4/10/2025 Bridget Melton
Written by Bridget Melton
Each year, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recognizes and celebrates our graduate students during Grad Student Appreciation Week.
“Graduate students play a vital role in every aspect of our academic and research missions,” said Chancellor Robert Jones in a video created for Grad Student Appreciation Week. “Their relentless pursuit of knowledge helps build a better world.”
This week, the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute and the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance are celebrating five Technology-Based Healthcare graduate fellows:
The Technology-Based Healthcare fellowship program provides a unique opportunity for Illinois graduate students to work collaboratively with Mayo Clinic researchers and clinicians on a translational research project aimed at developing new technologies and clinical tools. To get the most from the experience, fellows are encouraged to spend one year at Illinois and one year at Mayo Clinic.
Since 2016, the fellowship has been awarded to 16 Illinois graduate students dedicated to applying their knowledge in engineering, AI, and data science to enhance patient care. Fellows are selected as innovators, connectors, and integrators who can take ideas and experiences from each institution to help develop new ideas that build on collective strengths.
“Our graduate fellows play critical roles in advancing technology-based healthcare by not only operationalizing the ideas and goals that we’ve established, but also seeing first-hand where problems may exist, where solutions are needed, and what ideas and innovations can be developed as those solutions,” said Stephen Boppart, Director of IHSI and Illinois Co-chair for the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance.
Ravishankar (Ravi) K. Iyer, George and Ann Fisher Distinguished Professor of Engineering, has advised seven of the past 16 fellows. These students have contributed significantly to model design and algorithm development, including patented AI technology for drug efficacy, early seizure prediction and localization, and predicting the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease eight to ten years in advance.
“[Fellows from Illinois] are trained to approach problems analytically breaking down complex clinical challenges into structured, solvable components,” said Iyer. “After their time at Mayo Clinic, they gain a deeper understanding of real-world medical data and clinical constraints, allowing them to design models and algorithms that are both technically rigorous and practically deployable.”
For many students, the fellowship helps enrich and shape their educational experience, broaden their career opportunities, and foster personal and professional growth. Advisors from both Illinois and Mayo Clinic provide a collaborative, supportive, and mutually respectful environment for fellows, encouraging them to be curious, think boldly, and learn through failures.
Chang Hu, a doctoral candidate in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, worked with Illinois advisor Ravi Iyer and Mayo Clinic advisor Konstantinos N. Lazaridis during her fellowship.
“The fellowship has been a crucial part of my graduate school experience,” said Hu. “It provided access to unique datasets and clinical expertise from Mayo Clinic, offering practical applications for my AI research. I also made meaningful connections and friendships at Mayo Clinic.”
Neeraj Wagh, a doctoral candidate working with Illinois advisor Yogatheesan Varatharajah and Mayo Clinic advisor Gregory Worrell, learned to appreciate the value of clinical collaborations and complimentary domain expertise in identifying innovative and impactful research directions during his fellowship.
“By working with clinical scientists, I have gained an additional research philosophy that is guided by innovation/impact from the perspective of doctors and patients,” Wagh said.
For some fellows, the experience opens doors for further education or careers at Mayo Clinic or other clinical research centers. To date, 37% of graduate fellows have been hired for employment at Mayo Clinic.
The graduate fellowships are a joint investment between Mayo Clinic and Illinois, with benefit to both institutions, the fellows, future patients, and the scientific and medical fields. Fellows receive a $40,000 annual stipend as well as coverage of tuition expenses. With additional support, Boppart hopes the program can continue and grow.
“Our Alliance fellowship program is an opportunity to both initiate and drive new inter-institutional collaborations between faculty and researchers at Illinois and Mayo Clinic,” Boppart said. “By supporting and increasing the number of fellows in our Alliance, we will increase the opportunities for bringing together teams that can truly advance health innovation and bring about improvements in healthcare and people’s lives.”