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Fellowships in Environmental Medicine for Medical Students

What is the NIEHS and what sort of research do they do?

  • Mission Statement
    • Human health and human disease result from three interactive elements: environmental factors, individual susceptibility and age.
  • Location
    • NIEHS is located on 509 rolling acres of rhododendron, oak and pine in Research Triangle Park, roughly 12 miles south of Durham and ten miles east of Chapel Hill. The NIEHS Main Campus entrance is located at 111 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park.
  • Size
    • 100 distinct research groups
    • One interconnected research entity
    • New Clinical Research Unit, opening summer 2007

Research in the Division of Intramural Research

Doctors with stethoscopes

  • Activities within the Division
    • National Toxicology Program Research
    • Toxicogenomics
    • Epidemiological studies to identify environmental factors
    • Intervention and prevention studies to reduce exposure
    • Molecular medicine

  • DIR scientists are involved in research that contributes to our:
    • Basic understanding of biological and chemical processes
    • Understanding of the role of environmental agents in human disease and dysfunction
    • Knowledge of underlying mechanisms of environmentally associated diseases.

  • The DIR is organized into three programs:
    • Environmental biology
    • Environmental toxicology
    • Environmental disease and medicine

What does the program entail?

  • One-year program, which can start any time after acceptance – usually late summer
  • Laboratory, epidemiological or clinical research related to environmental health issues
  • Under the direction of a principal investigator at the NIEHS Division of Intramural Research
  • Most projects take place at the NIEHS central campus at Research Triangle Park, NC
  • Some NIEHS investigators are located at the NIH central campus in Bethesda, MD
  • NIEHS provides successful applicants with a stipend of $28,000 paid to their medical school student account and administered by the medical school’s financial aid office.

How do I apply?

  • Review Principal Investigators and their research areas of opportunity, using the NIEHS Web site at http://www.niehs.nih.gov
  • Choose a preceptor and confer with that person regarding the project opportunities they have and their interest.
  • Apply by mid-January of each year for admission in the following summer.
    • The usual letters, transcripts, etc.
    • Brief research proposal
  • Stipend:
    • $28,000 per year paid into your student account (lump-sum; no travel nor supplements)
    • Preceptor gets a lab budget for you
  • Application Form for NIEHS Fellowships in Environmental Medicine (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/atniehs/clinical/docs/ApplicationFormNIEHSFellowshipsinEnvironmentalMedicine09.pdf)  Download Adobe Reader (113KB)

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USA.gov Department of Health & Human Services National Institutes of Health
This page URL: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/careers/research/med-students/index.cfm
NIEHS website: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/
Email the Web Manager at webmanager@niehs.nih.gov
Last Reviewed: January 08, 2009