Biogen provides support for clinical fellowship programs within healthcare and academic organizations. These fellowships support the education and development of future specialists in therapeutic areas with unmet need. Our goal is to support comprehensive clinical training programs that advance patient care.
Areas of Interest
Application Submission Cycles
Application Requirements and Organization Eligibility
To be considered for a fellowship, the following criteria must be met:
- Fellowship request must be unsolicited
- Fellowship request must not provide tangible benefit to Biogen
- Fellowship request must be submitted for a future program
- Funding from other pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies, in addition to Biogen, to support the program is preferred (e.g. multiple sources of funding)
- Funds are not granted to directly or indirectly encourage recipients to purchase or prescribe Biogen's products or services
- Funding is permitted to qualified U.S. based academic or accredited medical institutions only; fellowship funding from Biogen will not be given directly to individual fellows
- Fellowship request should not disclose the name of the fellow in the application
- Requesting organization must be registered for more than 2 years
- Requesting organization must confirm receipt of payment and verify how funds were used for all previous Biogen supported activities
- Requesting organization and fellowship request must be in full compliance with all regional and local codes, laws and industry regulations, including, but not limited to anti-corruption, transparency and privacy laws and regulations.
- Fellowship award may not be renewed for a fellow previously selected by the organization using Biogen funds
Biogen will conduct appropriate due diligence on all requesting organizations and fellowship requests.
Biogen reserves the right to deny any fellowship request that does not meet application and eligibility requirements.
Biogen must not provide any substantive input or assistance to a requesting organization in drafting or submitting a grant request.
Biogen must not be involved in the selection of the fellow.
Biogen may modify the fellowship application and eligibility requirements at any time.
Fellowship Program Overview and Qualifications
Biogen may award up to $90,000 per academic year. Fellowships are awarded to directly support salaries and limited fringe benefits of fellows. Organizations may not use awarded funds to defray operating expenses.
The fellowship candidate must meet the following requirements:
- Be a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident of the United States; fellowship candidates with temporary nonimmigrant visa categories are not eligible
- Have a sponsor who is a full-time faculty member of the requesting organization
- Not hold a full-time, tenure-track faculty position or its equivalent during the first year of the fellowship
- Be U.S. Board certified or Board eligible in Neurology
- Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Fellowship candidates must hold an active MD, DO, NP-BC or PA-C license in good standing
- Alzheimer’s Disease and Neuromuscular Disease Clinical Fellowship candidates must hold an active MD or DO license in good standing
Clinical Fellowship Criteria
Clinical Fellowships must meet the following criteria:
- Fellowship request must provide a comprehensive clinical program allowing a fellow to demonstrate his/her learned skills and competencies
- Fellowship request must have a clear and defined development plan for the fellow
- Fellowship request must focus on building the clinical skills of the fellow
- Fellowship program must provide training using multi-disciplinary teams
- Fellowship program must utilize faculty who devote sufficient time to fulfill their supervisory and teaching responsibilities
- Fellowship period must be no more than one academic year
- Fellowship award may not be renewed for a fellow previously selected by the organization using Biogen funds
Review Process
Funding decisions for fellowships are made through a formal, centralized review and decision-making process.
To confirm Biogen’s independence from the requesting organization, the annual operating costs (total reportable expenses) of the organization are reviewed. The annual operating costs, which must be from either of the last 2 fiscal years, will be compared to the total funding provided to the requesting organization by Biogen on a rolling twelve (12) month-basis.
Decisions and Communications
Funding decisions for fellowships are based on the quality of the proposal, alignment with Biogen’s grants strategy and budget availability. Decision notifications will be communicated in writing.
Contracting and Payment
All recipient organizations must abide by the terms and conditions as outlined in the Biogen Letter of Agreement (LOA)/contract. The LOA/contract is issued electronically to an authorized signatory of the organization once an application is approved. A fully executed LOA/contract is required prior to the start of the program.
Payment will be issued upon execution of the LOA/contract and the organization’s submission of the required fellow information.
Project / Program Execution
Changes to an awarded fellowship must be reviewed and approved by Biogen prior to the start of the program. To determine if funding may continue, organizations should submit the proposed changes by logging into the Biogen portal and submitting a Change of Scope for review.
Reconciliation
Once the fellowship concludes, a reconciliation must be completed by the recipient organization. The reconciliation confirms:
- Receipt of payment
- Funding was used appropriately (as described in the letter of agreement/contract)
- Fellowship objectives were achieved
- Fellow’s experience
This reconciliation must be completed through the Biogen portal within 90 days of the project or program end date. After 90 days, the reconciliation is considered overdue. Recipient organizations are not eligible to receive new funding until all overdue reconciliations are submitted and approved.
Transparency
Biogen adheres to global transparency and disclosure reporting obligations in accordance with local regulations.