CMB Postdoctoral Research Fellows

Advancing collaborative biomedical research

U-M trainees on the PKUHSC campus

Overview

Facilitated by the U-M Medical School and funded by the China Medical Board (CMB), the CMB Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program places early-career researchers or advanced students (MD, PhD, or equivalent) from US institutions into select labs at highly-ranked academic institutions in China under the guidance of a local and a U-M mentor.

Fellows spend 1-2 years training at one of three program host sites: Peking University Health Science Center, Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine, or Shanghai Technology University. Fellows are provided with NIH-equivalent stipends, benefits, and funds to accommodate travel between the US and China. A certificate of completion will be awarded upon successful completion of the program.

Eligibility

Candidates for CMB fellowships who meet the following criteria will be eligible to apply for this program: 

  • US citizen or Permanent Resident
  • Have completed a doctoral degree, or equivalent degree in a relevant field (e.g., M.D., Ph.D., DDS, PharmD, DVM, etc.) or are currently enrolled in a doctoral program (completed qualifying exams or equivalent)
  • Accepted as a training fellow at the US grantee institution
  • Available to spend 11-12 months at research site in China, extendable to 2 years
  • Have identified mentors at both the US and Chinese institutions, academics with a strong collaborative track record of research funding and publication
  • Able to submit a research proposal describing their research and mentoring/career development plans during the fellowship
  • A working knowledge of Chinese language is helpful but not essential

 

Training

Each postdoctoral fellow will be co-mentored by a faculty member from the U-M Medical School and the Chinese host institution. Fellows and their mentors will work together to develop and submit an individualized mentorship and training plan as part of the application process. The fellowship year typically runs July-June and begins with a week-long orientation at the NIH with the world’s leading global health experts, after which fellows will spend 11-12 months on-site at the host institution to carry out a mentored research project and training activities aimed at building the trainee’s methodologic skills and content expertise in a field relevant to health and biomedical science. 

 

To Apply

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Prospective participants are encouraged to reach out to Amy Huang ([email protected]), Global REACH Director of Asia Programs, to discuss their interest and to explore connections to relevant mentors/labs. Candidates for the inaugural 2024-25 cohort are asked to submit the following in a single PDF file:

  • NIH-formatted biosketches for the applicant and proposed co-mentors
  • Statement of career goals (maximum 800 words)
  • Proposed project (including project title, abstract, background, specific aims, methods, and significance; maximum 1500 words)
  • Three letters of recommendation from current mentors/supervisors

Now recruiting our inaugural cohort of CMB Fellows!

Background

China and the United states share a strong common interest in advancing public health and biomedical research. This is why many US academic medical institutions maintain long-term research collaborations in China, and tens of thousands of Chinese graduates in medicine and biomedical science have sought postdoctoral fellowships in the US to round out their research training.

While in recent decades, China has emerged as a major leader in biomedical research, few Americans have had the chance to spend time in academic centers in China. Creating such opportunities would not only advance research, but also serve to establish and strengthen future partnerships, seeding the ground for future breakthroughs in areas of mutual interest. To those ends, this program supports the CMB mission to build stronger academic ties between China and the US, training the next generation of US academic leaders who can continue to sustain these strong collaborative ties between their respective home institutions and the leading research and academic medical centers in China.

Our U-M Partners

PKUHSC campus photo

Peking University Health Science Center

Location: Haidian District, Beijing

Established: 1912

Enrollment: 5,200 (doctoral and master’s level); 4,000 (undergraduate)

Faculty: 1,900

Affiliations: 6 university hospitals

About PKUHSC

Established in 1912 as China’s first national school of western medicine, Peking University Health Science Center is the medical school of Peking University, with ample opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations that combine medicine, engineering, and information science. It is home to a National Key Laboratory as well as nearly 70 ministry-level Key Laboratories, and consistently ranks first in research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation.  PKUHSC has a robust history of international collaborations and in 2019 was recognized by the Chinese government as a National Center for International Research—the first medical school in China to receive the designation. U-M has a longstanding partnership with PKUHSC. The Michigan Medicine-PKUHSC Joint Institute, launched in 2010, supports research collaborations between the two institutions, with more than 70 funded projects to date across a variety of disciplines.

Xiangya Hospital of Central South University

Central South University Xiangya School of Medicine

Location: Changsha

Established: 1914

Enrollment: 10,000

Faculty: 2,000

Affiliations: 4 University Hospitals

About Xiangya

The Xiangya School of Medicine has for nearly a century distinguished itself in medical education, research and patient care. The institution comprises six schools and four directly-affiliated hospitals: Xiangya Hospital; Second Xiangya Hospital;  Third Xiangya Hospital; and Xiangya Stomatology Hospital. International exchange and cooperation in Xiangya are extremely robust. Every year, more than 50% of the eight-year medical students will be selected and sent to world's top universities to study, including Yale, Emory, Cornell and U-M, which offers two-year mentored research training experiences to top Xiangya students, as well as a five-year program in which students earn a PhD.

ShanghaiTech University

ShanghaiTech University

Location: Pudong, Shanghai

Established: 2013

Enrollment: 4,100 (doctoral and master’s level); 1900 undergraduate

Faculty: 340

Affiliations: Shanghai Clinical Research and Trial Center (research hospital)

 

About ShanghaiTech

Established in 2013, ShanghaiTech University is the youngest institution to join China’s World-Class Universities Project. It was jointly founded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and aspires to be a small-scale, high-level, international university geared towards research and innovation. Located in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, the university is home to  world-class scientific facilities including the National Center for Protein Science (Shanghai), Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), Shanghai Soft X-ray Free Electron Laser Facility (SXEFL), and others. These facilities welcome not only ShanghaiTech staff and students, but also other researchers from China and the world. Since the birth of the first spinoff company in 2016, ShanghaiTech has incubated 40 spinoffs, spanning the areas of biomedicine, IT&AI, high-end manufacturing and new energy.

U.S. Academic Partners

In addition to the University of Michigan, the CMB has partnered with two other US institutions, Yale University and the University of North Carolina (UNC), to offer similar postdoctoral research fellowships in China. Together with U-M, this consortium of universities is able to leverage an extensive network of partnerships across eight leading medical centers and all major health areas.

Yale University

Partner Training Sites:

  • Peking Union Medical College (Beijing)
  • Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai)

Contact: Evelyn Hsieh, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine and CMB Global Health Leadership Development Program Director

University of North Carolina

UNC postdoctoral fellowship sites have ongoing research in infectious diseases (including HIV, sexually transmitted infections, hepatitis, and influenza), health policy, social science, and participatory research.

Partner Training Sites:

  • Southern Medical University (Guangzhou)
  • Nanjing Medical University) (Nanjing)
  • Hong Kong University (Hong Kong)

Learn more here or contact Joseph Tucker, MD, PhD, Professor Medicine and Director, UNC-China Project.