NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine 2027
Historical reference for the closed 2027 awards cycle of the National Library of Medicine Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship, which supports research grounded primarily in NLM collections with awards up to $10,000.
NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine 2027
Current status
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) says that the application period for the 2027 Fellowship awards has closed. Its program page says selected fellows will be notified and awards announced in December 2026, while the cooperating Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES) application portal says selected fellows will be notified by January 2027. Those official pages differ on notification timing; neither difference changes the published September 30, 2026 application deadline. The NLM page asks prospective applicants to watch it for details of the 2028 cycle; it does not yet give an opening date, deadline, or application instructions for that next cycle. This page is therefore a historical reference for the closed 2027 awards cycle, not an open call. Do not use its archived deadline to plan a future application. Check the official NLM page for the next announcement before preparing or submitting materials.
The official program page remains the source of truth for program status, eligibility, required materials, and any future application link. NLM’s page describes the requirements for the program and states that the 2027 awards period is closed. The application package information below is useful for understanding that program’s published process, but it should not be read as permission to submit now or as a promise that the 2028 package will be identical.
Program and purpose
The NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in the History of Medicine supports individual research using the National Library of Medicine’s collections. The awards are up to $10,000. The collection spans physical and digital formats and includes material from many parts of the world. It includes the Michael E. DeBakey papers, which reflect his work in surgery, medical education, and health care policy, as well as collections relating to other figures and subjects in medicine and science.
A proposal should make the NLM collection central to its research question. The program may consider work using collections intellectually related to NLM holdings, but NLM says the overall research must remain primarily rooted in its own collection. This requirement is more specific than simply researching the history of medicine. Applicants need to identify the materials, collections, datasets, or archives they intend to study and explain what those sources will contribute to the project.
Research can take place onsite in the NLM Reading Room or remotely through NLM digital resources. Those resources include digitized and born-digital collections and datasets. NLM welcomes projects using digital humanities methods and tools. The official description expects fellows to complete the work according to their proposal within the fellowship year. A project plan should therefore match its scope to the time, access conditions, and support requested.
Award amount and appropriate uses
The stated maximum is $10,000. The official page describes several possible research needs: dedicated time for research or writing; research or technical assistance for data and database analysis; analysis of digitized collections, web archives, or historical datasets; preparation of an open-access scholarly or interpretive digital publication; and reproduction or permission fees for essential images of unique or rare materials. These are examples of needs applicants may justify, not a guaranteed menu of expenses or an automatic award at the maximum.
The application budget should list anticipated costs and explain their connection to the proposed research. NLM advises applicants to use General Services Administration per diem rates as a helpful guide for expenses. The page says selected fellows’ awards will be based on the expenses listed in the submitted budget, including expenses tied to core needs. A careful budget should distinguish necessary costs from optional enhancements and explain why each requested item is needed to conduct the project or make its intended output available.
The award is fellowship research support. The official program description does not promise a standard monthly stipend, salary, institutional award, or benefits package. A proposal should describe the research costs and other support requested in the budget itself rather than assuming that a particular cost category is automatically covered. Group proposals are considered, but the maximum remains $10,000 for the entire project regardless of how many people participate. A group application must be submitted under one principal researcher’s name.
Eligibility
For the program, an applicant must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and at least eighteen years old. People from any academic discipline and status may apply, provided they have not previously received this Fellowship. The fellowship is awarded to individuals rather than institutions. NLM’s program page does not set a narrow academic rank or require that every applicant be a professional historian; the project’s fit with the collections and the stated requirements remain central.
The citizenship and prior-award conditions should be checked before investing time in a proposal. Students may apply, but the transcript requirement applies only to currently enrolled students. Applicants outside student status do not need to include a transcript under the published checklist. For a group project, members should agree on the principal researcher who will submit the application and on a single coherent plan and budget. The group cap applies to the entire project, not to each participant.
The subject of the project may extend beyond NLM material, since research in intellectually related collections can be considered. However, the proposal needs to demonstrate that NLM material is the primary foundation of the work. A useful way to make that case is to name the relevant NLM collections or resources, describe what evidence they contain for the question, and explain how other sources will supplement rather than replace that core.
Application materials published by NLM
The official program page lists the following components for an application package. Because the 2027 awards period is closed and NLM has not yet published the 2028 cycle details, treat this as a record of the published requirements rather than a live submission checklist. Recheck the official page when the next cycle is announced in case any instructions change.
- A CV of no more than three pages, including the applicant’s preferred email address.
- A research project abstract, methods, and anticipated outcomes, no more than 750 words. This must explain how the applicant learned about the fellowship, describe anticipated publications, and, where applicable, explain the planned approach to data preservation.
- A bibliography of no more than two pages. It should identify the specific NLM collections to be studied, whether onsite or digital, and include four to five key secondary works that directly inform the research.
- A proposed research budget listing all anticipated costs. GSA per diem rates may be used as a guide for expenses; NLM says selected awards will be based on the expenses listed in the submitted budget, including core needs.
- A transcript, required only for applicants who are currently enrolled students.
- Two letters of support, at least one from someone familiar with the proposed project.
The abstract has to connect the question, source base, method, and anticipated result within the word limit. It should be possible to tell from the description why the project depends on NLM resources, what the researcher will do with them, and what form the outcome may take. The bibliography is not just a general reading list: NLM asks for the collections to be identified specifically, alongside a concise selection of directly relevant secondary scholarship. These limits make early editing worthwhile, particularly if the project combines archival, digital, and interpretive work.
Application route and planning
For the 2027 awards cycle, applicants had to upload the required package through the online application portal maintained by the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES) in cooperation with NLM. The deadline was 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, September 30, 2026; that submission window has closed. The FAES application portal confirms the deadline and submission route. It is included here as a record of the process, not as an open application link.
NLM’s current program page says to watch for details of the 2028 fellowship cycle, but it does not yet announce an opening date, deadline, or application instructions for that round. For a future application, first check the updated NLM announcement, then use the application channel and deadline it names. Confirm that the package limits and eligibility rules remain in force before assembling materials; the requirements recorded below are those published for the 2027 cycle.
When preparing a project, begin by identifying the central historical or interpretive question and matching it to named NLM materials. Check whether those materials are digital, available for onsite consultation, or accessible through another NLM research tool. The program description allows remote work using NLM digital resources and onsite work in the Reading Room. If an award supports onsite research, a fellow is expected to make at least one visit within the fellowship year. Applicants whose plans depend on a visit should account for its timing and cost in the proposal and budget, while remote applicants should show how the accessible material will support the research question.
Next, outline a feasible sequence of research and writing, select a small set of directly relevant secondary works, and prepare a budget tied to that work plan. Ask letter writers early enough to provide support that addresses the project itself. Currently enrolled students should arrange a transcript; other applicants should not treat it as a universal requirement. Before a future submission, check all page limits and instructions against the then-current official call rather than assuming this archive entry has every new-cycle detail.
Responsibilities after an award
The fellowship includes responsibilities beyond completing the proposed research. Fellows receiving an award for onsite research are expected to visit NLM at least once within their fellowship year. All fellows are expected, within a year after completing their research, to author a guest article for NLM’s Circulating Now blog based on their work.
NLM also requires fellows to consult with staff to improve existing finding aids and related resources. This work helps the Library improve its knowledge of collections and provide informed access to them. Fellows must meet the terms of the NIH Public Access Policy for NIH-supported work and acknowledge the NLM Michael E. DeBakey Fellowship in resulting publications. They are also expected to respond to requests for interviews and information in cooperation with NLM. NLM may invite selected fellows to present the annual Michael E. DeBakey Lecture in the History of Medicine as part of NLM History Talks; the page describes this as a possible invitation, not a guaranteed obligation for every recipient.
These responsibilities have practical consequences for project design. An applicant should consider whether the research can produce a public-facing article, what information NLM staff could usefully receive about collections or finding aids, and how resulting work will meet public-access terms. Digital or data-driven projects may need to consult institutional colleagues or the CORE repository of Humanities Commons about public access. The official page encourages that consultation; applicants should account for relevant preservation and access questions in their plans where applicable.
Assessing fit
This opportunity may suit researchers whose work can be anchored in NLM historical holdings and who can complete a defined project within the fellowship year. Potential approaches include close study of manuscript collections, analysis of digitized materials or web archives, work with historical datasets, and scholarly or interpretive digital publications. The precise fit depends on the available sources and the question, not merely on a broad connection to medicine or health.
It may be a poor fit for projects that rely on NLM material only incidentally, requests that cannot be justified against the project budget, or plans whose scale exceeds the fellowship year. A group can submit, but the overall award cap means that the proposed work and division of responsibilities need to be realistic. The fellowship is also not currently accepting applications for the 2027 awards. People planning ahead should wait for NLM’s 2028 announcement before treating any old dates, materials, or portal instructions as current.
Official source
The National Library of Medicine’s program page reports the closed 2027 application period, says fellows will be notified and awards announced in December 2026, and directs readers to watch for 2028 cycle details. The FAES portal, maintained in cooperation with NLM, gives January 2027 as its notification date. These partner pages differ on notification timing. Consult the NLM page for a future opening, deadline, and application process.