Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research

Health Data Science Summer Fellowship Program

The Health Data Science Summer Fellowship Program is designed to equip students at Brown with essential skills in data management and programming in the field of health data science.

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Questions?

For more information on the HDSSF program, contact Arlene Correa.

Health Data Science Summer Fellowship Program

The Health Data Science Summer Fellowship Program is designed to equip students at Brown with essential skills in data management and programming in the field of health data science.

The 2025 Fellowship Program is now accepting applications. The application deadline is February 2, 2025. 

Target Audience

The Health Data Science Summer Fellowship Program is open to all undergraduate and graduate students who are enrolled in a degree program at Brown. Preference, however, is given to students with a background in public health or health policy and those who have some level of expertise in programming. 

Duration

10-week summer session

Cohort Size

Up to 10 students

Program Structure

The program combines didactic and project-based learning approaches as described below:

Didactic Approach

Fellows will undertake two short courses focusing on the following:

  1. A course focusing on fundamental programming concepts and data management for health data science
  2. A second course applying the skills learned in course #1 to analyze common datasets

Project-Based Learning

Prior to the fellowship, participating research centers in the School of Public Health will submit project proposals to the program. Fellows will then be matched with projects.

At the conclusion of the program, fellows will showcase their project work through a presentation to the program faculty. This will give an opportunity for fellows to communicate their research findings, and gain valuable feedback from mentors and other faculty at SPH. 

How to Apply

Applications for the 2025 cohort are now open. The deadline to apply is February 2, 2025.

Undergraduate Students - To access the applications for the fellowship follow the steps below:

  1. Using your Brown student account, go to https://utra.brown.edu/students 
  2. Scroll down to the ‘Application Process’ which will ask you to register in UFunds AND fill out the Brown-Generated SPRINT Fellowship Google Form application 
  3. The UTRA faculty opportunity name for this fellowship is  ‘Health Data Science Summer Fellowship ’ under ‘Andy Ryan’

Graduate Students
Click here to apply 

Support for Fellows

Fellows will receive standard funding for summer research assistant work.

Past Data Projects

  • What is a wave? (Defining infectious disease such as COVID-19 in terms of waves to help structure future policies)
  • Identifying unmet pharmaceutical needs: a cross national comparison
  • Characteristics of post-termination insurance among Medicare Advantage beneficiaries
  • Association between demographic characteristics and health outcomes across countries
  • Predicting home region and race with health characteristics
  • Understanding advertising dynamics in Medicare Advantage
  • What factors predict inter-state migration decisions in the United States?

FAQs

Dates for the summer 2025 fellowship program will be released in early 2025. Applications for the 2025 cohort are now open and will close on February 2, 2025.

The fellowship is an in-person program that requires attendance at: 1) the didactic section to be held in a classroom setting; 2) one or more faculty mentor meetings; and 3) project presentations at the conclusion of the fellowship to be delivered in person. Some of the project work and supplemental classes will take place remotely. 

Fellows are asked to list their top choices among the project topics and are then matched with projects prior to the start of the program.

For planning purposes, fellows can expect to devote 30 hours per week to the program.

The fellowship IS considered on-campus employment but does NOT count toward OPT employment authorization. (Please let us know if you need further clarification.)

Questions?

For more information on the HDSSF program, contact Arlene Correa.