Diversity

Student wearing a mask, at a desk using scientific tools

Emory University Values Diversity

As a community, we recognize that students from groups not traditionally present in the university bring new perspectives that enrich the fields of graduate study and enhance the educational experience of all students. We encourage applications from all qualified students, including those historically underrepresented in the sciences (including students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students).

The Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (GDBBS) has a proven track record of enrolling and graduating underrepresented students, particularly African American students. Since 2021, Diverse Education's Top 100 Degree producers has ranked the GDBBS as 1st and 9th nationally for graduating African American students from our Ph.D. programs.

Emory has received a Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award for the third consecutive year by “Insight Into Diversity” magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The magazine also named the university a Diversity Champion, a distinction reserved for the top tier of winners. HEED Awards recognize colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The NIH continues to fund the Emory Initiative for Maximize Student Development (IMSD), and this is a reflection of our commitment to increase the diversity of the scientific workforce. The IMSD program focuses on multi-level mentoring, research integrity, and career preparation and planning to foster competitive graduate school and postdoctoral applications.

At Emory, the Laney Graduate School and the Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, diversity and community are fundamental to our commitment to graduate education that provides students with deep expertise in their chosen fields, creativity to cross disciplinary boundaries, and courage to take on the most important and complex problems of our time. We strive to create and strengthen an inclusive, respectful, and intellectually challenging environment that embraces individual difference. We are committed to proactively cultivating and sustaining an academic community that engages diverse intellectual capacity and that values open dialogue, cooperation, shared responsibility, mutual respect, and cultural competence — the driving forces that enrich and enhance innovative research and scholarship.

If you are interested in obtaining a fee waiver, consult LGS Application Fee Waivers page. You can also contact Kathy Smith for more information at kathy.smith@emory.edu.

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Our Comprehensive Pipeline

Emory College is committed to valuing difference and ensuring that the students, faculty, staff, and administrators are diverse in ethnicity, gender, religion, philosophy, sexual orientation, and physical ability. At the same time, we are unified in the goal of achieving academic excellence and preparing for life and work in a global society.

The LGS-SOAR Program at Emory allows undergraduate students to conduct supervised research with a faculty mentor. Students receive training in the research methods applicable to their research plan, analyze their data and create written and oral presentations of their results. At the end of the summer, each participant takes part in a formal research symposium.

The Graduate School offers four types of highly competitive fellowships for biomedical science students: the Woodruff Fellowship, the Centennial Scholars Fellowship (CS), the Laney Graduate School Fellowship (LGSF), and the IMSD Fellowship. These programs supplement the standard graduate fellowships offered to all students.