About The Fellows As Mentors (FAME) Program

The student-run Fellows As Mentors (FAME) Program at Icahn School of Medicine is the first formal peer-mentored research program. In FAME, Doris Duke fellows mentor first and second year medical students, giving the mentees an opportunity to actively participate in a clinical-translational research project during the school year.

Mentees may also participate in the weekly Doris Duke meetings if their schedules permit, allowing them to hear progress reports on the projects being carried out, meet physician-scientists who discuss how and why they chose to combine clinical/translational research and medicine and learn more about how the Doris Duke and other Scholarly Year programs can enrich their medical education.

The program begins early in the spring semester and runs until May. FAME students decide the amount of time they can dedicate to working on the project. Their responsibilities are defined together with their student mentor, based upon the amount of time each has available and the needs of the project. Participants receive feedback and an evaluation.

Benefits of FAME

The active learning experience enables participants to learn early in their medical education what original clinical/translational research has to offer, which might help them decide whether to apply for a Scholarly Year. The experience could also suggest a career path as a physician-scientist that the student might not otherwise have considered.

Applications are available in the fall. The application requests that the student specify in which of the available Doris Duke projects s/he would like to participate, and, in three separate paragraphs, to describe 1) current career goals, 2) what in particular is of interest about the FAME program and 3) how s/he hopes to benefit from participating in FAME. Successful applicants will be selected based upon the application, as well as an interview.