Research Fellowship

Applicants are eligible for Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellowships if:

(1) they have received a Ph.D. (or D.Phil. or equivalent) degree no more than two years before the application deadline, or an M.D. (or M.D.-Ph.D.) degree no more than four years before the deadline

AND

(2) they have been employed in their postdoctoral laboratory for no more than one year before the application deadline.

An applicant’s “postdoctoral laboratory” is the laboratory in which they propose to be appointed as a HHW fellow. If an applicant has remained in their Ph.D. laboratory for some months to finish up work there, this time does not count against the one year of “postdoctoral time”. Thus, for example, if an applicant received their Ph.D. in January, then stayed in the Ph.D. laboratory until the end of September, and finally moved to their postdoctoral laboratory on October 1, the one year of “postdoctoral laboratory” time would begin on October 1. Applicants with a Ph.D. degree or equivalent who applied before arriving in their postdoctoral laboratory but did not receive an award are eligible to apply again in the following year. For applicants with M.D. (or M.D.-Ph.D.) degrees, the four-year post-degree interval should include only clinical training and no more than one year in the postdoctoral laboratory.

The Foundation does not ordinarily consider applicants who plan tenure of the fellowship in the laboratory in which they have already received extensive predoctoral or postdoctoral training. The aim of the fellowship is to broaden postdoctoral training and experience, and a change of laboratory is usually advisable.

The Foundation will not make more than one award per year for training with a given supervisor. Should we receive more than one application from a single laboratory, we will review only one, as chosen by the Chair of the SAC, and decline the other(s) administratively. We urge the heads of laboratories to make this choice for us. We also do not support more than two fellows per laboratory at the same time, so that if we make awards to applicants from a particular laboratory in two successive years, applicants from that laboratory are ineligible in the thrid year.

The research plan and the evidence, from publications and recommendations, of outstanding scientific promise are the principal criteria for awarding a fellowship, with consideration in some cases of having overcome major barriers to scientific success.

The number of Fellowships awarded varies slightly from year to year, depending on endowment income and other factors. Since 2020, we have been able to award between 23 and 25 fellowships each year, from an appliant pool of about 300. The Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) reviews applilcations in several stages, including interviews for finalists (in person or by Zoom) with a member of the SAC. Candidates are notified of their status (interview or decline) by early October. The SAC meets in early November and selects awardees from the group interviewed. The awardees, and any alternates (should one or more of the awardees decline — e.g., because they accept another fellowship), are notified within a few days of the SAC meeting. The Board of Trustees of the Foundation votes to approve the recommended awards, usually at a meeting in January.

The Whitney Fellowship is for a period of three years, contingent on performance satisfactory to the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Committee. One and two-year fellowships are not considered.

You may activate your fellowship anytime from April 1, through September 1, 2025.

The Foundation provides funds for travel to the fellowship location at the time of activation of the fellowship for the Fellow and his or her family. No payment is made for the transportation of household goods. The Foundation also covers travel expenses incurred for the two-day Annual Fellows Meetings held in November. Travel expenses will be reimbursed directly to the Fellow, upon submission of expense receipts. These reimbursements are in addition to the annual stipend and research allowance.

The current stipend and expense allowance is:

There is a research allowance of $1,500 remitted annually to the host institution. It is to be used at the discretion of the Fellow with no deductions for institutional overhead, registration fees, or taxes. This money is to be used for research expenses, such as lab supplies, computers, etc. If the Fellow wishes, this money may be used, in part or entirely, to help defray the cost of the Fellow’s health insurance premiums. The Fellow determines how this research allowance will be spent. Payment of the research allowance will be made on the fellowship activation date, and annually thereafter.

There is a Dependent Child Allowance of $1,500 per annum for each child. There is no allowance for a spouse. If a fellowship is awarded and the Fellow advises us that he or she is eligible for the Dependent Child Allowance, we will then request a copy of the birth or adoption certificate(s). Payment of the child allowance will be made on the fellowship activation date, and annually thereafter.

Depending on the activation date of the fellowship, stipend payments are made semi-annually by the Foundation to the administering institution. Fellows in training abroad will receive quarterly stipend payments directly.

Supplementation of the stipend is permitted. It is not acceptable, however, to hold concurrently a full fellowship from another source. Non-research activities, such as teaching, must not occupy more than 10% of the Fellow’s time.

A two-day Annual Meeting of Fellows is held in November of each year, at which each third-year Fellow presents the results of his or her research. This meeting is an important component of the Fellowship Program because of the opportunity it provides the Fellows for scientific interchange and exposure to biomedical fields other than their own. Attendance at the meeting in its entirety is expected as a condition of acceptance of the fellowship.

We receive more than ten times as many applications as we can make awards. Because of the large number of applications, we cannot provide critiques of unsuccessful proposals.

Applications are to be filled out and submitted online at www.hhwf.org. Applications must be received by The Helen Hay Whitney Foundation no later than 5:00pm EST, June 17, 2024. Late applications will not be considered.
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