Dear Colleagues,

Through a Johns Hopkins University endowment established in 1960 in memory of Judge and Mrs. Samuel Jordon Graham, the fund supports fundamental research conducted jointly in the Schools of Public Health and Medicine. For 2023, the fund will support two post-doctoral fellows (PDF) working on foundational or translational research integrating perspectives from both medicine and public health.

The Schools of Public Health and Medicine at Johns Hopkins represent global leaders in biomedical and public health research with faculty expertise spanning a broad range of disciplines. Tackling complex health and disease problems requires integrating deep fundamental knowledge with innovative problem-solving approaches. As such, an interdisciplinary team science approach holds promise for accelerating the translation of innovative foundational science towards real-world clinical or public health applications. The premise in support of this award is that co-mentoring early-stage investigators with the integration of public health and medical perspectives will expand the candidate’s training experiences and increase the likelihood of a career trajectory with translational impact. Further, mentoring is bidirectional, and faculty experts engaged in mentoring trainees whose work incorporates complementary perspectives may additionally expand the faculty’s research activity.

Key Features:

• The postdoctoral fellow will be required to have a primary fellowship appointment in one of the 10 departments in the Bloomberg School of Public Health (BSPH).

• Co-mentorship of the postdoctoral fellow by a faculty member from BSPH and the School of Medicine is required. Identified mentors are not required to have previously worked with applicants. The formation of new research partnerships between co-mentors would be considered favorably by the review committee.

• Provides up to $50,000, which can be used at the awardee’s discretion for salary, health care fees, or research-related expenses. Recipients of the award will not be considered for renewal or reapplication for a new fellowship. However, recognizing that the projects and training proposed may take longer than one-year duration, the allocated funds may be spent over a two-year period.  

Eligibility:

• Highly talented and motivated postdoctoral fellows with interest in foundational or translational research integrating both medical and public health perspectives are encouraged to apply. We encourage applicants from diverse educational and underrepresented backgrounds to apply.

• Candidates are not required to have a current postdoctoral position at Johns Hopkins University but will be required to be eligible for and able to initiate an official postdoctoral fellow position by September 1, 2023. Both MD and foreign postdocs are eligible to apply.

• The department of the mentor’s primary appointment will be considered in determining eligibility; jointly appointed faculty will be considered as representative from their primary rather than jointly affiliated department. Non-tenure track faculty in either BSPH or SOM are eligible to serve as mentors as long as these research individuals have the requisite expertise to substantively contribute to the research and mentoring program.

Application instructions are below. Applications should be submitted via email to: BSPH.research@jhu.edu by 5 p.m. ET on March 17, 2023.

Applications will be reviewed by a committee of faculty from both Schools. Selected applicants will be informed in May 2023, with an expected start date by September 1, 2023.

We look forward to supporting outstanding postdoctoral fellows in collaborative research with this new award.

Best, Greg

Gregory D. Kirk, MD, PhD ’03, MPH ’95
Vice Dean for Research
Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine & Oncology
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health