ALT The goal of the UMass Chan Early Independence Fellows Program is to recruit clusters of exceptionally talented junior scientists with the potential to become independent investigators at UMass Chan Medical School, and to provide them with career development, mentoring, and financial support to foster their scientific excellence and leadership. In recognition of diversity as a driver of innovation and scientific impact, we are committed to building and sustaining an inclusive environment with talented individuals from all backgrounds, including backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine and the biomedical sciences, who embrace diversity, equity and inclusion in line with our institutional goals (IMPACT 2025). Candidate evaluations will consider the unique scientific contributions of the candidate as well as leadership and resilience qualities the candidate brings to the program.