Bourse Michael E. DeBakey

Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine for 2018

Call for applications

NLM is pleased to announce its second annual call for applications to its Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine.

The NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine supports individuals in pursuing research in NLM’s Michael E. DeBakey archives, related collections held by the NLM, and the vast range of subjects which informed, or were informed by, Michael E. DeBakey’s professional career – from surgery to health care policy, medical libraries and expanding access to medical information, medical technology to medical ethics, military medicine to veteran health, humanitarianism to international diplomacy in the medical arena.

In early 2016, the National Library of Medicine announced its receipt of a generous gift from The DeBakey Medical Foundation to support enhanced access to the Michael E. DeBakey Archives at the NLM and to establish the NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine. With this support, the NLM launched the first call for applications to the fellowship in April 2016 and subsequently named its 2017 DeBakey Fellows, who are now actively working on their research projects involving the NLM’s Michael E. DeBakey archives and related collections.

NLM and the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES) continue their partnership to administer the NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine, and they now invite applications from anyone over the age of eighteen, of any academic discipline and status. Non-U.S. citizens may apply.

Fellowships of up to $10,000 will be awarded to individual applicants, not to institutions, to help offset the costs associated with visiting and using the NLM collections, but may not be used for institutional costs or overhead (e.g. clerical costs, supplies, or other attendant project expenses).

To learn about the requirements for the NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine, please visit this website.

To apply for the NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine, visit this online application portal which is maintained by FAES in cooperation with the NLM.

To receive consideration, all materials must be submitted to FAES, via the above online application portal, by midnight EDT, September 30, 2017. Awards will be announced by the end of the calendar year.

Michael E. DeBakey (1908–2008) was a legendary American surgeon, educator, and medical statesman. During a career spanning 75 years, his work transformed cardiovascular surgery, raised medical education standards, and informed national health care policy. He pioneered dozens of operative procedures such as aneurysm repair, coronary bypass, and endarterectomy, which routinely save thousands of lives each year; he also performed some of the first heart transplants. His inventions included the roller pump (a key component of heart-lung machines) as well as artificial hearts and ventricular assist pumps. He was a driving force in building Houston’s Baylor University College of Medicine into a premier medical center, where he trained several generations of top surgeons from all over the world.

The Michael E. DeBakey archives collection at the National Library of Medicine includes material from the early 1900s to 2009 and contains correspondence, administrative records, diaries, transcripts, publications, speeches, conference and awards material, subject files, photographs, and audiovisual media, the collection reflects the vast expanse of Dr. DeBakey’s life, achievements, and interests.

For further information about the materials available for historical research at the National Library of Medicine, please visit https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/index.html, or contact the NLM’s History of Medicine reference desk by email at NLM Customer Support or by phone 301-402-8878. Questions about the NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine may be directed to these same points of contact.