Appointing Postdoctoral Scholars
To help you organize your appointment packages and learn which forms are needed and for which offices, we have a comprehensive Postdoctoral Scholar Appointment Checklist that you can print and use. Many fellowship coodinators attach a copy to the appointment package. Use this form to track the progress of your appointment package.
Below are the necessary forms to manage the initial admission and registration of a new postdoctoral appointment. These forms require that you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Please see the Forms Help page for more information.
An admissions package consists of the items listed below. The required items make-up an "Appointment Package" and are the minimum requirements to admit a new scholar. Postdoctoral Services asks that only complete Appointment Packages be submitted. Every form necessary to complete an appointment is available on this page by clicking on the underlined form.
The California Medical License for M.D. appointments with patient care is required. The department can use the web site www.medbd.ca.gov to search for a current, valid California license if the scholar does not yet have a copy of his/her license.
Special Note: It is Stanford policy to appoint postdoctoral fellows 100% FTE. Less than a 100% appointment requires pre-approval by the Associate Dean from the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
- Appointment packets should be received no later than 30 days prior to the appointment start date.
- PDF scans sent to our central mailbox ( ) is our preferred method of receiving all documents, including appointment packets.
Required Items for a "Complete Appointment Package" include the following:
Offer Letter
Department
Recommendation Form 
Information
Sheet for Postdoctoral Scholars must be completed in full,
signed and dated by the fellow. The original should be submitted
to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs and a copy kept in Department files.
Proof
of Degree (additional details below)
1. |
Sample Thesis Acceptance (Letter 1) |
2. |
Sample Degree Conferral (Letter 2) |
Proof
of Outside Support must be provided when the fellow is
not being paid through Stanford. No
support by personal or family funds is allowed.
CV
(also known as a resume)
MD/Patient
Care Contact Sheet - a three-part form.
Page 1 is completed by the sponsoring faculty member for all
fellows whether or not they have patient contact. It must be signed by both the fellow and the sponsoring faculty member. The third page,
an Immunization Record, is required for all MD's with any patient care or trainees working in clinical areas, excluding Clinical Psychologists. The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs forwards all Medical Fellow appointments to the Office of Graduate Medical Education (GME) for review and approval, without exception, and must receive page 3 fully completed along with the Patient Care information sheet. Fellows who will be billing for services will need the Agreement for Services and Billing Paragraph added to the appointment package and must separately contact the Hospital Credentials Office for applicable Billing Privileges and Policies. For trainees with approved Billing Privileges, the Billing Paragraph must be inserted in the offer letter.
The Offer Letter is the single most important document for both the postdoctoral scholar and the faculty sponsor. This document is an agreement signed by both the sponsoring faculty member and the postdoctoral scholar. A template is available for your use. The offer letter must follow the template and include:
The offer letter must enclose a print out of the Terms and Conditions of Offer.
Please address all points listed above and refer to monetary support as either "support" or "stipend". A scholar is not a "salaried" employee since s/he is a student, even though some support is generated through payroll.
A copy of the scholar's diploma (English translation attached to original) is required. If the scholar has more than one doctoral degree (i.e., M.D. and Ph.D.), the diploma pertinent to research study is necessary for admission as a scholar; copies of both are preferred.
In some instances a scholar may not yet have their final degree conferred, but has completed all the requirements for a doctoral degree. In these cases a letter may be accepted from the scholar's institution (Registrar's Office or equivalent is required) stating the date the scholar completed ALL the requirements, including submission and acceptance, defense of thesis, and the date the degree is to be conferred. We still need to receive a copy of the diploma when it is available.
Graduates of Stanford University also need to submit a diploma or letter of completion.
Sample Degree Letters:
In the event the scholar is not supported and paid through Stanford (salary or stipend) then proof of the scholar receiving outside support is required to complete the admission process. This proof allows for proper tracking of the scholar's support while at Stanford. Typical examples of this type of support is the home country government, educational institution, Stanford Hospital (SUH), Palo Alto Veterans’ Administration Medicine Center (PAVAMC), fellowship paid directly to the scholar, etc.
This proof is normally a copy of a letter from the sponsoring institution; an English translation must be included, if appropriate. The letter must include the begin and end dates of support, the amount of the support and the name of the institution or fellowship which is supporting the fellowship training while at Stanford. Exchange rates can be easily retrieved from the Oanda currency converter.
It is important to send the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs proof of all extensions of outside support as the postdoc's training is extended. Please monitor your scholars on outside support closely so their registration and tuition can be maintained during their fellowship training.
No support by personal or family funds is allowed. The total annual pay to the scholar, from all sources, must meet a minimum level based on years of research experience. The levels are listed at http://postdocs.stanford.edu/handbook/salary.html.
The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs Office must receive copies of visa documents. Due to SEVIS requirements, we must maintain up-to-date visa information. No appointment will be processed without the necessary forms.
If you are having problems printing any forms from our web site
you may need to install Adobe
Acrobat Reader version 5.0. or higher. Please see the Forms
Help page for more information.