Rising Star: Amanda Ifft Chosen as Top Cleveland Clinic Fellowship Candidate

In a highly competitive internal selection process, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) has chosen Chemistry graduate student Amanda Ifft to represent the institution for the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Gilliam Fellowship.

Faced with a massive pool of exceptional candidates from its expansive network of joint graduate programs—which includes Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, and Cleveland State University’s BGES and Engineering programs—CCF determined it could only fully support two applicants with the rigorous effort required for the fellowship's intensive application process.

Ifft, a standout PhD candidate in Clinical-Bioanalytical Chemistry from Cleveland State University, emerged as a top selection. Faculty leaders widely praised her as one of the most promising graduate students currently training within the university system.

"Choosing only two applications from such a vast and multi-institutional talent pool was an incredibly difficult task," said a representative from the program. "Selecting Amanda highlights not only her extraordinary potential as a researcher but also underscores the world-class caliber of students coming out of our collaborative chemistry and science programs."

The HHMI Gilliam Fellowship is highly sought-after, focusing on paired mentor-mentee growth, leadership development, and advancing cutting-edge biological and biomedical sciences. Ifft’s selection by the Cleveland Clinic marks a major milestone for both her academic career and the university departments that have supported her research journey.

Learn more about the HHMI Gilliam Fellows Program.