The Rappaport Fellowship at McLean Hospital

"The Rappaport Foundation shares McLean's vision of identifying and promoting our brightest young talent—it is a partnership that will help create the future of psychiatry."

 Peter Paskevich, Vice President for Research Administration

The Rappaport Foundation, through its Rappaport Fellowship at McLean Hospital, offers young investigators an opportunity to work and learn side-by-side with some of the world’s most esteemed psychiatric researchers. In a field chronically short of training funds, the Rappaport Fellowship is a significant resource for the hospital to attract and retain the best and the brightest young investigators. The Rappaport Fellows also mentor and supervise undergraduate students who participate in projects under the Rappaport funding, and go on to graduate with honors and either matriculate at esteemed medical schools or land important research positions at Harvard University.

To young people striving to create a successful career in academic research, the awarding of a named fellowship offers prestige and recognition that they can carry through their careers. Selected because of their intellectual promise and commitment to the field of psychiatric research, these young researchers are our hope for a future where there are more effective treatments for the psychiatric illnesses that plague millions of people. 

By championing research that asks us to reexamine our conceptions about the causes and treatment of psychiatric illness, the Rappaport Foundation is helping to support “high risk” investigations with the promise of significant rewards. The Rappaport Fellowship also provides critical leverage to fellows, arming them with the confidence and results to apply to government and private organizations for additional financial support toward a goal of becoming an independent investigator. Data obtained from the fellows’ research and the further hypotheses stemming from it also form the basis of collaborations with other scientists, and these collaborations help form a more integrated approach to psychiatric research.  

The impact of the fellowship, while immediately measurable in scientific results, also adds the most valuable resource—trained people—to the international community of scientists. What more could we ask from the investment of our resources than that it might create a possibility to continually improve our body of knowledge and launch the kinds of treatments we can only now begin to dream of?

About the Selection Process
The Rappaport scholar is selected by the president and psychiatrist in chief of McLean Hospital and a small committee selected and chaired by him. The members of the committee may change from year to year.

Current Rapport Fellowship Committee Members:
Drs. Scott L. Rauch, M.D.               Francine M. Benes, M.D., Ph.D.
Bruce M. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.          Joseph T. Coyle, M.D.
William A. Carlezon, Jr., Ph.D.        Ole Isacson, Dr. Med. Sci.
Roger D. Weiss, M.D.                     Mr. Terry A. Bragg, M.A., M.S.L.S
Mr. Peter A. Paskevich, M.A.