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The Daniel Healthcare Career Fund

With a generous contribution from Tom Daniel, the Daniel Healthcare Career Fund (DHCF) has been established to assist students who are ardently pursuing a career in healthcare. Understanding the monetary challenges often associated with unpaid clinical experiences, the DHCF offers financial backing to those dedicated to the healthcare realm but in need of support. Whether engaging in brief clinical encounters or lengthier internships, Tom Daniel's vision through the DHCF is to ensure that financial barriers don't stand in the way of your journey to a rewarding healthcare profession.

The DHCF funding supports various opportunities for engagement in career development in healthcare. The fund is divided into three categories, each with specific requirements, application guide, and award amounts.

Award Amounts:

Summer Internship or Research: Up to $5,100 per year

Short-term Clinical Experiences (STCEs): Up to $1,000 per year

Professional Attire & Tools: Up to $500 per year

Award Deadlines:

Summer Internship or Research: Accepting applications through the Summer Internship Awards application on a rolling basis beginning in mid-March each year.

Short-term Clinical Experiences (STCEs): Accepting applications on a rolling basis through July 12th, 2026.

Professional Attire & Tools: Accepting applications on a rolling basis through the Career Advancement Fund through July 12th, 2026.

Summer Internships or Research

Award Description

The Summer Internships or Research category is intended to support students partaking in summer internships and clinical research opportunities at research and healthcare facilities with little to no payment. These opportunities offer invaluable hands-on experience in the healthcare arena. Funds aim to cover living expenses, transportation, food costs, attire and supplies needed for the opportunity, and other associated costs.

Eligible Opportunities

To be eligible for funding, the internship or research

  • must include at least 320 hours of work over 8–10 weeks in the summer between May 15th and August 30th 2026 (though the work can start earlier, or end later),
  • must be off-campus (the opportunity cannot be with 91ÁÔÆæ),
  • must be unpaid or underpaid,
  • must be with a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization or in the public sector (unpaid internships with for-profit or other types of organizations may be funded if the application demonstrates that they meet ),
  • can be in-person or remote.

Applications for support with for-profit/private sector businesses or individuals are generally not funded unless the application demonstrates that the internship/research will comply with the guidance (linked above) from the Department of Labor. Applications for support with for-profit businesses or individuals must address this guidance in the application.

Eligibility

At the time of application, applicants must

  • be currently enrolled at Reed;
  • be a first year, sophomore, junior, or spring/fall senior who plans to be enrolled at Reed this fall;
  • have already been offered an internship or clinical research opportunity.

Students studying abroad through a college approved program are considered to be currently enrolled at Reed for the purposes of this program and are eligible to apply. Students who are on leave in spring semester are not eligible to apply.

Students are encouraged to apply to multiple funds, but students may not accept this award in addition to another 91ÁÔÆæ-funded summer award intended to fund a full time opportunity over the summer.

Award Amount

Award amounts will be up to $5,100.

Application Instructions

Applications in the Summer Internships or Research category of the The Daniel Healthcare Career Fund will be accepted through the Summer Internship Awards application for summer 2026. Please see the Summer Internship Awards website for instructions on how to apply.

Summer Internship Awards

Short-term Clinical Experiences (STCE)

Feb 6th, 2026 update: This application is currently being updated for spring 2026 and will open soon. Applications will be accepted in Handshake Experiences once the application opens.

Award Description

STCE encompasses brief but impactful encounters in healthcare, from one-day engagements to those spanning several weeks, including shadowing professionals, attending workshops, or volunteering with a healthcare organization. Funding for these opportunities ensures that financial hurdles do not prevent students from gaining crucial practical insights, skills, and networking opportunities.

Covered expenses include travel, transportation, meals, professional attire, and essential tools for the role. A detailed budget form is expected with the application. 

Award Amount

Maximum allowance for an experience depends on the duration: 
  • One-day (one-time shadowing experience, workshop, etc.): Up to $100
  • 1-10 Weeks (volunteering, shadowing, etc.): Up to $500
  • 10+ Weeks (year-long volunteering commitment): Up to $1000

Requests over those limits need to be supported by a detailed budget form and explanation for the expenses.

The maximum yearly allowance per student is $1,000.

Application Deadline

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the academic year and must be received in Handshake by Sunday night at midnight for the application to be considered at the next committee meeting (that Monday or Tuesday).

Eligibility

Currently enrolled Reed students are eligible to apply.

Funding

Applicants may receive a maximum of $1000 from the DHCF STCE Fund per academic year. You may apply more than once if you have not yet reached the $1000 limit. Funding requests will be reviewed by CLBR staff and your experience supervisor and, if approved, may be fully or partially fulfilled depending on the applicant’s financial need, strength of application materials, and availability of funds. All approved funding requests will be paid through the Business Office as a cash advance. Receipts are required, and unused funds must be returned. Funding for awarded applications can sometimes be received by Friday that week, but often not until the following Friday, so please plan ahead. Holiday weeks can also delay the receipt of funds.

Application Instructions

All applications will be submitted in Handshake Experiences. The application consists of filling out the "Request an Experience" form and then uploading three documents as attachments. These are the three documents to upload: A one-page resume, a cover letter, and a budget. Please include your name and the document type (cover letter, resume, or budget) in the file name and upload all documents as PDFs. You won't be able to upload your documents until after you submit and complete the form.

Please read our FAQ as well. You can also review  on how to request an experience.

"Request an Experience" Form

The experience type you'll select at the top is "The Daniel Healthcare Career Fund (DHCF) 2024-2025." There will be two to three pages included in this form. There are some optional questions at the top of the form; please fill in as much information as you have. You will need to provide the name and email address of your experience supervisor, and they will see your form responses, as well as your attached documents, except for your budget, which will only be seen by CLBR staff. The last question on the form will require you to include a two to three-sentence short summary of your opportunity for potential use in publicity and stewardship materials.

Resume

An up-to-date one-page copy of your resume summarizing any work and volunteer experiences relevant to the opportunity for which you are applying.

Cover Letter

Upload a PDF document of no more than 1,000 words with the following components:

  • One-paragraph introduction that succinctly summarizes your proposed experience and the benefits to you.
  • Description of how this experience fits your career goals in the healthcare field.
  • Description of the mission and purpose of your host organization.
  • Description of the work/project/activities you anticipate doing, as well as a description of your motivation and interest in this area.
  • Summary of the skills, knowledge, or other relevant preparation you will bring to this position.
  • Outline the desired educational outcomes of this experience, how they apply to your goals, and how your experience host will support these outcomes.

Detailed Budget

Upload an itemized budget of your summer expenses and an explanation of how you will cover any expenses that exceed the award amount. Please use our budget template. Refer to our budget FAQ first if you have questions.

Professional Attire & Tools

Award Description

This fund is tailored for students requiring assistance to procure professional attire or essential tools for their healthcare career exploration opportunities. It ensures students can present themselves professionally and confidently.

Applications will be accepted through the Career Advancement Fund, and must follow all guidance on that website.

Note: If applying under the first two categories, expenses related to attire or tools required by the experience should be integrated into those applications, not sought separately here.

Award Amount

Award amounts will be up to $500 per academic year. Students may submit multiple requests until they reach the $500 maximum for the year.

Eligible Expenses

Eligible requests include the funding of professional attire for opportunities to engage in healthcare career experiences, such as shadowing, job interviews, etc., purchase of scrubs, professional shoes, and other tools required to acquire a healthcare opportunity.

Funding must support confirmed opportunities, i.e. we would not fund a student to purchase clothing for an interview that has not been offered. 

Application Deadline

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the academic year and must be received by Sunday night at midnight for the application to be considered at the next committee meeting (that Monday or Tuesday).

Eligibility

Eligible applicants are:

  • currently enrolled full time at Reed (study abroad is okay);
  • undergraduates.

Eligible applicants remain eligible to apply for funding after graduation until the application closes that summer. Students who are on leave are not eligible to apply while they are on leave from the college.

How to Apply

Applications are accepted via the Career Advancement Fund. There is no need to note that you are applying for funding from the DHCF.

Career Advancement Fund