The Harvard Medical School Research Fellowship in Integrative Medicine is a NIH-funded three year joint program of Harvard Medical School-affiliated teaching hospitals. The program accepts postdoctoral candidates including physicians, anthropologists, health behaviorists, sociologists, psychologists and integrative medicine (IM) providers with doctoral degrees who are interested in research training towards academic careers in integrative medicine.
The program is led by research faculty in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard Medical School Osher Center for Integrative Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. Areas of special interest within IM include 1) mind-body therapies, and 2) placebo studies. Other areas of focus and faculty expertise include chronic disease management, obesity and cardiopulmonary health, musculoskeletal health, patient-provider relationship, neurocognition, and healthy aging.
Opportunities exist along the full spectrum of translational research and have included large database analyses, systematic reviews and meta-analyses, observational studies, surveys, and clinical trials. Fellows’ investigations have spanned a wide range of utilized skills and tools including genomic and biomarker analysis, complexity and network analysis, cardiopulmonary testing, biomechanics, and neuroimaging. The Program offers each Fellow an appointment at Harvard Medical School and one or more of its affiliated hospitals. All fellows participate in the intensive summer Program in Clinical Effectiveness at the Harvard School of Public Health. Some fellows may pursue a rigorous curriculum that could lead to a Master of Public Health degree.
The Program also includes structured experiences to improve teaching skills and supervised clinical activities under the direction of experienced faculty in general internal medicine and integrative medicine. Each Fellow is expected to design, conduct, present, and publish at least two original investigative projects. This research fellowship in integrative medicine was first funded in 1999 by the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (formerly the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine), and was the first of its kind in the United States. Many of our prior fellows now lead integrative medicine centers at academic institutions across the country and are national/international leaders in the field.
Prospective Applicants: Key Dates
October 1, 2019 – Application deadline for 2020 start (all materials must be in)
November 1, 2019 – Candidate interviews (group and individual) for 2020
December 1, 2019 (anticipated) – Application deadline for 2020 Harvard School of Public Health Master’s Program
February 1, 2020 (anticipated) – Application deadline for 2020 Program in Clinical Effectiveness
July 1, 2020 Fellowship begins
Download Program Application for 2020
All application submissions and inquiries may be directed to [email protected].
Primary Program Goals
1) Research Methodology: Fellows will obtain an advanced understanding of the basic disciplines
of scientific research and be able to apply these to the field of IM.
2) Knowledge of IM: Fellows will develop a working knowledge of the various disciplines within IM.
3) Research Projects: Fellows will conduct and complete two or more original IM research projects
4) IM Clinical Skills: Fellows will develop clinical skills in the practice of IM appropriate to their
training and develop an understanding of the integrative approach.
5) Teaching: Fellows will participate in teaching related to their area of interest.