CEND Fellowships

Above from left: Noah Baker (Fellowship Alum), Drew Ramos (2025 Fellow), Laurent Coscoy (CEND Associate Faculty Director), Sydnee Gould (2025 Fellow), Zaina Moussa (2025 Fellow), Hannah Nilsson (Fellowship Alum), Grace Toolsie (2025 Fellow), Kate Roberts (CEND Executive Director), Leen Arnaout (2025 Fellow), Felix Pahlmeier (2025 Fellow), Zahra Zubair-Nizami (2025 Fellow), Jeff Cox (CEND Faculty Director. Missing: Lena Blackmon (2025 Fellow)

UC Berkeley graduate students: applications are now open for the 2026–2027 CEND Fellowship cohort

Are you working on infectious diseases that affect marginalized or underserved communities? Whether you’re engineering new diagnostics, exploring disease mechanisms in the lab, modeling disease transmission through code, analyzing health policy through an equity lens, or discovering the next breakthrough treatment - we want to hear from you.

This year, CEND will select 8 fellows across 4 fellowship programs.

Application Deadline: April 14, 2026  |  Fellowship Period: June 2026 – May 2027

What CEND Fellowships Offer

• CEND Fellowships provide up to $5,000 in professional development funding to fuel your research and career growth. But the benefits go beyond funding:
• Present your research at CEND seminars and events alongside leading faculty
• Connect across disciplines with a cohort of fellow graduate researchers from across campus
• Join the broader CEND community, including academic and social events with CEND-affiliated faculty and alumni
• Build your network in the global health and infectious disease research space

Who Should Apply?

Our focus is on emerging and neglected infectious diseases, but we don’t use a strict definition - if your research addresses infectious diseases that affect marginalized or underserved communities, we want to hear from you. If you’re a masters, doctoral, or postdoctoral student at UC Berkeley, students from a wide range of disciplines are welcome, including but not limited to:

• Life sciences
• Chemistry
• Engineering
• Environmental sciences
• Math and information sciences
• Economics, business, and policy
• Public health

We strongly encourage applications and participation from individuals belonging to groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences. CEND is committed to building a fellowship community that reflects the diversity of the communities our research aims to serve.

Requirements

• You must be a current UC Berkeley masters, doctoral, or post-doctoral student
• Your research must relate to infectious diseases that affect marginalized or underserved communities - including but not limited to emerging, neglected, or re-emerging diseases
• You must be mentored by a CEND-affiliated investigator (See our faculty affiliates page)
• Fellows are expected to attend and occasionally volunteer at CEND events throughout the year
• Fellows present their research and fellowship impact at the CEND Fellowship Symposium in April 2027
• Fellows are required to submit a brief report at the end of the fellowship explaining how funds were used to support their professional development

How to Apply

Submit one application by April 14, 2026 - you’ll be considered for all fellowships that fit your profile. Click on any of the fellowship descriptions and submit your documents there.
Each application must include:

• Curriculum Vitae (max 2 pages)
• Current Research Description: Project background, aims, methods, and technical and health significance (1 page)
  • Research proposals should clearly identify the fellow’s role in the project (as distinguished from the roles of faculty mentors or members of the lab), the specific objectives of any time spent abroad, the deliverables expected by the end of the fellowship, and distinguish between work completed at UC Berkeley versus abroad. Students are encouraged to spend time in lower- and middle-income countries when it aligns with their research goals.
• Fellowship Professional Development Proposal (½ page)
• Budget: All expected expenses  - this can include time abroad at a study site, a side research project, software/equipment/reagents not funded through your PI’s lab, conference travel, a research exchange, etc. (½ page)
• Recommendation from a faculty mentor and CEND affiliate – If your faculty mentor is not a CEND affiliate please reach out, we’d love it if they joined CEND! (1 paragraph)

Tips for a Strong Application

Your research proposal should clearly identify your specific role in the project (as distinct from your faculty mentor or lab), the specific objectives of any time spent abroad, and the expected deliverables related to the fellowship. Students are encouraged to spend time in lower- and middle-income countries working with local partners when it aligns with their research goals, but it is not required.

How Applications Are Evaluated

Applications are reviewed by a panel of CEND faculty members. Evaluation is based on technical merit, the relevance of the project to emerging and neglected infectious diseases, and the alignment of the proposed project with the student’s academic goals.

Click below to apply

Eligible Applicants

Masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral students in any area, including life sciences, chemistry, engineering, environmental sciences, math, information sciences, and public health who are engaged in research related to neglected diseases are eligible for the fellowship. To apply, you must be mentored by a CEND-affiliated investigator. 

Evaluation

Evaluation will be based on technical merit, the relevance of the project to emerging and neglected infectious diseases, and the alignment of the proposed project with the student's academic goals.

These fellowships support UC Berkeley graduate students of high distinction involved in the study of emerging and neglected infectious diseases. Research areas include basic science, discovery of effective treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines, as well as policy, law, and economics in national or global health. Students conduct research in both laboratory settings and in the communities of disease-endemic countries worldwide.

Eligible Applicants
Masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral students in any discipline, including life sciences, chemistry, engineering, environmental sciences, math and information sciences, and public health who are engaged in research related to neglected and/or emerging diseases are eligible for the fellowship. To apply, you must be mentored by a CEND-affiliated investigator.

This fellowship supports research in fields generally neglected for want of a "profitable market," including diseases and conditions commonly defined as rare, newly emerging or re-emerging, or epidemic in lower- and middle-income countries, particularly those affecting people living in poverty. The fellowship provides an enduring memorial to Dr. Kathleen L. Miller, who earned her Ph.D. in immunology from UC Berkeley and built a career focused on neglected diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis, which affects 240 million people worldwide primarily in poor communities. Though Kathy's career and passion for world travel took her around the globe, her fondness for Berkeley brought her back to work at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and later Chiron Corporation, where she made important research breakthroughs before her potential was cut short by a genetic heart arrhythmia at age 44. This fellowship honors her legacy by supporting growth in the areas to which she devoted her attention: encouraging female science students and scientists, strengthening the UC Berkeley campus, and improving the health and lives of people affected by emerging and neglected diseases.

Eligible Applicants
Masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral students in any discipline, including but not limited to the life sciences, chemistry, engineering, environmental sciences, math and information sciences, economics, business, policy, and public health are eligible for the fellowship.

To apply, you must be mentored by a UC Berkeley affiliated investigator. Individuals from communities underrepresented in the biomedical and public health sectors are particularly encouraged to apply.

Eligible Applicants

Masters, doctoral, and post-doctoral students in any area, including life sciences, chemistry, engineering, environmental sciences, math, information sciences, public policy, law, and public health who are engaged in research related to infectious, emerging, or neglected diseases are eligible for the fellowship. To apply, you must be mentored by a CEND-affiliated investigator. 

Evaluation

Evaluation will be based on technical merit, the relevance of the project to infectious, emerging, and neglected infectious diseases, and the alignment of the proposed project with the student's academic goals.