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Apply for research training at UCSF 

On an annual basis, we accept applications for the Training Program for Scientists Conducting Research to Reduce HIV/STI Health Disparities (also known as the Visiting Professor Program) at the University of California, San Francisco. This program is designed to assist investigators interested in conducting HIV-prevention research with communities in the United States disproportionately impacted by HIV to improve their programs of research and obtain additional funding for their work. Scientists in the program have access to the expertise of a team of mentors who are successful at conducting NIH-funded research in communities most impacted by HIV. Program participants will also receive $20,000 to support acquiring research skills, analyzing data, and other activities that facilitate the completion of an R-level grant.

Since 1997, the program has provided training, mentoring, and technical assistance to 94 Visiting Professors from universities in the continental US and Puerto Rico. To date, program participants have received over 165 multi-year awards from NIH, including 73 R01 awards, and over 38 awards from CDC, HRSA, NSF or SAMHSA. From all sources, Visiting Professors have been awarded over $334 million in grant funding. Program participants have also made a vast scientific impact, generating over 2,000 articles. For more information, please see our page of program details, our summer program seminars, and a list of previous participants.

Application now open

The application for Summer 2026 is open. You may visit our application pages, beginning with information about who is eligible for the program. 

The application is due Wednesday, January 21, 2026 at 8:00 am Pacific Time. We require interested scholars to speak with a VP faculty mentor before applying to learn more about the Visiting Professor program and preliminarily assess their goodness of fit for the program. Please complete a brief form by December 15, 2025 to help us set up a Zoom call.

We will be offering new program participants positions in one track, which is funded by NIMH. The track focuses on social/behavioral science HIV research that incorporates individual-, interpersonal-, and/or socio-structural-level factors in US-based populations disproportionately impacted by HIV. NIMH track funds cannot support primary human subjects data collection. While NIDA and NIAID continue to support the VP program, we are not recruiting scientists for those tracks this year.