Training Opportunities
Gain hands-on experience in aging research at a Harvard Medical School affiliate.
The Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research has a long history of training talented new investigators in the field of aging. Our trainees have gone on to conduct their own cutting-edge research within the Marcus Institute and beyond. To this day, we continue to cultivate a pipeline of forward-thinking researchers in the field of aging who will continue to transform health and aging worldwide.
As one of the largest gerontological research facilities in the U.S., and an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, you’ll have access to the resources you need to succeed while at the Marcus Institute. You will learn from and work alongside Harvard Medical School-appointed faculty who are experts in geriatrics, gerontology, epidemiology, biostatistics, and social and clinical research.
Our faculty is deeply committed to mentoring young researchers. They encourage innovative pilot work and enhance methodologic expertise to facilitate cutting-edge research throughout the Institute. While here, you’ll gain hands-on experience, learn how to design a study, successfully seek grant funding, write grant proposals, and much more.
Post-Doctoral Training
The Marcus Institute offers young scientists unparalleled mentorship and research opportunities in gerontological research. Post-doctoral fellows benefit from our strong partnerships with many of the Boston area's leading academic institutions, including Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
We are home to the Harvard Translational Research in Aging Training Program, a two-year T32 training program sponsored by the National Institute on Aging.
For information on other postdoctoral fellowship and career opportunities, please view our current job postings.
Contact us for more general information about training opportunities.
Training Opportunities at the Marcus Institute
Three Postdoctoral positions are available on our NIA funded Institutional Research Training Grant titled, “Harvard Translational Research in Aging Training Program”.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents at the time of application.
Award recipients may be eligible to apply for the NIH Loan Repayment Program. Additional information regarding this program can be found at: https://www.lrp.nih.gov/
This funding supports salary, fringe, mentored research activities, coursework, seminars and up to $2,500 to defray childcare costs.
Areas of research include the following:
- Mechanisms and preventive interventions for falls and mobility impairments (e.g. transcranial direct current stimulation, devices, and senolytic drugs) (Manor, Lipsitz)
- Gait and balance (Manor, Lipsitz)
- Vascular aging and blood pressure regulation including cerebrovascular pathophysiology and imaging (Lipsitz, Manor)
- Epidemiology, omics/bioinformatics, microbiome, imaging, biomechanics, and nutritional aspects of bone, joint, and muscle (Kiel, Samelson, Sahni, Berry, Yau, Bouxsein)
- Spinal degeneration, osteoarthritis, disc disease, hyperkyphosis, vertebral fracture (Samelson)
- Vascular aging and the skeleton (Samelson)
- Pharmacoepidemiology and trials in long term care (Berry)
- Frailty and outcomes of drug therapy, surgical procedure, and health services (Kim)
- Palliative Care / Health Policy / Shared Decision Making (Mitchell, Ritchie)
- Delirium measurement, pathophysiology, and interventions (Inouye, Marcantonio, Vasunilashorn)
- Diseases in older Adults: Dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, Diabetes, Parkinson’s, Cardiovascular Disease, Osteoarthritis, Osteoporosis (Lipsitz, Pascual-Leone, Samelson, Manor, Kiel, Sahni, Berry, Yau, Hyman, Goldstein)
- Biology of Aging (Sinclair, Lipsitz, Kiel)
- Data science and software development as applied to observational and interventional science in aging (Travison)
- Integrative therapies for older adults (Wayne)
Applications require a mentor.
For those without a mentor and/or a clearly defined project, please send a letter of intent so we can help match you to a mentor who can help you define a research project.
If you already have a mentor or are a third year applicant, a letter of intent is not required.
- Letters of intent are due Friday, November 15, 2024 at 5pm. Letters should include:
- Area of interest and potential project title
- CV or NIH Biosketch
- Expected start date between 5/1/25-09/30/25.
- Name of mentor or lab within the HMS community (include affiliated hospitals) that you are interested in working with (feel free to go to the Harvard Catalyst website for further information)
- Letter of Intent guidelines
- Final applications are due Friday March 14, 2025 at 5pm.
- Application guidelines
- Application cover sheet
The Harvard Translational Research in Aging Postdoctoral T32 Training Program is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging. The goal of the program is to provide highly qualified MD or PhD fellows with outstanding geriatric basic science, clinical, and health care training, under the mentorship of experienced investigators in geriatric medicine and gerontology. Trainees are appointed as research fellows through Harvard Medical School and have access to resources and expertise through the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents at the time of application.
T32 Logic Model
Our program and its ongoing evaluation and quality improvement is guided by a Logic Model that sets forth program objectives, activities to achieve them, and expected outcomes.
Programs for Trainees
Trainees will have the opportunity to participate in the following programs:
Advanced Aging Research Training Seminar Series (AARTSS)
The main objective of AARTSS is to provide practical instruction to trainees conducting aging-related research at the Marcus Institute, the Division of Gerontology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Harvard Multicampus Geriatric Medicine Fellowship program, and throughout the Harvard Medical School community.
Both faculty and participants represent a diversity of research areas that include biological, physiological, patient-oriented, and epidemiologic research. Thus, another goal of AARTSS is to provide a venue for cross-fertilization of ideas among investigators conducting aging-related research in various disciplines.
AARTSS also helps trainees develop skills in communicating across multiple disciplines and use multidisciplinary perspectives and tools to design and conduct translational research.
View a sample AARTS curriculum.
Geriatric Interdisciplinary Grand Rounds
The Geriatric Interdisciplinary Grand Rounds lectures cover a broad range of timely and clinically important topics. Speakers are drawn from the Marcus Institute, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and other regional and national institutions.
Harvard Catalyst Courses
Harvard Catalyst offers numerous online and in-person courses, as well as training programs ranging from short programs that provide an overview of clinical and translational research to multi-year, advanced programs for senior fellows and faculty members.
For more information please contact T32IFAR@hsl.harvard.edu
Marcus Institute faculty provide summer research experiences for medical and predoctoral students by partnering with the National MSTAR Program and the Greater Boston T32 MSTAR Scholars Program at Harvard Medical School.
Internships at the Marcus Institute introduce students to clinical and translational research. By observing and participating in our current projects, students gain important practical experience.
Students interested in pursuing an internship should contact the faculty member whose work is of interest and determine if there is a suitable mentoring opportunity available.
Equal Opportunity Employer
We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions or any other characteristic protected by law.