Open Postdoctoral position, faculty mentor VJ Periyakoil

Stanford Departments and Centers: Stanford Medicine Center for Longevity and Healthy Aging

Group or Departmental Website:  https://aging.stanford.edu

Questions about the position may be directed to Dr. VJ Periyakoil at periyakoil@stanford.edu.

About Our Center

Stanford Medicine's Center for Longevity and Healthy Aging is funded by the National Institutes of Health and directed by Dr. VJ Periyakoil. Our mission is to extend healthspan and the joyspan to improve the aging experience for all Americans.

Our work rests on a straightforward premise: waiting until age 65 to think seriously about longevity, quality of life, and chronic disease prevention is a recipe for failure. The behaviors, exposures, and social conditions that shape how we age are established in youth and midlife. The Center therefore takes a lifecourse approach to aging research, and works to discover, implement, and evaluate innovative ways of changing the aging experience for everyone.

Research Areas

The Center hosts an active, interdisciplinary portfolio. Current and emerging areas of work include:

• Life-course and translational aging research, including integration of aging science across the Stanford Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) program
• Community engaged research and multicultural aging
• Serious illness care and palliative care
• Ethical, legal, and social implications of aging, longevity science, and emerging longevity interventions
• Digital health, artificial intelligence, and data science applications to healthy aging and caregiving

Our Research Community

The fellow will join an interdisciplinary consortium that brings together investigators from across Stanford University including the Schools of Medicine, Humanities and Sciences, Engineering, Education, Law, Earth Sciences, and the Graduate School of Business together with colleagues at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and affiliated institutions. This breadth means our fellows can routinely build collaborations that would be difficult to assemble anywhere else.

Position Description

The Center for Longevity and Healthy Aging at Stanford University School of Medicine invites applications for a postdoctoral fellowship position.

The postdoctoral fellow will conduct independent research on questions arising from aging and serious illness, with close mentorship from program faculty. The fellow will be part of an interdisciplinary community of faculty, staff, and is expected to gain practical experience in professional activities through our palliative care, geriatrics, long-term care, and geropsychiatry programs.

What the Fellowship Offers

• Individualized mentorship. Each fellow works with faculty to build a tailored curriculum, research plan, and career strategy, documented in an Individual Development Plan and reviewed regularly.
• Access to Stanford coursework. 
• Protected research time and a clear path to first authorship. All trainees are expected to present their work in scholarly venues, and fellowship funds support travel to one national meeting per year.
• Grant writing and career development support. Fellows receive structured guidance on NIH funding mechanisms and preparation of career development (K-series) applications, with access to Stanford CTSA and K12 program resources.
• Clinical and community immersion. Opportunities to engage with patients, families, caregivers, and community partners through our clinical and community-facing programs.

Who Should Apply

We welcome applicants from medicine, nursing, public health, psychology, sociology, health services research, health policy, bioethics, biostatistics, data science, and related fields. Candidates who bring quantitative or qualitative methods training or multilingual capability are particularly encouraged to apply.

Appointment Terms

• Application deadline: Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. The ideal start date is September 1, 2026, though a start as late as January 2027 can be accommodated.
• Vaccination: In accordance with Stanford University's vaccination policy, all postdocs must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless granted a medical or religious accommodation by the University.
• Work arrangements: Although some work can be accomplished remotely, it is the Center's policy that postdoctoral fellows be available to work in person, including for teaching and attending classes, as University policy allows.