Howard Hughes Medical Institute - Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program

Fellows will receive funding for their postdoctoral training and may continue to receive funding during their early career years as independent faculty. The program includes opportunities for career development, including mentoring and active involvement in the HHMI scientific community. The Institute will select and support up to 15 fellows in this competition. This grant competition is open to all eligible applicants and no nomination is required. The competition opens September 12, 2018. 

Following the “people, not projects” philosophy of HHMI, the competition is open to basic science researchers and physician-scientists in all the biomedical and life science disciplines, including plant biology, evolutionary biology, biophysics, chemical biology, biomedical engineering, and computational biology. Fellows will have freedom to change their research focus and follow their own curiosity during the duration of the award.

Eligibility

The program is open to individuals who:

• are from gender, racial, ethnic, and other groups underrepresented in the life sciences, including those individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• are basic science researchers and physician-scientists in the biomedical and life science disciplines.
• hold a PhD and/or MD (or equivalent), which must be conferred by the start of the grant term.
• U.S. citizens must have a degree from a research institution in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico) or an international research institution.
• Non-U.S. citizens and applicants with other nationalities must have a degree from a research institution in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico).
• have been accepted to join a laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher at an academic research institution located in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico) at the time of the application due date.
• The postdoctoral training mentor must hold a tenured or tenure-track position (or equivalent) at an institution in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico).
• Applicants can have no more than 16 months of postdoctoral research experience at the time of the application due date.

POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING PHASE

Fellows will receive annual support of a $60,000 salary for the initial year and a $20,000 expense allowance, paid through a non-renewable grant to the training institution. This phase of the award is for a minimum of two and maximum of four years.

FACULTY PHASE
Fellows will receive $250,000 in research funding and a $20,000 expense allowance per year, paid through a non-renewable grant to the institution where they have attained a faculty position. This phase of the award has a maximum length of four years.

CONDITIONS OF THE AWARD:

• Fellows in both postdoctoral training and faculty phases are required to devote at least 75% of their total effort to research.
• To transition to the faculty phase of the program, fellows must obtain a tenure-track (or equivalent) faculty position at a U.S. (including Puerto Rico) research institution with a doctoral-level graduate program in their area of interest. 
• Fellows will be expected to attend an HHMI science meeting each year and provide an annual progress report.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants can establish eligibility and submit an application via the HHMI online competition site http://www.hhmi.org/research/application/fellow2019 beginning September 12, 2018. The deadline for applications is January 9, 2019, at 3:00 p.m. (ET). Mentor and reference letters must be received by January 16, 2019. The application includes the following components:
• Summary of the applicant’s educational and training record
• Personal statement relating past experiences and career goals
• Overview of the applicant’s prior research experience
• A publication list with statements of significance
• Summary of the applicant’s planned research for postdoctoral phase
• An evaluative statement provided by the applicant’s research training mentor
• A statement of support with a training plan provided by the postdoctoral training mentor
• A curriculum vitae and list of prior trainees provided by the postdoctoral training mentor
• One additional letter of reference

SELECTION OF FELLOWS

HHMI will assess the applicant’s potential for a career as an independent academic researcher and the quality of the training environment with the selected mentor. Finalists will be selected by late April 2019 and will be invited to make a scientific presentation to a panel of reviewers on June 23-25, 2019. The selection of awardees will be made by the end of June 2019. Awards may begin as early as September 17, 2019, but no later than January 21, 2020.