Shreela and Vibhu Sharma Endowment for Excellence in Community Nutrition, Climate Health and Sustainability
Overview
The Shreela and Vibhu Sharma Endowment for Excellence in Community Nutrition, Climate Health and Sustainability will support pre-doctoral fellowships (“Sharma Fellows”) for students across the areas of community nutrition, dietetics, environmental health and climate health, along with other educational opportunities such as seminars/symposia on those topics.
For community nutrition, the endowment will support pre-doctoral fellowships for students who will work in collaboration with UTHealth Houston SPH research centers such as Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Center for Health Equity, and non-profit organizations such as Brighter Bites, to improve food systems, nutrition and health of communities.
For climate health and sustainability, the endowment will support pre-doctoral fellowships for students who will work in collaboration with the Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (SWCOEH) and similar research centers at UTHealth Houston SPH focused on climate health.
The fellowship provides a $2,000 stipend and requires a research commitment of two semesters, at 200 hours per semester.
The Shreela and Vibhu Sharma Endowment for Excellence in Community Nutrition, Climate Health and Sustainability fellowship program is administered through funding from the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, part of The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health.
School of Public Health faculty member and alumna, Dr. Shreela Sharma, along with her husband, Vibhu Sharma, have established the Sharma Endowment for Excellence in Community Nutrition, Climate Health and Sustainability at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health.
For other fellowship program opportunities available for School of Public Health doctoral students, please visit the scholarship information page.
Current Sharma Fellows
Past Sharma Fellows
- Che (Qi) Xue, Spring and Summer 2024
- Fangyu Li, 2020-2021, 2022-2023
- Heather Jones, Spring and Summer 2023
- Iheyinwa Odum-Nwabueze, Spring and Summer 2023
- Victoria Kwentua, 2021-2022
- Nivedhitha (Nivi) Parthasarathy, 2021
- Brittni Naylor, 2019-2020
- Jennifer Aiyer, 2018-2019
- Melinda Rushing, 2018-2019
For more information on the Sharma Doctoral Fellowship Program please contact:
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPh, MS
Faculty Associate
[email protected]
Application Information
- Must be a doctoral student registered for Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
- Located in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas.
International students are eligible.
Submit applications through the School of Public Health scholarship portal.
Applications require:
- A completed application form
- A one-page statement of why the student is interested in addressing child obesity
- 2 letters of recommendation
- Copy of student grades and classes to date (unofficial transcript).
