Apply for SPIE-Franz Hillenkamp Fellowship

There are no restrictions on geographical location; however, applicants, and hosting labs must propose original research in biomedical optics that is expected to lead to new diagnostics and/or therapeutics in medicine and biology. The applications for the SPIE-Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship are composed of three distinct elements:

• Hosting Lab
• Project
• Candidate

Funding Information

• The annual award of US$75,000 will support the interdisciplinary problem-driven research and training opportunities.

Eligible Projects

• The project must meet the following criteria:
  • Relevance to the field of biomedical optics and analytics.
  • Sufficient background to evaluate the scope and nature of the problem as well as the current standard of care, evidence of the need and multi stakeholder perspective.
  • Potential patient and healthcare impact.
  • Innovative aspects of the approach.
  • Likelihood that achievement of experimental endpoints will lead to a potential collaboration with a commercial partner.
  • Team expertise and motivation.
  • Potential for the fellow to learn the importance of translating new discoveries to clinical practice, the language required to make the process effective and what it really takes (expertise, partnerships, time, money).
• Research Component
  • Must include a detailed research plan developed jointly by the candidate and the research faculty mentor in science/engineering and/or medicine/biology. Research plan must be a minimum of three pages and must not exceed five pages.
• Translational Sciences Component
  • Must include one-page training plan developed with the translational sciences mentor. The plan should not describe the project business plan, but how the fellow will be involved and learn about specific steps to be taken in order to translate new discoveries emerging from the project into new diagnostics or treatments for patients in need.

Eligibility Requirements

• To be eligible as a Hosting Lab, the following requirements must be met:
  • An established contributor in the field of biomedical optics (capability and infrastructure).
  • An institution of higher learning (university and medical school affiliations are needed). Government labs or nonprofit-incorporated labs are eligible if other criteria are met.
  • Capable of high-level mentorship in both fundamental research and translation of technologies into medicine (number of publications, patents, collaborations with industry and spin-off creation over the last 10 years, faculty teaching in translational research education and training programs).
  • Committed to giving access to the lab, research and translational sciences mentorship, commercialization expertise and immersion courses in translational research.
  • Able to demonstrate capability to perform original and translational research in the field, leading to new diagnostics and/or therapeutics in medicine and biology, (ex: contributed to at least one discovery translated into clinical practice).
  • The hosting lab must cover indirect costs according to the lab’s institution policy such as space, electricity, heating, telephone expenses, administrative salaries, etc.
• Options for new Hosting Lab:
  • Sustaining Lab — a contribution of at least $20,000 must be made to support the Fellowship Fund. Sustaining Lab will be recognized from the time the contribution is processed (by SPIE) and promotional materials as appropriate.
  • Participating Lab — no initial contribution is required and the lab will support a Fellow as the hosting lab in accordance with the above criteria. Participating Lab will be recognized and promotional materials as appropriate for the year the lab is supporting an awarded Fellow.
• Candidates must have a PhD, MD, or equivalent degree at the beginning of the Fellowship.
• Further advanced scientists and engineers interested in transitioning to biomedical research will also be considered.
• If awarded the Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship, the awardee must be a Member or become a Member of SPIE.

Application Requirements

• Candidates must include the following:
  • CV
  • One-page personal statement addressing how proposed research project and training as the SPIE-Franz Hillenkamp fellowship is important to career goals.
  • One external letter of recommendation not affiliated with the hosting lab.
  • One letter of support stating specific commitment to the project from the research and translational sciences faculty and collaborating mentors in the hosting lab.

For more information, visit SPIE.