Odyssey Fellowship Program

The Odyssey Fellowship Program achieves its goal by appointing Odyssey Fellows and supporting their salary and research efforts. Fellows are appointed following a competitive peer-review of written proposals, performed by the Odyssey Program Advisory Committee once a year.

Odyssey fellows will receive salary support and benefits from the Odyssey Program at a minimum of the NIH NRSA rates. When sufficient funds are available, salary will be provided at a rate of 20% above NIH NRSA rates and a research allowance of up to $5,000 per year will be provided for the purchase of supplies and small equipment, as well as for travel to scientific meetings in the continental United States.

Fellows are appointed for one year, with two one-year renewals possible, depending on satisfactory progress as assessed by an annual progress report.  All fellowship years start Sept. 1 and end Aug. 31 of the following year.

Eligibility

Odyssey Fellows must have a doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., D.Phil. or equivalent).  Must have postdoctoral appointment less than two (2) years before funding starts (September 1st) if the postdoctoral time has always been at MD Anderson or less than three (3) years total at any combination of institutions. Must also not be supported by any fellowships at the time funding starts or agree to forfeit the current funding. Applicants must either have an appointment at MD Anderson,  or have been provided an official offer letter from MD Anderson, and plan to take the position before or at the time funding starts (September 1st), in order to be eligible to apply. A maximum of two Odyssey fellowships per lab at any time will be awarded.

Application Dates

• Request for applications: issued in January
  
• Deadline for applications: end of February (refer to email notification for specific date)
  
• Awarded applicants notified: May-June
  
• Funding begins: September 1

Application Process

All Odyssey Fellowship application materials must be submitted through the Discover system. The link for the application will be available on this page beginning January 2 of each year and will close by 11:59 p.m. at the end of February. To apply for the Odyssey Program fellowship, please do the following:

1. Download and read the Odyssey Program Application Guidelines (pdf) and the Odyssey Program Guidelines (pdf).
2. Download and complete the Odyssey Fellowship Application Form (pdf).
   
3. Download the Odyssey Fellowship Application Reference Letter Form (pdf).  This form must be provided to each referee by the applicant.  It must be uploaded with each letter of recommendation as a single document by the referee.
4. Refer to the Discover Application Guidelines for instructions on the application process.
   

Following the instructions in the application guidelines, refer to the Discover Application for Odyssey Tutorial and submit all the necessary materials before the deadline (refer to email notification for specific date). Please note that it is the responsibility of the applicant to make sure that all materials are submitted on time, including the two recommendation letters that must be uploaded directly by the mentors into the Discover system. The Discover system will automatically close on the deadline and incomplete submissions will be disqualified. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Contact Information

Questions regarding the Odyssey Fellowship Program may be directed to:

Nancy Strange
Program Coordinator
Education & Training
713-792-2552
ndstrange@mdanderson.org