Available through the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, this award will provide a fellowship stipend, beginning July 1, 2024. The maximum award will be equal to the salary of a full-time PGY-5 for full-time awards, but may be less due to your institution' salary limits for your position. Historically, 1-2 fellowships have been awarded annually.
Award
This notice calls to your attention the availability of the Kaplen Fellowship on Depression for the academic year beginning July 1, 2024. The Kaplen Fellowship was endowed specifically to support training in research on depression and allied affective disorders. Funds are to be used solely for salary support. Fellows receiving an award will be asked to stipulate that they will devote a certain amount of effort to research to the exclusion of clinical, administrative, and other activities during fellowship. This research effort can be 80% or greater for full-time awards and 50% for half-time awards. For the latter, the applicant and mentor must provide a clear rationale and information on the applicant's other half-time activities. The award will also cover 25% of the fringe benefits charged by the fellow’s institution.
Applicants must have an MD and/or PhD degree in the Department of Psychiatry and must not be more than five years past the completion of training at the time of the application. Applications will also be considered from young investigators who have achieved faculty status of Instructor, but not from those holding the rank of Assistant Professor.
Further, to promote research development, half-time stipends at the equivalent of a half-time PGY-4 stipend may be awarded for use in the PGY-4 year. While a solid research plan is expected, reiew criteria for these half-time PGY-4 stipends will focus primarily on the strength of the training plan, quality and extent of mentoring, and the candidate’s potential to develop into a clinician-scientist.
It is expected that recipients will update the Research Committee by submitting a summary of progress on their projects at six month intervals and a final report at the end of the fellowship.
A Kaplen fellow who receives an NIH Career Development Award, or some other significant award, will be asked to relinquish the remaining portion of their Fellowship funds at the time the NIH or other significant award begins.
Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must meet the following criteria to be considered for an award:
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MD degree (at PGY-4 level or higher), and/or PhD degree, and be a member of the HMS Department of Psychiatry at time of application for full stipends; Psychology trainees are eligible to apply if they will have received their PhD by July 1, 2024
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MD degree at PGY-3 level at time of application and be a member of the HMS Department of Psychiatry for a stipend paid at half of the PGY-4 rate
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For MDs: no more than five years have passed since the end of ACGME accredited clinical training
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For PhDs: no more than five years have passed since the end of the conferral of a doctoral degree, or required clinical postdoctoral fellowship
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Cannot hold a faculty appointment in the Department of Psychiatry of Assistant Professor or higher during fellowship period
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Applicants who have received NIH R or K awards as the PI are not eligible to apply
Application Process
Complete the Qualtrics Application Form for HMS Psychiatry Research Fellowships by Monday, December 4, 2023 at 9am. Combined applications for Dupont Warren, Kaplen, Livingston, and Zinberg Awards are permitted. The following items must be uploaded as a single PDF to the Qualtrics application form to be considered for the fellowship award:
1) A cover letter, not to exceed two pages, from the applicant explaining how the Fellowship year will fit into his/her upcoming career plans. The letter should include details of the candidate’s training activities during the course of the Fellowship (e.g. coursework, skills development, grant preparation, etc). The letter should also describe any past or current research experience and committed or pending external funding.
2) A current curriculum vitae in the current Harvard format (http://fa.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-medicine-cv-guidelines) . Although the Harvard format does not allow the listing of submitted papers, please list these along with the name of the journal to which the manuscript was submitted.
3) A Research Plan. This should include: (a) title of project, (b) brief abstract not to exceed 150 words, (c) description of the specific aims of the project, (d) background and significance of the proposed research project, (e) description of the research design, (f) description of methods, (g) discussion of proposed analyses to be used in the project, and (h) timeline for completing the project during the fellowship year. The Research Plan has an absolute limit of 4 pages, single spaced, with standard type size of 15 characters per inch (using Arial or Times New Roman 11 font). One extra page will be allowed for a listing of referenced literature. Appendices will not be accepted.
4) A listing of other research resources available to support the project (e.g., supplies, technical assistance, diagnostic laboratory tests).
5) Mentoring is a key component of evaluating the candidate for an award as well as an important factor in the evaluation of the application. The mentor will work with the applicant to select a project that is feasible within the time frame and budget proposed. Support from the Fellow’s faculty mentor is an important factor in the evaluation of the application. The mentor must address each item in the Mentor’s Statement.
6) All projects will be reviewed closely for feasibility and the recruitment plan will be evaluated. Clinical trials in particular will need to clearly demonstrate feasibility. Projects involving large scale clinical trials with multiple groups must provide additional assurances that the proposed study has sufficient financial support and can be completed in the proposed time period. Projects that include drug studies or new devices that do not have approved IND or NDA certification at the time of application will not be considered.
7) The applicant is expected to work closely with their mentor to develop an application that is both scientifically rigorous and feasible within the budget and time commitment proposed.
8) A letter from the head of the sponsoring hospital department including a statement of willingness to assume the cost of fringe benefits not paid by the Fellowship, and commitment to protect time for research.
Summary of Fellowship Requirements
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MDs (level PGY-4 or higher for full stipend, level PGY-3 at time of application for a half PGY-4 stipend), and/or PhDs, in the HMS Department of Psychiatry are eligible
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No more than five years have passed since the end of U.S. accredited clinical training or of the postdoctoral training period
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Cannot hold a faculty appointment in the Department of Psychiatry of Assistant Professor or higher during fellowship period
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Applicants who have received NIH R or K awards as the PI are not eligible to apply
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25% of the fellow’s institution’s fringe benefits will be paid by the fellowship; the remainder of fringe benefits (and indirect costs) must be funded by the sponsoring institution.
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Complete the Qualtrics Form for the HMS Psychiatry Research Fellowships by the deadline
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Award recipients will be announced in February
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Incomplete applications will not be considered
Download the Mentor's Statement.
For questions, please contact heather_adams@hms.harvard.edu.
