Hinton is the fourth student to be selected from Elon for this honor in the past two years.
Samantha Hinton ’25 has been selected for the National Institutes of Health Undergraduate Scholar Program. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Undergraduate Scholarship Program (UGSP) offers competitive scholarships to undergraduate students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are committed to careers in biomedical, behavioral and social science health-related research.
The program provides up to $20,000 per academic year in tuition, educational expenses and reasonable living expenses to scholarship recipients, and it can be renewed for up to four years. Scholars will spend ten weeks during the summer following each year of academic support working in an NIH research laboratory. After graduation, they will spend one year for every year of support as a full-time employee conducting research at NIH.
Elon students have been remarkably successful in this competition in recent years. Last year, three seniors—Genesis Tolbert ’24, Christopher D’Inzeo ’24 and Samuel Ramirez ’24—were selected as scholarship program recipients.
As an Elon College Fellow with a double major in public health and political science, Samantha Hinton discovered a passion for health-related research with real-world applications during her time at Elon. She applied for and received the Lumen Prize in her sophomore year to fund her two-year project studying the impacts of immigration enforcement on Latinx healthcare utilization in Alamance County, which both inspired and prepared her to apply for the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program.
Molly Green, assistant professor of public health studies and Hinton’s research mentor, is confident that this experience will allow Hinton to continue the important work she began at Elon.
“Samantha is a truly exceptional student who has been a joy to work with,” said Green. “From the moment we started working together to plan her Lumen project proposal, Samantha has gone above and beyond to understand the material and ensure that her work would be both rigorous and meaningful to the community. Getting awarded the very prestigious NIH Undergraduate Scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for Samantha to further her public health training. I know she’ll gain invaluable experience working at NIH after she graduates from Elon and cannot wait to see where this opportunity continues to take her.”
In addition to her Lumen project, Hinton’s semester abroad helped prepare her to receive the NIH UGSP.
“My study abroad experience in Peru was a lifechanging experience,” said Hinton. “While there, I had a chance to conduct a secondary research project, investigating the use of traditional medicine and birthing practices in the Peruvian Amazon. This experience further solidified my interest in health research and gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in another culture!”
In the future, after her time with the NIH, Hinton plans to earn a doctorate in health behavior or medical anthropology with the hopes of becoming a professor.
The 2025 application for the NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program is now open! Interested students should contact the National and International Fellowships Office for support with the application process soon, or to learn about other nationally competitive awards, as soon as possible.