Medical students
Senior students in medicine, biochemistry-related fields, and biomedical engineering, ready for real research and clinical work.
The Med&X Accelerator
Croatian talent, embedded inside the world's leading labs and clinics
An intensive research program — typically held over the summer — that places Croatian medical students, young scientists, and young physicians directly inside specific labs and clinics at world-leading institutions. They return with frontier skills and mentors. Host teams gain motivated researchers and a lasting tie to Croatia.
Host institutions include
Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital Cleveland Clinic Mayo Clinic
What makes it different
World-leading institutions. A different way to experience medicine, and life.
Participants join labs and clinics at institutions like Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, and the Cleveland Clinic, and come away experiencing medicine and life differently, both professionally and personally.
Med&X collaborates with labs and clinics at nine leading institutions around the world, building internship programs for Croatian medical students, young scientists, and young physicians. Each participant works inside a specific department, lab, or clinic, alongside the people doing the research. The benefit runs both ways: participants gain real lab time, durable mentors, and a wider view of the field and of themselves, while host teams gain dedicated researchers and a lasting connection to Croatian biomedicine.
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Real lab and clinic time
Participants join ongoing projects inside a working lab or clinic and contribute directly, mentored one-to-one. They leave with skills, mentors, and a broader sense of the field.
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A two-way bridge
Every internship is a connection. Host teams gain dedicated researchers. Croatia gains people fluent in how the world's best institutions work.
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Lasting collaboration
The summer is a beginning. Several internships have grown into co-authored work, return invitations, and new openings.
18
Participants placed across the 2024–2026 cohorts
9
Leading institutions whose labs and clinics we collaborate with
5
Institutions enrolled for the 2026 cohort
€800–1,000
Co-financing per participant
Ready when you are
Apply to the Med&X Accelerator
Applications open in November. The 2026 cohort is selected; the next call opens here and in the Med&X portal.
Every application goes through the Med&X member portal. You create an account, complete your profile, and submit your documents in one place. Join a program that has sent Croatian students, young scientists, and young physicians into the world's leading labs and clinics, and brought their experience home.
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Documents
Submit your documents through the Med&X portal. We review each application against the published criteria.
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Interview
Shortlisted candidates have a short conversation with the selection committee about goals and fit.
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Decision
Decisions are expected around January. When you leave depends on each host lab or clinic.
What documents do I need?
A short CV, a motivation letter explaining why you want to join and what you hope to work on, and references (for example a professor or mentor who can speak to your work). Some positions ask for a transcript or a brief research summary; each call lists exactly what its roles require, and everything is uploaded in the portal.
What does the interview look like?
A short, friendly conversation with the selection committee, usually online. We talk about your goals, your interests, and which host lab or clinic would be the right fit. It is a discussion, not an exam.
What is the timeline?
Applications open in November. Interviews follow, and decisions are expected around January. Departure timing depends on each host lab or clinic, so the exact dates are confirmed per lab and clinic once you are matched.
Applications are submitted through the Med&X member portal.
01How the bridge gets built
You go, you learn, you bring it home
The point is not a single internship abroad. It is what you carry home, and keep building, for years afterward.
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You go
You travel to a specific lab or clinic at a world-leading institution and join the team, most often over the summer.
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You learn
You absorb methods, mindset, and standards, working shoulder to shoulder with leading scientists and clinicians.
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You bring it home
You come home to Croatian hospitals, universities, and labs, and put what you learned into practice where it is needed.
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You keep building
Your tie to the host team stays open, turning one internship into ongoing collaboration between Croatia and the world.
02Who it's for
Who the Accelerator is built for
Each cohort opens specific positions. Depending on the role, we look for one of three profiles, all holding Croatian citizenship.
Young physicians
Early-career doctors and residents who want frontier methods, new mentors, and a clinical internship that travels home with them.
Young scientists
Graduate researchers and early postdocs who want bench time inside a working lab and a collaboration that keeps running afterward.
Which profile fits depends on the open position, so check the current cohort's roles when applications go live.
How selection works
- Applications open in November, submitted through the Med&X portal against the published criteria.
- Interview. Shortlisted candidates have a short conversation with the selection committee about goals and fit.
- Decisions are expected around January. Departure timing depends on each host lab or clinic.
- Full criteria are published in the program documentation with each call.
Funding that removes the barrier
€800–1,000
Med&X co-finances each selected participant toward the costs of the program. The remaining expenses are the participant's responsibility, and Med&X draws on its experience to connect participants with further sources of support.
Co-financing amount for the 2026 cohort.
03Med&X Accelerator 2026
Meet the 2026 cohort
Six participants, selected for 2026, now heading into summer and fall internships at leading international institutions. They bring fresh questions and clinical perspective to their host teams, and carry skills and collaborations home.
Photos and host internships are added as they are confirmed.
Eva Knežević
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing
Columbia University
Luka Horvat
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Lucija Falamić
University of Osijek, School of Medicine
Mayo Clinic
Dominik Lukičić
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine
Cleveland Clinic
Petra Bolt
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine
Northwestern University
Lara Maria Stričak
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine
Cleveland Clinic
Where our participants are hosted
Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital
Cleveland Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Yale University
Columbia University
King's College London
University of Zürich
Osaka University
Who runs the program
Marija Pranjić, PhD
Program Director, Med&X Accelerator
Neuroscientist, Boston Children's Hospital & Harvard Medical School
Marija leads the Accelerator across the whole journey, from the first question through selection, host matching, travel, and the collaborations that follow. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto and is a board-certified music therapist whose research explores music and the brain. Candidates, host labs, and sponsors can all reach her directly.
“The Accelerator exists to open doors — for talented young people from Croatia to learn from the best in the world, and to bring that knowledge home.” — Marija Pranjić
Alongside her, the program is supported by Alen Juginović, MD and Miro Vuković, MD.
Email Marija04Partner with us
Two ways to shape the next generation
The Accelerator grows through labs and clinics that open their doors and partners who keep it within reach of every talented young person.
Host participants in your lab or clinic
Are you a research lab or clinic at a leading institution that wants to help shape future biomedical leaders? There are no payments to Med&X or to the candidate. What matters is being a great mentor. In return you gain a motivated researcher and a lasting tie to Croatian biomedicine.
Host with usSponsor a fellowship
A month abroad typically costs €3,000–4,000 per person; Med&X co-finances €800–1,000 of it, and a €1,000 sponsorship covers one named fellowship. A fellowship can be named after a person or a company. Every contribution keeps the program open to more participants and free of financial barriers.
Sponsor a fellowshipSee the full tier ladder, or reach us directly at marija.pranjic@medx.hr.
05Accelerator Alumni Network
A growing community, across two continents
Every cohort joins a growing network of Croatian students and young researchers who have taken the Accelerator into leading labs and clinics abroad and brought the experience home.
Portraits are added as participants share them. Full profiles live in the member portal.
Every internship happens because someone gave. Fund the next one.
Fund an internship
Stela Lara Tenšek
Cohort 2025
University of Split, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences → Yale University
Katarina Kordić
Cohort 2025
University of Split, School of Medicine → Cleveland Clinic
Sara Bonet
Cohort 2025
University of Osijek, School of Medicine → Mayo Clinic
Dora Softić
Cohort 2025
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine → Massachusetts General Hospital
Filip Jakov Klisović
Cohort 2025
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine → Cleveland Clinic
Dejana Vujnović
Cohort 2025
University of Rijeka, Faculty of Biotechnology and Drug Development → University of Zürich
Gracia Grabarić
Cohort 2024
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine → King's College London
Karlo Dužević
Cohort 2024
University of Split, School of Medicine → Whitehead Institute
Lucija Skejić
Cohort 2024
University of Split, School of Medicine → Cleveland Clinic
Vinka Potočki
Cohort 2024
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine → King's College London
Marko Gavrančić
Cohort 2024
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine → Massachusetts General Hospital
Matea Bagarić
Cohort 2024
University of Zagreb, School of Medicine → Cleveland Clinic
No alumni match your search yet. Try another name or institution.
06News from the program
Latest from the Accelerator
New application cycles, selection decisions, and stories from our participants abroad.
Applications open for Med&X Accelerator 2026
December 8, 2025 — the 2026 call opened for senior medical, biochemistry-related, and biomedical engineering students.
Meet the 2026 selection committee
February 25, 2026 — the committee guiding this year's two-phase review of candidates.
Final selection decisions announced
March 6, 2026 — the selected participants and the institutions hosting them.