The fellowship was started by late Dr. WG Rama Rao who himself used to travel to different institutions especially interacting with the post-graduates to make them feel comfortable with the subjects, teaching them and preparing them for examinations. For his love of teaching the post-graduates, he donated a huge sum to the association to enable the young physiatrists to have a feel of other institutions of PMR in different parts of India. The sum is kept in a fixed deposit in the bank by the association. The interest incurred is used to fund the fellowship.

This fellowship is awarded to one member of IAPMR each year. Members of IAPMR interested to avail of the fellowship should apply to the Secretary IAPMR on the prescribed application form. Scrutinized is done by the Academic Committee and ECM.

The traveling fellow is expected to visit different institutions of PMR in India with a minimum of three institutions. The fellow is expected to exchange information by way of presenting what he or his institution is doing and also visit the institution and partake in their teaching and clinical activities. There is no maximum limit to the number of institutions to be visited. The time to be taken for fellowship depends on the travel time but most of the travel fellows have been found to spend about 10-15 days doing so with 2-3 days at an institution.

The fellowship amount is about Rs 10,000/- which partially covers economic travel and accommodation but is handsome enough to give an opportunity to gain experience of what others are doing rather than being a frog in a well. We salute Dr. Rama Rao for this great gesture.