Fenway Health is pleased to announce the launch of The Kenneth H. Mayer Fellowship at The Fenway Institute. Named after Fenway Health’s Medical Research Director, Co-Founder and current Co-Chair of The Fenway Institute, the Kenneth H. Mayer Fellowship provides early stage investigators support for developing an independent research agenda and valuable insight into how to apply for grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and other major funders.
“Advances in the field of HIV and LGBTQIA+ healthcare require bold and imaginative thinking, persistence in the face of challenging scientific questions, and prioritization of community-focused collaborations in service of better health and care for those in need,” said Fenway Health CEO Ellen LaPointe. “Those are the qualities Dr. Mayer has utilized throughout his career to make significant contributions to the field of HIV research, prevention, and treatment. We are thrilled to offer this Fellowship to emerging leaders in the field.”
Fellows will receive mentorship from Dr. Mayer, other senior faculty at The Fenway Institute, and national experts through monthly cohort meetings and one-to-one advisement. They will receive professional development and training in how to navigate the demands and politics of academic life, ensure that their research reflects the real world racial, gender, and cultural diversity of affected communities, and transcend gender stereotypic practices in academia. Each Fellow will receive $50,000 to conduct a pilot research project at Fenway Health.
The first cohort of Fellows, selected through a rigorous and competitive process, are:
- Abigail (Abby) Batchelder, PhD, MPH, an Affiliated Investigator at The Fenway Institute, a staff psychologist and the Assistant Director of the Behavioral Medicine Program at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS), and the Director of the Substance Use Scientific Working Group at the Harvard Center for AIDS Research.
- Richard O. Bido Medina, MD, Administrative Chief Resident and Public & Community Psychiatry Chief Resident at the MGH/McLean Psychiatry Residency Training Program. Dr. Medina will be working with Alex Keuroghlian, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at HMS, Michele and Howard J. Kessler Chair and Director of the Division of Public and Community Psychiatry at MGH, Associate Chief of the MGH Department of Psychiatry, and Director of the Division of Education and Training at The Fenway Institute.
- Peter R. Chai, MD, MMS, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/HMS, and affiliate research scholar at the Koch Institute for Integrated Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and The Fenway Institute and research faculty at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
- Calvin Fitch, PhD, Affiliated Investigator at The Fenway Institute and Staff Psychologist in Behavioral Medicine at MGH. He completed his PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Miami.
- Amelia M. Stanton, PhD, Assistant Professor at Boston University in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and a licensed clinical psychologist. She completed a NIMH-funded T23 postdoctoral fellowship in Global Psychiatry at MGH and Harvard Medical School in 2022, and she received her doctorate in clinical psychology from The University of Texas at Austin in 2019.
“Together, these Fellows are committed to addressing critical issues and unanswered questions in the field of LGBTQIA+ health and HIV. They are already making significant contributions in the fields of infectious disease, general internal medicine, clinical psychology, epidemiology, socio-behavioral sciences, and health services,” said Dr. Mayer. “I am incredibly excited to work with our Fellows and support their efforts to advance the health and care of LGBTQIA+ people and those living with HIV.”
The Kenneth H. Mayer Fellowship at The Fenway Institute is supported by funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. For more information about the program, please visit us online.