Global Health Emerging Scholars (GHES) Fellowship

Benefits & funding

• Monthly stipend across the 12 months; the program does not publish the amount and notes it may be taxable
• Research support funds for supplies and reagents
• International health insurance and required vaccinations for US fellows
• Visa and passport fees
• Round-trip international travel to the training site for US fellows
• Travel and lodging for the mandatory orientation at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland
• Two mentors — one US faculty mentor and one at the training site — plus the GHES curriculum, the alumni network and a Mentoring-the-Mentor track for graduates
• Tuition and academic fees are not covered

Eligibility

• US postdoctoral track: US citizen or permanent resident holding a doctoral or health professional degree (PhD, DrPH, MD, DO, DVM, DDS, PharmD among others) by 1 July of the fellowship year, earned within the past five years
• US predoctoral track: US citizen or permanent resident enrolled in a doctoral or health professional program who has passed qualifying exams, or completed three years of professional school
• Partner-country postdoctoral track: citizen of one of the 15 collaborating countries — Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Peru, Samoa, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda — residing at a collaborating research site, holding a doctoral or health professional degree (PhD, DrPH, MBBS, MBChB, MD, DO, DVM, DDS) earned within the past five years
• Every applicant needs a professional relationship with a GHES faculty mentor at Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley or the University of Arizona. The eligibility page states US applicants may come from any US college or university; the Stanford and Berkeley pages state the doctoral-student track is limited to students enrolled at the four consortium universities, so confirm the current rule with the site mentor
• An applicant whose doctoral or health professional degree was earned more than five years ago is not eligible; holding a master’s degree earned within the past five years does not restore eligibility
• Master’s and undergraduate students are not accepted, and partner-country applicants are not eligible for the predoctoral track
• Full-time commitment of 40 hours a week for all 12 months, with no concurrent employment. Fellows train in the country where their research runs for 10 to 11 months of the fellowship year
• Partner-country fellows do their research at home. The project runs and the mentoring happens at the fellow’s own institution in the collaborating country, and the eligibility page says the fellow spends the majority of the fellowship year at that site. The FAQ answers directly that the fellowship will not support a move to the US as a visiting researcher to carry out the project
• The eligibility page separately requires, under Program Commitments and Requirements, a one-to-three-month training experience at the primary US mentor’s university for partner-country fellows — structured learning, skills development, networking and mentoring, tailored to the individual fellow. That block is training. The research placement stays at the home site, and the program does not publish whether the visit carries its own funding
• A mandatory five-day orientation at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland opens the fellowship year
• No age limit and no gender restriction is published

Application process

1. 1
   Read the research training site pages and pick a site whose work matches your research interest.
2. 2
   Approach the designated GHES mentors — one US faculty mentor at a consortium university and one at the training site — with a CV, an NIH biosketch and a research abstract, and secure their support.
3. 3
   Draft a research proposal that can realistically be finished in one year, with input from both mentors on the study design. The program advises allowing at least six weeks for the whole application.
4. 4
   Complete the online application form, which runs in five sections: eligibility, personal information, professional background, fellowship details and the research proposal.
5. 5
   Submit the supporting documents — two to three letters of recommendation including one from each mentor, an NIH biosketch for yourself and for both mentors prepared through SciENcv, and an unofficial transcript for predoctoral applicants.
6. 6
   Wait for scoring by an external review panel. The GHES principal investigators may hold online interviews before awards are decided.

Program timeline

1. Application deadline for the 2027–28 fellowship year, 5:00pm Eastern Time

   Oct 1, 2026

2. First-round awards expected, announced by email and followed by a formal award letter

   April 2027

3. Second-round awards expected

   May–June 2027

4. July 2027

   Mandatory five-day orientation at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland, then the fellowship year begins; the fellowship year runs July to June

5. Next cycle

   annual. The deadline fell on 1 October for both the 2026–27 and the 2027–28 rounds