Important Dates

Application Deadline: 
Monday, June 24, 2024

Application Materials

Application Link(s): 
Click here for current application

 

  • Notification to Applicants for Interviews: August 2024
  • Interviews: Wednesday, July 31, 2024
  • Award Start Date: September 1, 2024 (Start date cannot be changed.)
  • Funding Period: September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025, renewable annually through August 2027
  • Funding Level: $82,000/year
  • Notification of Awards: August 2024
  • Direct questions to kanza@stanford.edu

 

For information about the legacy of  Walter V. and Idun Berry, please click here. 

In establishing the fellowships, the Berrys' goal was "...to benefit humanity through advancing and expanding the understanding of children's health and disease in both the clinical and basic medical sciences." That goal is supported through the Berry Foundation's generous, ongoing gift to the School of Medicine to support this fellowship. The fellowships aims "...to enhance research which utilizes the most advanced technologies and methodologies available to improve the health and wellness of children, including the latest opportunities in molecular and genetic medicine." 

The Berrys wanted to support hardworking and talented individuals eager for the challenge of improvement of children's health at any stage -- basic, translational, or clinical research. The fields from which fellows may be selected include, but are not limited to, developmental biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, neurobiology, neurology, neonatalmedicine, genetics, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and dermatology. The committee holds one selection meeting per year, in addition to regular quarterly luncheons with fellows. 

Applications are accepted from individuals interested in pursuing post-residency or postdoctoral training in the clinical or basic medical sciences aimed at advancing and expanding understanding of children's health and disease as defined in the broadest sense, under the mentorship of a faculty member at the SoM.

Applications that do not meet the guidelines are not reviewed. Scholars are expected to make sure they meet all eligibility criteria and follow application procedures. 

Eligibility

Eligibility requirements: 
  • Applicants must be postdocs at the SoM at the time the award begins. If applicant is not a postdoc at the time of the deadline, additional documents are required. Instructors and Research Associates are ineligible.
  • Applicants must hold an MD, PhD, and/or a DVM/VMD degree(s); preference given to physician scientists. 
  • The faculty mentor/sponsor must be appointed in the SoM. Acting, consulting, and courtesy appointees ineligible. 
  • Foreign scholars may have J-1 or F-1 OPT (receiving stipends), or H1B visas (receiving the award as salary). Citizenship is not a selection factor. 
  • Applicants must be available for interviews on the date listed on this page. 
 
Additional Application Guidelines:
 
  • Faculty members may not have more than one funded Berry Fellow at a time.
  • Faculty members may not serve as mentor/sponsor on more than one fellowship application per cycle. 
  • Funding is restricted to support investigative activities that are focused on an area relevant to children's health and disease, and that are conducted under the direction of Stanford SoM faculty. 
  • If the Postdoc has other fellowships, or has applied to fellowships that may be awarded during the Berry Fellowship award period, full disclosure of the names, amounts, and dates of the other award(s) must appear in the application. 
  • Previous applicants may reapply. 

Application

Application Process: 
 
  • Complete application (application visible only when application period is open)
  • NIH Biosketch
  • Research Proposal: Two page limit, including tables, figures, and references. Proposal is written by the Postdoc and reviewed by the faculty sponsor. Proposals include brief statements of proposed investigation (up to a 3-year project) in the following sections: Background, Goals, Hypothesis, and Experimental Methods. Use 1-inch margins and 12-point Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana. Include title of project and your name on both numbered pages.
  • Three recommendation letters: one from the sponsoring Faculty Mentor at Stanford, and two additional letters. Letters are due the same day as the application, so request letters at the beginning of the application process via the online application.

Applications are due by 11:59 PM PST on the application deadline.

Selection Process: 
The committee reviews applications based on:
 
  • Qualifications.
  • Scientific merit of the proposal. 
  • Relevance of proposal to science and children’s health.
  • Applicant’s career path, academic focus, and progress to date. If considerable time has elapsed since the doctoral degree, and that time was not spent engaged in research or clinical residency, describe how the time was spent. 
  • Interview. 
  • Number of years of postdoctoral research training since latest doctoral degree, with preference to applicants in the first two years of their post-residency or postdoctoral training.

Additional Information

Program Requirements: 

Fellows must:

  • Acknowledge the Berry Fellowship as a source of support in all presentations and publications related to the work during the Fellowship period.
  • Attend quarterly Berry Fellowship luncheons, events honoring award recipients, and participate in annual donor events.
  • Submit annual progress reports.  
 
Funding Requirements and Guidelines:
 
The Fellowship provides support in annual salary and insurance. Supplemental support to awardees must be pre-approved by the committee.
 
Funding is guaranteed for the first year of a three-year period. Funding for years two and three is pledged but not guaranteed by the SoM or the Berry Foundation. Satisfactory research progress is necessary for release of pledged funding after year one. 
 
The Fellowship is intended to provide full support to the scholars rather than add to existing support. Supplemental support to awardees must be pre-approved by the committee. Supplemental support is allowed in cases of scholars emerging from residency or other clinical training programs who are subject to the PGY levels, per department or SoM policy. 
 
In accepting this award, the postdoc's department is responsible for adhering to the funding requirements and guidelines. If guidelines are not met, the postdoc may have to return all or part of the fellowship, if any:
  • overspending occurs, or 
  • incorrect expenditure code(s) are used, or 
  • falsified or misrepresented information is later determined that effects eligibility. 
 
Other Concurrent Fellowship Support and Combination of Awards:
 
If another fellowship award is received, the Fellow and/or faculty sponsor must notify OPA. If the two awards combined do not exceed the total support committed to the scholar as part of the terms of appointment, the Berry Fellowship may be retained. If the two awards combined exceed the agreed-upon support for the scholar at the time of reviewing the Berry application, the Berry Fellowship award is adjusted accordingly, up to a complete forfeiture of the award. If an outside award or other funding is used that exceeds the research or PGY pay levels, the Berry Fellowship must be declined.
 
FAQs
 
I know there's a two-page limit, but can I put my references on a third page?  No. If you include references, they must be on the two pages you're allowed.