Cordeiro Health Policy Summer Research Grants
Students pursuing the Secondary Field in Health Policy and the Certificate in Health Policy may apply for Cordeiro Health Policy Summer Research Grants for the summer before their senior year. These grants allow students to get a head start on their senior theses or research projects related to health policy, without incurring major costs to themselves. The Interfaculty Initiative in Health Policy is proud to be able to offer this opportunity to its students, on a competitive basis.
The grant application is due each year in late spring. For more information about the requirements of the grant and the application, and how funds may be used, download the Cordeiro Health Policy Summer Research Grant Application.
Comments from previous Cordeiro grant recipients:
One research grant recipient in the class of 2003 remarked that the grant money “made possible a trip to Cuba that was essential to my thesis research.”
Another student was grateful that the grant gave her the opportunity to spend the entire summer doing research, allowing her to “make the thesis my full-time priority.”
A third student commented, “Even though I worked ten weeks in the summer before senior year, I wanted to use a few weeks at the end of the summer to jump-start my thesis. The Cordeiro Fellowship made this possible by paying for quick, but essential trips to Washington, D.C.”
A fourth recipient, whose grant allowed her to spend the summer of 2003 doing research in Ghana for her thesis on skin bleaching, later received a Fulbright to continue her research in Ghana. She remarked, “The money I received from the Health Policy Certificate Program partially funded my travel to Ghana. Conducting oral interviews and research in Ghana was a crucial part of my thesis on skin bleaching. The topic, little researched, required hands-on fieldwork. Without such research, I could not have written my thesis. Moreover, the research abroad and the project were so engaging that I will be continuing next year.”
Another recipient stated that, “The grant permitted me to do research for my senior thesis. Without the money, I could not have pursued the project during the summer before my senior year. My thesis was the single most educational aspect of my undergraduate career, and I am very indebted to the program for the financial help. I conducted a phone survey on why children fall off Medicaid even though they are still eligible. Subsequently, my research findings were cited in a publication by ‘Covering Kids and Families,’ a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.”
For information on other summer funding possibilities, please consult the Office of Career Services Fellowships web page, the Harvard College Funding Sources Database for International Experience, and the Harvard College Research Program website.