The Fellowship provides funds for transportation to and from overseas project sites, cost of visas, site-specific drugs, immunizations, evacuation insurance and a modest stipend. Although students may initiate projects, Yale faculty members provide intellectual support, practical assistance and links with host-country sponsors who serve as mentors during the Fellows time abroad. The choice of research topic and methodological detail are joint responsibilities of applicants and advisors. Any member of the Yale faculty may sponsor applicants. Downs Fellows present their research findings and experiences at the Annual CIH Fall Symposium and Poster Session.
Most Fellows further develop their studies into a thesis or dissertation.
For more than a century and a half, Yale faculty and students have been in the forefront of health education and health promotion in foreign countries. Since 1966, the CIH has provided opportunities for almost 400 students to live, learn, work and do research in overseas settings. Many projects undertaken by Downs Fellows have led to prizes for outstanding theses, oral presentations and posters at national and international learned society meetings, and research articles published in peer reviewed journals. Fellows have contributed to an increased understanding of epidemiological, genetic, molecular biological, clinical and sociologic patterns in health and medicine. While some Past Fellows have established careers in global health, surveys show that almost all Fellows were influenced profoundly by their experiences abroad regardless of their career choice.