Division of Biology and Medicine
Center for Global Health Equity
Student Opportunities and Support
Student Opportunities
Overview
HEIDS Scholars participate in faculty-mentored infectious disease research, broadly focused on HIV and associated infections. Domestic and international clinical research topics can include mental health, substance use disorders, TB, Hepatitis, STI's, Bacterial infections, etc. Most HEIDS scholars participate in research experiences full-time over the summer months (8-10 weeks)
Eligibility
The HEIDS Scholars program is open to PLME undergraduate students (rising juniors, seniors and graduates the summer before attending AMS), undergraduate students admitted to the Early Identified Program in Medicine, Alpert Medical School / PC-PM Students (usually rising second years), and medical students participating in AMS Summer Assistantships / Scholarly Concentration Program.
Benefits
- Summer Research Stipends: HEIDS Scholars receive a $3,750 stipend for 8-10 weeks of full-time research.
- Community of Scholars: Scholars are invited to participate in various lectures and networking opportunities as a Community of Scholars throughout the academic year. For more information about upcoming and past events, see our Events page.
- Research Training and Support: HEIDS Scholars are provided with opportunities for research training and support, including the Research RX summer research course, required Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training, and biostatistics office hours. See our Research Training and Support page for more information.
- Scholarly Products: All scholars are required to present a scholarly product based on their research experience at a Brown research forum or at a scientific conference (such as Global Health Research Day or the Warren Alpert Medical School Academic Symposium). For a list of selected HEIDS publications, view our Student Spotlight page.
- Publication and Conference Support: The HEIDS program supports conference travel in the years following the initial summer research experience for scholars with first or second-authored accepted abstracts and publication charges for related manuscripts. For more information, visit our For Current HEIDS Scholars and Fellows page.
Application and Selection
Interested applicants are first encouraged to find a faculty mentored research project on a HEIDS-related topic. Students may choose to participate in the HEIDS / CGHE Mentor Matching Program (yearly deadline in October), to consult with the faculty project directory compiled by the Medical School (PLME and Medical Students must log in through Brown email to view), or to identify a faculty mentor and research project on their own. Applicants may contact the HEIDS program as they are finalizing a project to ensure it aligns with the goals of the grant.
To apply, all interested students must submit a completed application by early February, 2026 (date TBD) to be reviewed for consideration by the HEIDS Executive Committee.
Please note a complete application requires a letter of support and other materials from your faculty mentor, so please ensure that they have ample time to complete them before the deadline.
For PLME students and AMS Medical Students: Submit the Summer Assistantship (PLME / Medical Student) Application in UFunds. See the AMS SRA and PLME SRA websites for more information.
For all other students (including EIP and AMS PC-PM students): Submit the HEIDS Student Application Form.
Coming soon.
In Fall 2025, the HEIDS program will pilot a semester-long HEIDS PLME Mentored Group Research Project (MGRP), led by Co-I Dr. Fizza Gillani. The MGRP was developed in response to strong PLME student demand for introductory research experiences.
The group project is designed to provide an introduction to clinical research – asking an answerable and clinically relevant question, querying existing databases, conducting analyses, interpreting analytic output, and reporting the findings. Dr. Gillani will provide close supervision and guidance along each step of the project from conceptualization, research strategy, data acquisition, analysis, interpretation of study findings, and presentation and/or publication of final work. PLME students who complete this mentored group research project will be in a strong position to create an HEIDS summer research funding proposal in the years following their semester-long experience.
Students have been selected for the Fall 2025 semester. If you are interested in future mentored group research projects, please contact Program Specialist, Laura Pleasants (laura_pleasants@brown.edu).
For Current HEIDS Scholars and Fellows
Please reach out to Program Specialist, Laura Pleasants (laura_pleasants@brown.edu) with questions.
HEIDS Scholars must all register and have active appointments in the eRA Commons Xtrain system. Scholars must: 1) register for a Commons ID at Brown (request form), 2) register an account and create a personal profile in eRA Commons, and 3) sign an appointment form.
Funding from NIH for the HEIDS program is dependent on evidence that the HEIDS is providing value added in the conduct of infectious disease and HIV research. One way this support is documented is through the acknowledgment of the Brown HEIDS program in publications, abstracts and presentations. If you have received funding, mentorship, research support services, or training through the program, please acknowledge HEIDS by using the following statement:
This work was facilitated by the Brown Emerging Infectious Disease and HIV Scholars (HEIDS) Program (2R25AI140490) supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH/NIAID).
HEIDS scholars are highly encouraged to submit abstracts to conferences, both on a local and national level. Conference opportunities provide critical professional, networking, and academic opportunities for students during these early stages of their research careers. The submission of abstracts also enhances the relationship between a student and mentor, facilitating the process towards a manuscript publication. The HEIDS program supports students submitting abstracts and manuscripts through dedicated conference and publication funding. HEIDS continues to build and revise policies on funding conferences and manuscripts submitted by HEIDS Students who are first or second authors, to benefit the student through the dissemination of their work.
The HEIDS program continues to work with medical school deans, course directors, and course faculty to offer innovative educational opportunities in research methodology, including responsible conduct of research (RCR).
Research RX
The Research Rx curriculum was developed in response to strong input from both students and faculty that this type of research training would be highly valuable to medical students not enrolled in the PC-PM program, as well as undergraduate PLME students. The primary objectives of this summer research intensive training, led by co-I Dr. Garbern and biostatistician Dr. Joshua Ray Tanzer, are to:
(a) increase the value of HEIDS program for students and mentors in providing dedicated and tailored research education and capacity building support;
(b) ensure students in the HEIDS program are knowledgeable and thoughtful consumers of research related to infectious disease; and
(c) increase productivity of HEIDS students through publications, abstracts, and posters.
The structure of the summer training includes a pre-course self-assessment, six asynchronous online modules completed prior to workshops, and bi-weekly live virtual workshops. Content is tailored to support the needs of different types of learners with varying levels of research experience. Individual mentorship as well as peer/group mentorship is also provided to address common challenges and increase exposure to a variety of projects. Course topics include: mentor-mentee relationships, research question formulation, data visualizations, hypothesis testing, data (drawing conclusions, alignment between research question and analysis, bias in data, results interpretation), research design, statistical analysis, and research dissemination.
Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training
HEIDS Scholars and Fellows are required to complete 8-hours of in-person Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Training. There are multiple ways to complete this requirement. In past years, HEIDS has partnered with the Basic and Translational Research program (BTR) to conduct two in-person RCR sessions in early June. We highly encourage in-person attendance, but zoom and recorded options are also available.
Biostatistics Office Hours
Beginning in June 2025, the HEIDS program is offering 4 hours per week of biostatistics support for HEIDS scholars. The office hours will be staffed by a PhD candidate in biostatistics and Dr. Tanzer, co-lead of the Research Rx curriculum.