Funding for a Year Abroad: NIH Global Health Program Details

I can just picture you now. It’s November of your third year of veterinary school, and you have just about had it with the weekly exams and endless PowerPoint lectures. Is all of this really worth it? Sure, it will be nice to start clinics before too long, but that’s just going to mean more nonstop 80 hour weeks.

Or maybe you are slogging through another day of vaccinations, ear infections, and itchy skin at the small animal practice where you’ve been working for two years since graduating from vet school. Yes, you have student loans to pay and you like finally making a decent salary after all that school. But do you really want to do this for thirty more years?

Did you know that it’s possible to get paid to take a break from these routines? And not just any old break, but an opportunity to get top quality training in infectious disease research while living for 11 months overseas?

Sure, you can go right back into clinical rotations or to your old practice after it’s all done, but this year could also be your ticket into an exciting and fulfilling career utilizing your unique skills as a veterinarian on the global stage. Why not give it a chance, before there are even more obligations tying you down?

I did just that when I decided that I really needed to get away from vet school for a year and applied for the National Institutes of Health Global Health Research Program. You can read more about my experience here.

Now I’m back to share some more details about the fellowship program. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the program has evolved after an infusion of $20 million in NIH funding. It is now called the National Institutes of Health Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars, and it is based out of five universities instead of the NIH itself.

I’ve done the hard work for you and picked out the most important details from these five different websites. All the deadlines are coming up soon, but there is definitely time to get things together if you’re serious about trying. As you can see, several of these fellowships are open to veterinary students and veterinarians from all over the world. This is unique since many of the funding opportunities I know about are for U.S. citizens only.

As always, contact me through the website, Facebook, or Twitter, if you have any more questions or need some help or inspiration to get a move on it!

• The Global Health Equity Scholars (GHES) fellowship
• Application Due: December 14, 2012
• Eligibility: DVM students and graduates in U.S. and at foreign participating institutions

• University of California Global Health Institute (UCGHI) GloCal Health Fellowship
• Application Due: December 3, 2012
• Eligibility: DVM students only at UC-Davis, post-graduates (ie, vets!) from anywhere

• UJMT Fogarty Global Health Fellowship
• Application Due: December 1, 2012
• Eligibility: U.S. vet students and graduates from any school

• Global Health Fellowship Program
• Application Due: December 3, 2012
• Eligibility: U.S. and international veterinary students and graduates

• VECD Fogarty Global Health Fellowship Program
• Application Due: December 1, 2012
• Eligibility: U.S. vet students and graduates from any school