium and poster session on the Medical Campus.
This year, 125 participants gave oral presentations and displayed posters on research ranging from the genetics of brain metastasis related to lung cancer, to risk factors for radiation optic neuropathy, to identifying frailty among surgical patients. When the program began 10 years ago, there were only 25 participants.
Much of the research gets its start during the school’s annual Summer Research Program (SRP). More than 90 percent of School of Medicine students participate in the SRP, which is directed by the Office of Medical Student Research and Scholarship. Five years ago, students from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., also began participating in the SRP and the annual poster session.
Students receive stipends to conduct research for two months, and then they present their work at the research training symposium and poster session. In addition to conducting cutting-edge research with the School of Medicine’s physicians and scientists, students are able to develop long-term connections with faculty.
This past summer, 91 School of Medicine second-year students and two first-year students and 10 Meharry Medical College students participated in the SRP.
“The Washington University School of Medicine Summer Research Program offers WUSM students and Meharry medical students the opportunity to participate in research to enhance their medical education and the opportunity to collaborate with our world-renowned faculty on groundbreaking research,” said Koong-Nah Chung, PhD, associate dean for medical student research and director of the Office of Medical Student Research and Scholarship. “We are grateful for the support of the program from many, including the dean’s office, the provost’s office, the Clinical Research Training Center, the research faculty, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and private and foundation grants. The support also has enabled us to ensure the success of the annual research training symposium and poster session, which has grown immeasurably over the years.”
Four medical students selected as Howard Hughes fellows
Four medical students at Washington University School of Medicine are among 68 students nationwide selected for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Medical Research Fellows Program.
The $2.8 million annual initiative is designed to develop the next generation of physician-scientists by giving students a full year of mentored research training with some of the nation’s top biomedical scientists. Each student applied with a mentor of his or her choice and submitted a research proposal. Projects by Washington University students will investigate chronic itch, immune cells and cancer, nerve cell death and the promise of diagnostic nanoparticles in detecting disease.
The 2015-16 Washington University Howard Hughes fellows are:
- Kow Essuman, third-year medical student; mentor Jeffrey Milbrandt, MD, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine
- Jessie Ge, second-year medical student; mentor Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, of Stanford University School of Medicine
- Julia Wagner, second-year medical student; mentor Todd Fehniger, MD, PhD, of Washington University School of Medicine
- Amy Xu, third-year medical student; mentor Brian Kim, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine