Stanford-AHRQ Health Services Research Training Program

Stanford-AHRQ Health Services Research Training Program

Program Co-Directors:

Laurence Baker, PhD, MA, Professor of Medicine, Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, and Core Faculty Member for Health Policy/Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research

Douglas K. Owens, MD, MS, Chair of the Department of Health Policy, Associate Director, Center for Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i) at Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) and by courtesy, of Health Research and Policy, and Director of the Center for Health Policy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Program Associate Directors:

Alyce Adams, PhD, Stanford Medicine Innovation Professor, Professor of Health Policy, Epidemiology and Population Health and of Pediatrics (by Courtesy), Associate Chair for Health Equity and Community Engagement for Stanford Health Policy, Associate Director for Health Equity and Community Engagement in the Stanford Cancer Institute, and Associate Director for Stanford Impact Labs

Steven Asch, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, Primary Care and Population Health, Director of the Center for Innovation to Implementation (Ci2i) and Chief of Health Services Research at VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Vice Chief, Division of Primary Care and Population Health

Sherri Rose, PhD, Professor of Health Policy and Co-Director of the Health Policy Data Science Lab

The Stanford-AHRQ Health Services Research Program has the mission of developing independent, well-trained, diverse researchers who conduct rigorous and innovative health services research (HSR) on critical challenges facing the U.S. health-care system. Supported by a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, pre- and post-doctoral fellows will work with mentors on their topics and methods of interest, as well as career development. The program includes 30 faculty mentors, drawn from 12 Stanford University departments or programs. Trainees will find opportunities to engage in research projects in a wide variety of HSR areas, including AHRQ priority areas like health insurance, quality and safety, affordability, and access.

Predoctoral trainees will earn a PhD in Health Policy or a related field, and postdoctoral fellows with a professional degree (e.g. MD) will commonly earn an MS in Health Policy. Postdoctoral trainees with a research degree will focus on research activities complemented by targeted electives. Trainees will pursue one or more independent research projects in their area(s) of interest, working with multiple mentors with complementary areas of expertise.

Our program includes faculty and other connections to Stanford’s strong and expanding capabilities in the areas of population health management, learning health-care systems, informatics, and health law.  We take advantage of recent investments in cutting-edge data and computing resources to support HSR; the creation of HSR-related collaborations with institutions like Intermountain Health, Kaiser Permanente, Google, and Facebook; and the presence of leading investigators in advanced computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, textual processing — and their application to new data sources and types.  

The Health Services Research Training Program is motivated by our view that excellent health services researchers need a strong grasp of core disciplinary skills, the ability to function in multidisciplinary settings, and the ability to engage with both traditional and emerging research contexts.  Accordingly, our program emphasizes strong disciplinary training in our core areas of health economics, outcomes research, and decision science. We provide this training within the rich multidisciplinary environment of our integrated campus. Our trainees will frequently be side-by-side with trainees and faculty from areas like clinical medicine, economics, engineering, ethics, informatics, and law.  

Our graduating fellows will strengthen the next generation of diverse HSR leaders and will be equipped to generate, translate and disseminate the evidence needed to improve health-care delivery in the United States.

Stanford-AHRQ Fellowship Eligibility:

Applicants for the fellowships must, at the time of award, be citizens of the United States, non-citizen nationals, or non-citizens who have been lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.  All trainees are required to pursue their research training full time.

Predoctoral candidates must have earned a baccalaureate degree, and, at time of fellowship appointment, be enrolled in a program leading to a PhD or in an equivalent research doctoral degree program.  

Postdoctoral candidates must possess a PhD, MD, DDS, ScD, DrPH, DPharm, or equivalent doctoral degree (comparable doctoral degrees include, but are not limited to, the following:  DMD, DC, DO, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, DPT, PharmD, ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), DSW, PsyD, as well as a doctoral degree in nursing research).  

Individuals in postgraduate clinical training, who wish to interrupt their studies for a year or more to engage in full-time research training before completing their formal training programs, are also eligible.

Eligible individuals applying to the Stanford Health Policy PhD Program will be considered for the predoctoral fellowship.

Eligible individuals interested in the postdoctoral fellowship:

Applications for post-doctoral positions under the Stanford-AHRQ Health Services Research Training Program will be accepted September 1st through April 1st.

Applications will normally be reviewed in the December to April window, and applicants can expect responses in the spring

Stanford Contact: SHP-Fellowship

Center for Health Policy / Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research 
Encina Commons 
615 Crothers Way, MC 6019, Stanford, CA 94305 
Email: shp-fellowship@stanford.edu

Please be prepared to upload a CV, statement of career objectives and the names of three professional references.