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Table 49. Postdoctoral appointees in science, engineering, and health in all institutions, by type of doctoral degree, primary mechanism of support, and field: 2015

Type of doctoral degree and primary mechanism of support All science, engineering, and health Science and engineering Health
Total Science Engineering Total Clinical medicinea Other health
All degree types 63,861 45,295 37,639 7,656 18,566 15,850 2,716
Fellowships 6,286 4,079 3,555 524 2,207 1,854 353
Research grants 39,811 30,742 24,996 5,746 9,069 7,583 1,486
Traineeships 3,884 1,873 1,762 111 2,011 1,796 215
Other support 13,880 8,601 7,326 1,275 5,279 4,617 662
Doctoral degreeb 45,001 34,062 28,333 5,729 10,939 9,409 1,530
Fellowships 3,708 2,760 2,464 296 948 826 122
Research grants 29,714 23,486 19,119 4,367 6,228 5,287 941
Traineeships 2,490 1,440 1,361 79 1,050 927 123
Other support 9,089 6,376 5,389 987 2,713 2,369 344
Professional degreeb 4,210 846 799 47 3,364 3,114 250
Fellowships 877 94 89 5 783 724 59
Research grants 1,224 456 422 34 768 692 76
Traineeships 593 69 69 0 524 483 41
Other support 1,516 227 219 8 1,289 1,215 74
Dual degreeb 1,056 295 273 22 761 691 70
Fellowships 138 26 23 3 112 102 10
Research grants 437 145 134 11 292 244 48
Traineeships 98 18 16 2 80 77 3
Other support 383 106 100 6 277 268 9
Doctoral degree type unknown 13,594 10,092 8,234 1,858 3,502 2,636 866
Fellowships 1,563 1,199 979 220 364 202 162
Research grants 8,436 6,655 5,321 1,334 1,781 1,360 421
Traineeships 703 346 316 30 357 309 48
Other support 2,892 1,892 1,618 274 1,000 765 235
a Clinical medicine includes postdoctoral appointees (postdocs) in anesthesiology; cardiology; endocrinology; gastroenterology; hematology; neurology; obstetrics and gynecology; oncology and cancer research; ophthalmology; otorhinolaryngology; pediatrics; preventive medicine and community health; psychiatry; pulmonary disease; radiology; surgery; and clinical medicine, not elsewhere classified.
b Doctoral degree includes PhD, ScD, DEng, etc.; professional degree includes MD, DVM, DO, DDS, etc.; dual degree includes both professional and doctoral degrees (MD-PhD, DVM-PhD, etc.).
NOTE: "Field" refers to the field of the unit that reports postdocs to the Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 2015.