Application requirements
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, 2026 to help us match you with one of our faculty mentors, who will set up an informational Zoom meeting with you.
Text to prepare for the online application for summer 2027:
- A statement of your research program with the following components:
- Title and overall goal of your program of research (100-150 words)
- Significance and innovation of the research, including its theoretical foundations (200-300 words)
- Your previous research relevant to this area, including a brief summary of your work with HIV (or a related area such as substance use or reproductive health) and communities disproportionately impacted by HIV (150-200 words)
- How do you see participating in the program fitting into your research program and attainment of long-term goals (150-200 words)
- Which of our two tracks would you apply for:
| Track 1 | Funded by NIDA | Interdisciplinary clinical social/behavioral research to reduce health disparities at the intersection of HIV and substance use in US-based racial and ethnic minority populations | Tor Neilands and Julia Lechuga, Co-Directors |
Do you wish to be considered for the NIDA track? If so, how would your proposal align with the Strategic Plan of the NIH Office of AIDS Research and the Mission of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)? We suggest a response of 3-4 sentences.
|
Track 2 |
Funded by NIMH |
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. |
Do you wish to be considered for the NIMH track? If so, how would your proposal align with the Strategic Plan of the NIH Office of AIDS Research and the Mission of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)? We suggest a response of 3-4 sentences.
- Thinking about your program of research, please select which one of the two VP program tracks you would prefer to be matched with.
- A description of the Pilot Study or ARE. More details coming Nov. 1
File uploads for the online application:
- A Specific Aims page for an NIH R-level grant proposal that you would write during your participation in the training program. (Each participant will attend an intensive six-week summer institute in San Francisco from June to July for three consecutive summers. If accepted to the program, during the first summer, participants will develop an NIH grant proposal that contributes to your program of research. In the second and third summer institutes, participants will integrate their pilot study findings into their draft NIH grant proposals, refine their proposal drafts, and submit them to NIH for extramural review.) Please draft a Specific Aims page for the NIH R-level grant (i.e. R34, R01) proposal that you would propose to write.
- We ask that your Specific Aims page includes a tentative project title, as well as descriptions of the significance, proposed activities, sample(s) and methods, and relevance to public health of the study.
- In case you are not familiar with a Specific Aims page, here is a link to guidance for aims pages.
- Limit the Specific Aims to one page. You may include a second page for references. Please use Arial 11 font, single spacing, and half-inch margins. Include a header labeled SPECIFIC AIMS at the top of the page in boldface type.
- A current CV that includes a list of publications and grants awarded
Additional materials to send by email:
Please have the authors/recommenders send the following to [email protected] by 8:00 AM Pacific Time on the application due date:
- Three letters of recommendation received by the program application due date. Letters of recommendation should support the applicant’s participation in our program by specifically noting why the letter writer believes the candidate to be an ideal fit for this particular training program. The letters should also be letters of recommendation which discuss the characteristics and background of the candidate or why they believe the candidate has the requisite skills, background, and abilities (both research/technical and interpersonal proficiencies) to both benefit from the program and to contribute to the development of fellow trainees.
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A letter of institutional support from the applicant’s home institution, typically chair of the applicant's department, demonstrating commitment and support of the applicant’s research by detailing specifically how the applicant's institution will support the applicant in completing the Applied Research Experience and applying for NIH research funding (e.g., descriptions of time off for research, seed money, and administrative and/or research assistant support supplied by the home institution). This letter should explicitly explain how the applicant’s 25% research requirement will be supported. The letter should be received by the program application due deadline. Sample phrasing to include in the letter: "I commit that, if accepted into the program, Dr. X will have at least 25% protected time for their research and will be released from other institutional obligations to attend the summer institute for six weeks each year for the three summers of their participation in the Visiting Professors' Program."
Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Therefore, it is imperative that all materials, including the recommendation letters and institutional support letter, be received by 8:00 AM PT on the application due date.