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Request for Proposals:
Shankar Fellowship 2025 Cycle

The Diabetes Translational Accelerator (DTA) of the Emory Global Diabetes Research Center (EGDRC) aims to catalyze the advancement of research and technologies to tackle the toughest problems in diabetes and related complications through start-ups and commercialization. Through the Lakshmi and Subramonian Shankar Fellowship, the DTA supports Emory PhD students ($45,000 per year for up to 5 years; for stipend/tuition/insurance support) with the goal of commercializing their dissertation. The Shankar Fellows are also eligible for assistance from the Shankar Innovation Fund ($75,000; upon demonstration of the minimum viable product) to translate their research for the market. 

The fellowship is open to prospective applicants to Laney Graduate School’s PhD programs or current PhD students (first or second year) enrolled at Emory University. Student-Advisor teams are strongly encouraged to directly address one or more of the priority problems in diabetes identified by stakeholders in India and Rural Georgia. Teams can also propose other problems to tackle, provided they have a strong justification. We will prioritize biotechnology and pharmaceutical products (Technology Readiness Level [TRL] 2) or biomedical engineering products (TRL 3), which need laboratory (TRL 4) or clinical validation (TRL 5). All students should have a technical and clinical co-advisor team with at least one advisor from a Woodruff Health Sciences Center school (Medicine, Public Health, Nursing). Students can be from any discipline, including but not limited to STEM. Email us at egdrc.dta@emory.edu if you need help in identifying co-advisors or have other questions. 

Required Documents: 

• What are you trying to do? What health problem are you trying to solve? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
• How is it done today? What are the limitations of present approaches? 
• What is new about your approach? Why do you think you can be successful at this time? 

2. CV of the student applicant 
3. CV of technical advisor  
4. CV of clinical co-advisor at one of the three WHSC schools 

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