NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowships is sponsored by Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF). Fellowships are awarded to medical students who wish to spend a summer working in a neurosurgical laboratory, mentored by a neurosurgical investigator sponsor.

Medical Student Fellowships - Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation Medical Student Summer Research Fellowships The NREF has offered the Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship (MSSRF) program annually since 2008. The NREF launched the MSSRF program as an investment in the future of neurosurgery.

These fellowships are provided to students whose research projects are aimed at the better understanding, treatment and prevention of neurological disorders, as well as improved patient care.

Fellowships in the amount of $2,500 are awarded to medical students in the United States, Canada or Mexico who have completed one or more years of medical school and wish to spend a summer mentored by a neurosurgical investigator sponsor who is a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS).

Application Instructions - Read first APPLY FOR A MED STUDENT SUMMER FELLOWSHIP For additional information, visit NREF Grants & Fellowships online or contact the NREF team at info@nref. org . The NREF launched the MSSRF program as an investment in the future of neurosurgery.

These fellowships are provided to students whose research projects are aimed at the better understanding, treatment and prevention of neurological disorders, as well as improved patient care. I received a 2015 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship. The research supported by the Fellowship has been published in the Journal of Neurosurgeryand I’ve had the opportunity to speak at neurosurgical meetings.

I want to thank the NREF for their generous support, which made this project possible. It has been a tremendous experience for me as I pursue an academic career. The Fellowship allowed me to work closely with physicians who’ve become instrumental mentors in my life and we are continuing to collaborate on new research initiatives.

2015 Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship recipient 2025 NREF and Dr. Peter Kan Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Yan Zhou , University of Colorado School of Medicine 2025 NREF and Karenna Groff Memorial Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Meghana Bhimreddy , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 2025 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Cameron Aubert , Drexel College of Medicine Sachiv Chakravarti , Icahn Medical School at Mount Sinai Rhiannon Champagne , Texas A&M University Hannah Haile , Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Allie Heineman , University of Cincinnati Miguel Hernandez Rovira , Washington University at St.

Louis Cameron Hill , Harvard Medical School Min Ji (Cindy) Koh , Georgetown University School of Medicine Saket Myneni , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Clairice Pearce , University of Illinois – Chicago Sohan Rao , University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Briana Santo , Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Drew Schindler , Texas A&M University Caitlyn Smith , University of Pennsylvania The NREF congratulates Cameron Hill of Harvard Medical School, on being selected the 2025 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Best Abstract Award recipient for her project “ Mapping CD4⁺ T Cell Landscapes in Glioblastoma Reveals Effectors and Bystanders .

” Ms. Hill has been invited to present during the 2026 American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. 2024 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship: Daksh Chauhan — University of Pennsylvania Destiny Green — Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine Karenna Groff — NYU Grossman School of Medicine Kelly Jiang — Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Andrew P.

Mathews — University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Jayson R. Nelson — University of Utah Thomas J.

On — Barrow Neurological Institute Mahmudur Rahman, MS — Medical College of Wisconsin Rishab Ramapriyan — Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Kathleen Ran — Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Sina Sadeghzadeh — Stanford University School of Medicine Wenjing (Lilly) Tang — University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Suchet Taori — University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Carly Weber-Levine — Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Seeley Yoo — Duke University The NREF congratulates Wenjing (Lilly) Tang, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, on being selected the 2024 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Best Abstract Award recipient for her project “Thalamic Stimulation in Post-Stroke Motor Recovery.

” Ms. Tang has been invited to present during the 2025 American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting in Boston, MA. 2023 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship: Daniel Alber — NYU Grossman School of Medicine Maria Bederson — Carle Illinois College of Medicine Michael M.

Covell — Georgetown University School of Medicine Adeline Fecker — Oregon Health and Science University Han Gil “Hans” Jeong — University of Minnesota Medical School Karl L.

Sangwon — NYU Grossman School of Medicine Smruti Kedarnath Mahapatra — Tulane University School of Medicine Logan Muzyka — Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin Elsa Nico — Barrow Neurological Institute Edwin Owolo — Duke University School of Medicine Ruchit Patel — Harvard Medical School Sangami Pugazenthi — Washington University School of Medicine in St.

Louis Gabriel Trevino Verastegui — Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Eunice Yang — Columbia University The NREF congratulates Sangami Pugazenthi, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, on being selected the 2023 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Best Abstract Award recipient.

Ms. Pugazenthi has been invited to present during the 2024 American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, IL.

2022 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship: Talia Wenger — Keck School of Medicine of USC Akash Mishra — Northwell Health Nicholas Dadario — Robert Wood Johnson Medical School / Rutgers University Aditya Mittal — University of Pittsburgh Jacob Sperber — Duke University Sam Jiang — University of Illinois College of Medicine Shreya Budhiraja — Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Andrew Hersh — Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Dara Farhadi — University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix Matt Findlay — University of Utah Health Emily Xu — Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Huy Dang — Baylor College of Medicine Lilin Tong — Boston University School of Medicine The NREF congratulates Shreya Budhiraja, Northwestern University, on being selected the 2022 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Best Abstract Award recipient.

Ms. Budhiraja has been invited to present during the 2023 American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles, CA. 2021 NREF & Aaron Cohen-Gadol Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Tara Dalton — Duke University Rachel Gologorsky — NYU Langone Health Katherine Link, BS — NYU Langone Patrick Ng, BS, BA — Massachusetts General Hospital Alexandra J.

White — Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institut 2021 NREF & Aaron Cohen-Gadol Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Troy Patrick Carnwath — University of Cincinnati 2021 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Oluwaseyi Adeuyan — The Neurological Institute at NYP/Columbia University Irving Medical Center Jonathan Bao — Albany Medical College Megan Bauman — Mayo Clinic Eric Chalif, BS — University of California, San Francisco Sung Min (Jane) Han, MS — Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Marita Ann John — Texas A&M College of Medicine Aditi Kulkarni — University of Minnesota Bennett Levy — GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences / University of Buffalo Alice Liu — Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Ian Mandybur — The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Danielle McAuliffe — Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University / National Institutes of Health Anthony Piscopo, BS — University of Iowa Je Yeong Sone, BA — University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences Yohannes Tsehay — Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Bradley Wilhelmy — The University of Maryland School of Medicine Daniel Yang Zhang — Rush Medical College The NREF congratulates Megan Bauman, Mayo Clinic, on being selected the 2021 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Best Abstract Award recipient.

Ms. Bauman has been invited to present during the Young Neurosurgeons Research Forum at the 2022 American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. Click here to learn more about this year’s award recipients and their research projects.

2020 Aaron Cohen-Gadol Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship: Andrew Scott Emmert, BS — Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Ashley Dunbar — Yale University Timothy Yushin Kim, BS — The Johns Hopkins Hospital Phillip Kubica — University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health Sakibul Huq, BS — Johns Hopkins University 2020 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Seth Stravers Tigchelaar, PhD — Stanford University Emily Fellows — University of Minnesota Medical School Steven Willden — Barrow Neurological Institute Oliver Young Tang — University of Pennsylvania Olgert Bardhi — University of Florida Meghan Price — Duke University Adrian Rodrigues — Stanford University Manish Paranjpe, BA — Brigham and Women’s Hospital Stephen Ward — University of Utah School of Medicine Nimay Kulkarni — University of Texas Southwestern Medical School John “Jack” Butterfield — University of Minnesota Kristie Liu, BS, MS — Keck School of Medicine – University of Southern California Emre Kiziltug — Yale School of Medicine Stephanie Casillo — UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Nicholas J.

Contillo — Wake Forest School of Medicine 2019 Aaron Cohen-Gadol Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Jeff Ehresman, BS — Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Sricharan Gopakumar — MD Anderson Cancer Center Arbaz Momin — Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute Oluwaposi Omiwade — University of California-San Diego Ryan Sandarage — Ottawa Hospital Research Institute 2019 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Albert Alan — University of Arizona Marcelle Altshuler — National Institute of Health Omar Awan — University of Florida Kinsey Barhorst — University of Cincinnati Hriday Bhambhvani — Stanford University Rahul Bussa — Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University Long Di, BS — University of Miami Jeffrey Curran Henson, MS, BS — University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Samantha Hoffman — Brigham and Women’s Hospital Gabrielle Johnson, BA — Washington University in St.

Louis Dennis Lee — University of California Davis School of Medicine Seung Jin Lee — David Geffen School of Medicine (UCLA) Elliott Orloff — Keck School of Medicine-University of Southern California Christine Park — Duke University Shashank Patil — University of Illinois at Chicago Keyan Alexander Peterson, MS, MBA — Wake Forest School of Medicine Shannon Catherine Shipley — The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania; The Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia; The Veteran’s Administration Medical Center Aly Al-Amyn Valliani, BA — Mount Sinai Health System Mark Zaki, BS, BA — Massachusetts General Hospital Mary Zhu — University of Toronto/St.

Michael’s Hospital 2018 Aaron Cohen-Gadol Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Arjun R.

Adapa — University of Michigan Ayodamola Otun — Washington University School of Medicine Kobina Mensah-Brown — University of Pennsylvania Alexa Semonche, BA — University of Miami Olindi Wijesekera — Mayo Clinic Florida 2018 Rhoton Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Sricharan Gopakumar — Baylor College of Medicine Brian F.

Jimenez — University of Tennessee 2018 NREF Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Pranish A. Kantak, MPH — University of Texas – Southwestern Medical Center Prasanth Romiyo — University of California, Los Angeles Jordan Matthew Spatz, PhD — University of California, San Francisco Sharon Abada, MPH — Washington University Melissa Yuan — Weill Cornell Medicine Andrew M.

Miller, BS — University of California, San Francisco Benjamin Hopkins — Northwestern University Rohan Gupta — Emory University Morgan Lee — University of Southern California Shivani Baisiwala — Northwestern University Cole Rinehart — University of Pennsylvania Sheantel Reihl — University of California, San Francisco Edith Yuan — University of Southern California Hetshree Joshi (H.

BSc) — University Health Network Whi Inh Shirley Bae — University of California Los Angeles Austin B.

Carpenter, MS, MMS — Brigham and Women’s Hospital Kendyl Carlisle — The Ohio State University Jason Anthony Liew — Johns Hopkins University Eli Johnson — Stanford University School of Medicine Marissa D’Souza — Stanford Medical Center 2017 Aaron Cohen-Gadol Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Dustin Roberts — University of California, Los Angeles Mounica Reddy Paturu — Yale University Jason K.

Karimy — Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis Erin Nicole D’Agostino — Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Ali Jamal — University of Saskatchewan 2017 Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Akop Seksenyan — University of Illinois at Chicago Vivek Sudhakar — University of California, San Francisco Iyan Younus — Weill Cornell Medical College Nicholas Goel — University of Pennsylvania Huy Tram N.

Nguyen — University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health Yongsoo Peter Joo — University of Rochester Ben (Jiahe) Gu — Presbyterian Medical Center of Philadelphia and Veteran’s Administration Medical Center Ali Karim Ahmed — The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital Felicia Sun — Stanford University School of Medicine Connor Berlin — Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Fabiha Rahman — Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Elliot Neal — University of South Florida Breydan Hawkins Wright — Washington University Faranak Dayani Dardashti — UCSF School of Medicine David J.

McCarthy — University of Miami Samuel Daly — University of Minnesota Medical School Brian Christian Kaszuba — Albany Medical College Raghav Gupta — Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Harvard Medical School John Ta-Hsiang Tsiang — Cleveland Clinic Foundation Kenan Rajjoub — George Washington University School of Medicine 2016 Aaron Cohen-Gadol Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Patrick M.

Flanigan — University of California, San Francisco Samuel Tomlinson — Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Rachel Kalani Greene — Washington University School of Medicine Natalie Elizabeth Griffin — Washington University School of Medicine Alessandra Hirsch — Columbia University Medical Center Anadjeet Singh Khahera — New York University Daniel Oyon — Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Weining Yang — Toronto Western Hospital Christopher Marnell — Weill Cornell Medical College-New York Presbyterian Hospital Luke Alan Mugge — The Ohio State University 2016 Medical Student Summer Research Fellowship Awardees Claire Collison — Albany Medical Center Joseph Scott Hudson — University of Iowa Prateek Agarwal — University of Pennsylvania Krish Suresh — Northwestern University William Roberson Johnston — Washington University, St.

Louis Vaidehi Mahadev — Cleveland Clinic Foundation Ankush Chandra — University of California, San Francisco David J.

Cote — Brigham and Women’s Hospital Michael Mathison — Washington University School of Medicine Erin Elizabeth Good — GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences Tej Deepak Azad — Stanford University School of Medicine Lawrance Chung — David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Harrison Farber — Duke University Medical Center Sameer Farooq — New York University André Renaldo Fernández — University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry Megan Hermann — UT Health Science Center San Antonio Zachary Hopkins — University of Utah Dhruv Kumar Jain — University of Toronto Joseph Juliano — University of Southern California Michael Kader — NYU Langone Medical Center Jason Kirschner — University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry Sneha Konda — Texas A&M Health Sciences Center College of Medicine Brandon Lucke-Wold — West Virginia University School of Medicine Erin Patricia McCormack — The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences Robert Rudy — Harvard Medical School Adam Russak — University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry Sanjit Shah — University of Cinncinati Eugene Vaios — Massachusetts General Hospital Philip Yee — Toronto Western Hospital Jacob Stewart Young — The University of Chicago Yin Zhao — University of Pittsburgh Abdul-Kareem Ahmed — Brown University – Alpert Medical School Malcolm Dombrowski — University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sarah Dooley — University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics Mark Ehlers — University of Wisconsin, Madison Paul Gamble — Washington University School of Medicine, St.

Louis Ranjit Ganguly — Ohio State University Laureen Hachem — University of Toronto and Toronto Western Hospital Sasha Halasz — Mayo Clinic Joshua Haswell — University of Rochester Hillary Hosier — University of Maryland School of Medicine and Medical Center Ioan Lina — Johns Hopkins Medicine Robert Maurer — Penn State University College of Medicine Margaret McDougal — Emory University School of Medicine Lauren Miller — Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania David Sawyer — Tulane University Rajeev Sen — NYU School of Medicine Jeffrey Treiber — University of California, San Diego Terence Verla — Duke University Justin Wang — Queen’s University Michael Zhang — University School of Medicine Ali Alam — University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center Brandyn Castro — University of California, San Francisco Tyler Cole — Stanford University School of Medicine Kyle Gabrick — University of Tennessee Health Science Center Chad Gier — Cleveland Clinic Emelia Hakes — Phoenix Children’s Hospital Mark Kraemer — University of Utah Travis Ladner — Vanderbilt University Medical Center Edward Larkin — University of Pennsylvania Stephen Miranda — University of Rochester Medical Center Neel Patel — Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Morgan Prust — Massachusetts General Hospital Ranjodh Singh — Weill Cornell Medical College – New York Presbyterian Saman Sizdahkhani — University of Illinois at Chicago Timothy Wen — University of Southern California Joseph Wooley — Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Aqib Zehri — Barrow Neurological Institute Xiaofei (Sophie) Zhou — Case Western Reserve School of Medicine Jeffrey Zuccato — University of Toronto Sattar KhoshkhooBharat Kilaru University of California, Los Angeles Stanford University School of Medicine Pennsylvania State University University of California, San Diego George Washington University University of California, San Francisco Case Western Reserve University Ohio State University School of Medicine Raanan Alter — Boston University School of Medicine David Altshuler — University of Michigan Mark Attiah — University of Pennsylvania Al-Wala Awad — University of Arizona College of Medicine Ranjith Babu — Duke University Andrew Duren — Columbia University Jacob Greenberg — Washington University School of Medicine David Kurland — Washington University School of Medicine Jason Mandell — University of Maryland Robert Mitchell — The Pennsylvania State University David Paul — University of Toronto Arjun Pendharkar — University of Rochester Kunal Raygor — Stanford University Jessica Swienckowski — Dartmouth Medical School David K.

Chen — UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School Newton Cho — University of Toronto Ramana Gorrepati — Weill Cornell Medical College Mohammad-Ali Jazayeri — Medical College of Wisconsin Alexander Kotlyar — Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Vincent Ma — Case Western Reserve School of Medicine Margy McCullough-Hicks — Columbia University David McMullen — University of Washington Polina Ogas — Harvard Medical School/Mass General Hospital Benjamin Plog — University of Rochester Alexander Riccio — Albany Medical College Christopher Showers — Stanford University Matthew Sun — University of California, San Francisco Krista Stewart — University of Wisconsin, Madison Samuel Terman — University of Michigan Jeffrey Barry — University of California, San Francisco Yevgenya Byekova — University of Alabama Ian Crain — Barrow Neurological Institute Nihar Gala — University Hospital – UMDNJ Jasmine Hasselback — University of Ottawa Francis Huttinger — University of Cincinnati Cynthia Loder — University of Virginia Vivek Mehta — Johns Hopkins University Thomas Noh — Duke University Medical Center Brenton Pennicooke — Harvard Medical School Sandhya Ravichandran — University of Utah Adam Shen — University of Pennsylvania Shelly Wang — University of Toronto Teresa Wojtasiewicz — Columbia University Lucas Harmon Bradley — University of Missouri Derek Chew — University of Toronto Anne Chin — UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School Andrew Kahlen Conner — Indiana University Kasandra Dassoulas — University of Virginia Dale Ding — Duke University Brian Hanak — Massachusetts General – Harvard Obehioya Irumudomon — Case Western Reserve Julia Jaffe — Mount Sinai School of Medicine Jonathan Latzman — New York University Neal Mehan — University of Cincinnati Whitney Parker — University of Pennsylvania Matthew Parry — Virginia Commonwealth University Caroline Tougas — University of Ottawa Nina Zobenica — Barrow Neurological Institute