About
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 School of Public Health 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 and similar research centers at the School of Public Health focused on climate health.
he fellowship provides a $2,000 stipend per semester and requires a research commitment of two semesters ($4,000 total), 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 the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living.
School of Public Health faculty member and alumna, Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD, along with her husband, Vibhu Sharma, have established the Sharma Endowment for Excellence in Community Nutrition, Climate Health and Sustainability at the school.
Eligibility Requirements
- Students must be enrolled in the upcoming fall and spring semester
- Students must be located in Texas residing in either Austin, Dallas, Houston, or San Antonio
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)
Current Sharma Fellows
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Rebecca Gyawu, MScSpring 2025 Her research interests focus on preventing and managing diet-related chronic diseases, particularly hypertension and Type 2 diabetes, among underserved communities, including people of African descent. |
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
Contact
For more information on the Sharma Doctoral Fellowship Program, please contact:
Ru-Jye (Lindi) Chuang, DrPh, MS
Faculty Associate
[email protected]