The NIEHS Medical Student Fellowship is a really great opportunity to gain new experiences and a deeper understanding of human health, with a year dedicated to research and in a setting that is intellectually incredibly stimulating. There’s lots of opportunities to present and write, and more importantly, talk about the broader significance of your work, both within and outside of NIH. You’re also connected with and can learn with the medical student program at the Bethesda campus, which includes journal clubs, lectures and rounds.

I’m most thankful for the mentorship at NIEHS, with everyone from principal investigators to staff scientists to postdocs who are constantly available to teach and advise. I had big ideas coming into the fellowship and was worried about the learning curve, but everyone has been incredibly supportive and eager to help. I’m also thankful for the opportunities both at NIEHS and within the wider NIH community, to learn and do things that I haven’t done before and that are outside of my comfort zone. This fellowship provides a perspective on medicine in a broader population-level context, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to step back from clinical medicine and gain that perspective."