Postdoctoral Training

The Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University considers post-doctoral training to be one of its core missions. We host individuals from throughout the world who come with either an M.D., a Ph.D. or both. Although most arrange for fellowship support from outside agencies, we do have a NIH Training Grant in "Host-Pathogen Interaction" which supports a small number of individuals each year. These latter positions are limited to U.S. citizens and U.S. Permanent Residents ("resident aliens" or "Green-Card-holders") and we especially welcome applications from under-represented minorities.

In addition to the outstanding, highly collaborative research environment, post-doctoral fellows receive advanced training as managers since virtually all will end up in positions of significant responsibility, be it in academia, industry or the government sector. This training is provided by a 3 month course that meets weekly and covers the topics such as: “Taking a Scientific Approach to Teaching Science”, “Getting Funding and How to Write a Grant”, “Understanding Technology Transfers”, “Obtaining and Negotiating a Faculty Position”, “Getting Published”, “Starting Up Your Lab”, “Negotiation Skills”, and “Mentoring for Academic Science and Beyond”.  The course runs from mid-January through mid-March and is modeled on the Burroughs Wellcome Fund/HHMI mentoring course for post-docs (“Making the Right Moves”) which we use as supplemental reading for the course).

Persons interested in post-doctoral positions should contact the faculty member whose work most closely matches their own interests. There is no formal date for applications which are considered on their individual merits upon receipt. In most cases, however, application should be made at least one year in advance as space is often very limited.