Opportunities

Call for Applications: The Petrie-Flom Center Student Fellowship 2025-2026

The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School is an interdisciplinary research program dedicated to scholarly research at the intersection of law and health. Topics of interest include health care financing, market regulation, artificial intelligence in health care, biotechnology, biomedical research, intellectual property, neuroscience and the law, global health, bioethics, and more.

­Our Student Fellowship Program is designed to mentor students seeking to become thought-leaders in health law policy and bioethics and is open to 2nd and 3rd year HLS students and other Harvard graduate students. Student fellows receive mentoring from Harvard Law affiliated faculty and industry experts, workshop their research and writing with like-minded, passionate peers, and write frequently for our blog Bill of Health to gain experience and expand their online presence.

Requirements for all Student Fellows:

  • Enroll and actively participate in the weekly Health Law Workshops, held in the Fall,
  • Publish at least 6 times in the Petrie-Flom Center’s blog Bill of Health,
  • Complete a significant research paper on a topic selected by the student,
  • Attend Petrie-Flom Center events throughout the year, including lunches for Petrie-Flom affiliates.

Additional Requirements for HLS Student Fellows:

  • Harvard Law Students must enroll in the year-long 1-credit writing group, “Health Law/Bioethics/Pharmaceuticals and the Law.” They must also take 2 or 3 credits of independent writing with Prof. Cohen as a supervisor for their Petrie-Flom paper.

For more information on our fellows and their work, see our website and Bill of Health.

Eligibility

The student fellowship program is open to all Harvard graduate students who will be enrolled at the University during the fellowship year and who commit to fulfilling the requirements, including those in one-year programs. We encourage those who are in multi-year programs to wait until after their first year to apply. Students enrolled in the JD program at Harvard Law School will not be accepted for the fellowship during their 1L year.

More Details

Petrie-Flom student fellows must enroll in the Health Law Workshops at HLS. The workshop is intended to provide student fellows with opportunities to interact with leading scholars in the fields of health law and policy, with the expectation that these interactions will further enhance and inform their research and academic development. The Workshop will meet during the Fall semester (exact date and time will be available in the HLS course catalog). Fellowship awardees will have priority enrollment.

Student fellows conduct independent research projects designed to lead to publishable articles in their fields. Fellowship papers must be single-authored. Fellows are expected to produce at least one such paper by the end of the academic year, with various deadlines for drafts throughout fall and spring semesters.

Unfortunately, the writing group and the independent writing credits are not available to non-HLS students. Students from other schools and programs cannot enroll in the writing group but will be required to submit drafts on a similar timetable. Satisfaction of writing requirements or granting credits at other Harvard schools will depend on the policies of each school/program. It is up to the student fellow to manage these processes.

Student fellows will be expected to post on the Petrie-Flom Center’s blog, Bill of Health, at least 3 times in the fall and spring semesters, a total of at least 6 times during the year. Topics are self-determined; posts are subject to editing guidance and final approval by the Petrie-Flom Center and are usually 800–1000 words. The Petrie-Flom Center will provide mentorship and training on producing scholarly writing for a blog, and assistance in promoting their work online.

Student fellows are expected to attend several lunch sessions with Center affiliates (and may be asked to present their research) and join several dinners with visitors to the Bioethics Workshop. Student fellows are also expected to attend and may be asked to assist with panels and conferences organized by the Center, including organizing and reporting on events for Center publications.

These requirements are non-negotiable. Student fellows must fulfill all requirements to remain in the fellowship.

Resources

Fellows may be eligible for funding to cover reasonable costs associated with their research projects (e.g., copying, publications, conference fees, travel).

Please note: Student Fellowship funding may be considered taxable income. Students are responsible for self-reporting income to the IRS when they file their taxes. Since this income is self-reported, Harvard Law School will not provide any tax documentation. For more information see the Harvard University Office of the Comptroller’s guidelines.

Application

Harvard Law School students may apply for priority consideration by submitting their fellowship applications by 11:59PM on Monday May 26, 2025. HLS students will receive notice of whether they have been accepted or deferred to the general applicant pool by June 16, 2025. We strongly encourage HLS students to take advantage of priority consideration.

For all Harvard University graduate students, including Law School students who submit after May 26, fellowship applications will be accepted until 11:59PM on Monday August 4, 2025. Notifications of awards will be made by Monday August 25, 2025, to enable enrollment in the Workshop.

To apply, email the following to petrie-flom@law.harvard.edu:

  1. Your curriculum vitae;
  2. A proposal describing the research and writing project you intend to pursue (1500-word maximum); and
  3. A digital copy of your most current transcript (which need not be official).

The most successful research proposals will describe an idea and novel contribution, rather than simply a topic of interest. We recognize that students will be applying from a range of disciplines, which we strongly encourage; thus, we will account for a student’s field and typical standards for work in their discipline when evaluating applications.

Contact

For further questions, contact Laura Chong, Financial and Administrative Director, lchong@law.harvard.edu.