Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellowship

Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellowship is sponsored by The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Stanford University. This fellowship supports early-career researchers in conducting interdisciplinary research on planetary health challenges and solutions, focusing on how ecological changes and agricultural practices impact infectious disease transmission.

Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellowship Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellowship The Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellowship, managed collaboratively by our center and the Stanford Center for Human and Planetary Health, cultivates new knowledge and solutions at the intersections of health and the environment.

Through two-year fellowships, the program supports early-career researchers in conducting mentored research on cutting-edge human and planetary health challenges – and developing solutions for a healthier future.

Photo Credit: Fintrac Inc. The Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellowship, managed collaboratively by our center and the Stanford Center for Human and Planetary Health, cultivates new knowledge and solutions at the intersections of health and the environment.

Through two-year fellowships, the program supports early-career researchers in conducting mentored research on cutting-edge human and planetary health challenges – and developing solutions for a healthier future.

Photo Credit: Fintrac Inc. Fueled by a sense of urgency to protect health in a rapidly shifting world – especially in historically marginalized communities – human & planetary health focuses on developing solutions that simultaneously promote health, environmental stewardship, and social impact.

Through this two-year postdoctoral fellowship, early-career researchers conduct cutting-edge, interdisciplinary, solutions-oriented research by working with faculty mentors at Stanford and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine – building their careers in the field of planetary and developing critical new evidence and impact.

Founded by the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health, the fellowship is run in partnership with the Stanford Center for Human and Planetary Health , the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

This fellowship is funded by Stanford’s Sean N Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research, The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Diana Chapman Walsh, and LSHTM’s Peter Piot Fellowships for Global Health Innovation.

Develop evidence on emerging health risks to protect vulnerable populations impacted by climate change Assess the health consequences of environmental inaction to drive new policies & interventions Identify strategies to simultaneously advance health, environmental stewardship & community resilience Train early-career researchers and provide opportunities to gain skills in new disciplines for human & planetary health impact Applications are currently closed.

Thank you to those who applied! More details on the program: Format of the fellowship : This fellowship is supported by both Stanford and LSHTM. Our next fellow selected from the current round of applications will be based at Stanford and receive mentorship and support from faculty and partners at both universities.

Throughout the two-year fellowship, fellows interact with core faculty, work on research papers, and plan research activities. Research focus areas : Candidates are expected to apply with a specific research agenda in mind. Candidates are invited to select any focus area at the intersections of environment and health – with an emphasis on understanding and addressing upstream drivers and solutions.

In their research activities, fellows are encouraged to engage with historically marginalized populations across diverse geographic settings. Based on the research interests of the fellow and their mentor(s), fellows will select a research focus and research site. Fellows may also select a research site in which they have previously been involved so long as a suitable faculty mentor can be identified.

Areas of potential research include but are not limited to: Food security and the environmental impacts of crop and livestock production Healthy cities, clean air and water, sustainable transport The health implications of extreme weather events The impact of climate change and land use on infectious and vector-borne diseases The impact on health of environmental waste such as micro plastics The link between climate change and non-communicable diseases Requirements : Fellows will enjoy substantial time to pursue their research interests and will be expected to present their research both internally and at international meetings, as well as publish their research findings in international peer-reviewed journals.

Fellows will also have the opportunity to contribute to teaching, for example as teaching assistants or guest lecturers, on relevant courses. Fellows are expected to actively participate in the development of planetary health at both Stanford and LSHTM, including through program development, participation in events and other activities, and student engagement.

Eligibility : This fellowship program is open to researchers from anywhere in the world who are within three years of successfully completing their doctoral degree. Prior research output in the intersections of health and environmental science is a prerequisite. As instruction and support will be provided in English, high-level proficiency in the English language is a requirement of the fellowship.

Candidates from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds are invited to apply, including global health, health systems, epidemiology, health policy, environmental science, environmental policy, disease ecology, and more. Compensation : Fellows receive a competitive postdoctoral salary, full benefits, and modest travel and fieldwork budgets.

To supplement the research funding available, fellows are invited to transfer existing awarded funding and encouraged to apply for additional research funding during their fellowship. Timeline :Applying to the fellowship entails two stages. In the first stage of the application, candidates are required to submit a CV and 1-page description of their proposed research project.

In the second stage, shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit additional materials – including a research proposal, submission video, and letters of recommendation. Our past and current fellows’ research spans a range a human & planetary health topics, including those highlighted below. Fellows are invited to propose any topic of human & planetary health research.

Mental health & resilience : Researching mental health responses to environmental change in young people facing eco-anxiety and lower-resourced communities contending with climate disasters – and identifying opportunities to build resilience. Air quality & health : Assessing the impacts of climate change on air pollution and health – and how these findings can influence carbon pricing and build policy support for climate action.

Ecology, agriculture & infectious disease : Exploring how ecological changes and agricultural practices impact local infectious disease transmission – and transcribing this knowledge to public health interventions. Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2024-26 Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2024-26 Nathalie Lambrecht will begin her fellowship in October 2024.

She joins us from the Institute of Public Health, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Nathalie completed her PhD in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, where she assessed intersections of small-holder livestock rearing, zoonotic disease exposure, and child nutrition.

During her PhD, she also contributed to the University of Michigan President’s Commission on Carbon Neutrality Food Analysis Team. Nathalie’s research focuses on climate-resilient agricultural interventions to improve maternal and child nutrition in low-resource settings.

She also conducts research on the nutritional quality and environmental footprint of food service in institutional settings such as universities and hospitals, identifying pathways toward the adoption of diets in line with planetary health. During her fellowship, Nathalie will assess agroecological strategies to increase resilience against climate-related shocks.

Such strategies could inform future policies for improved child nutrition and planetary health. She will focus on sub-Saharan Africa, exploring how approaches such as diversified crop-livestock production can improve child and adolescent nutrition and build food security in the face of increasing climate-related precipitation shocks.

Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2026-28 Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2026-28 Chris is an interdisciplinary scientist working at the intersection of environmental change, food systems, and human health, with a particular focus on climate frontline communities.

He is deeply committed to environmental justice and is drawn to research questions and solutions that can improve the lives of others and reduce social and economic inequities. During his fellowship, he will explore how climate signals are associated with foodborne illnesses across Madagascar, with the goal of informing public health response to climate change impacts.

Previously, Chris completed his PhD at Stanford, where he worked alongside the Kiribati government and the Pacific Planetary Health Initiative to explore the social and ecological connections of ciguatera fish poisoning across Kiribati. As a US Fulbright Fellow in Italy, he investigated how ocean acidification affects the nutritional content of seafood.

In addition to his academic work, Chris co-founded a climate technology startup, which he co-managed for five years and helped grow to ~$1. 5 million in funding. Chris is a National Geographic Explorer and a recipient of a Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and two US Fulbright Fellowships (Italy and Chile).

Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2026-28 Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2026-28 Matt is a Research Fellow in the Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health and recipient of the LSHTM-Stanford Fellowship in Planetary Health. His research broadly focuses on the ‘ how ’ of transformation towards healthy diets and sustainable, just food systems.

Matt’s work aims to widen the analytical and narrative lens through which we imagine fundamental food systems change. Within this, his research explores questions surrounding social transformation, degrowth and post-growth, and commercial determinants of health.

To explore these complex and contested domains he uses quantitative and qualitative approaches including scenario analysis, agent-based modelling, document analysis, food systems modelling, and elicitation techniques. Before joining LSHTM, Matt was a postdoctoral researcher at Cornell University working on the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission report.

Matt completed his PhD at Imperial College London where his research examined approaches to food systems transformation. Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-24 Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-24 Cliff earned his PhD in Public Health from the University of Cape Town. His research focused on how climate change perpetuates health risks from exposure to endocrine disrupting pesticides.

As a Planetary Health postdoctoral fellow, Cliff will study biosecurity interventions for antibiotic resistance (AMR) in Zimbabwe’s urban backyard informal agriculture. Zimbabwe has a problem with antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains that can spread between people, animals, and the environment. Cliff’s study will look at how backyard poultry plays a role in spreading AMR bacteria, especially Salmonella anåd E.

coli. He will also study how rodents contribute to the spread of these pathogens. Cliff’s research approach combines social science with lab work.

He’ll work with local communities to develop and test citizen science interventions that have potential to break the chain of transmission of AMR pathogens in urban backyard agriculture. As antibiotics become less effective, Cliff hopes his findings will help inform policies and practices for preventing AMR within urban settings in Africa.

Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-24 Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-24 Stella Atim completed her PhD in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases from Makerere University and University of Glasgow, where she investigated the epidemiology of deadly Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in livestock farming communities along the cattle corridor in Uganda.

Blood tests have found extremely high rates of CCHF antibodies along this corridor, raising concerns that environmental factors could be exacerbating the tick-borne illness. She was located at LSHTM’s MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit , where she investigated environmental factors that might be contributing to the high prevalence of CCHF in Uganda.

She modeled man-made land use changes and climatic factors that may be driving a shift in the geographical range of ticks associated with the disease, as well as changes in livestock farming practices associated with exposure.

Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2022-24 Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow 2022-24 Alandra Lopez, PhD, is a graduate of the Department of Earth Science at Stanford where she worked alongside Dr. Scott Fendorf, exploring the environmental and man-made factors driving the release of harmful contaminants into the environment.

Based at Stanford for this fellowship, Lopez leveraged Stanford and LSHTM expertise in soil chemistry and mineralogy, air quality modeling, and respiratory and pulmonary health to investigate the health impacts of smoke from wildfires that are increasing in intensity and frequency across the globe.

Lopez assessed the prevalence and health impacts of potentially harmful metals in wildfire smoke – geogenic metals found in nature that get released during wildfires – to develop strategies to mitigate human exposure.

Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-24 Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow, 2022-24 Minghao Qiu received his PhD degree from MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society in 2021 and has worked at Stanford’s Department of Earth System Science with Dr. Marshall Burke. Qiu’s work investigates the linkages between climate change and air pollution – along with policies that could help to mitigate their negative impacts on humans.

Since witnessing the disastrous “Beijing Haze” in the winter of 2013, he has been passionate about understanding the complex relationships between health, pollution, and climate, as well as finding solutions to address these environmental challenges.

During his fellowship based at Stanford, Qiu explored the health impacts of climate-induced air pollution around the world – with attention to factors such as wildfire smoke and dust storms. He did so by leveraging household health surveys, as well as remotely-sensed environmental data.

He hopes his findings can be used to better understand the full impacts of climate change – and identify policy solutions that can simultaneously achieve environmental justice, environmental quality, and sustainable development goals.

Elaine Flores, MD, PhD, MSc Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow, 2021-24 Elaine Flores, MD, PhD, MSc Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow, 2021-24 An experience responding to a devastating earthquake in the Pisco region of Peru opened Elaine Flores’ eyes to the long-lasting mental health consequences that a lack of proper support can have on a marginalized community in the wake of a natural disaster.

Flores, PhD, MD, MSc, has since dedicated her career to investigating the mental health impacts of natural disasters in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), pursuing a PhD on this topic from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). She was one of two inaugural Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellows.

Based at LSHTM, Flores’s work is focused on researching and developing solutions to environmental mental health challenges faced by women and children in LMICs.

Lead of the Chair’s Special Initiative on Climate and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford University School of Medicine Lead of the Chair’s Special Initiative on Climate and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford University School of Medicine Dr. Wray is the Lead of the Chair’s Special Initiative on Climate and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford University School of Medicine.

Before this she was a Human and Planetary Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Her research focuses on the mental health impacts of climate change on young people (’emerging adults’) and frontline community members, psychosocial resilience building, community-minded healing interventions, and public engagement for improved mental wellbeing and planetary health.

Dr. Wray has a PhD in Science Communication from the University of Copenhagen and is a journalist, speaker, and author of two books: Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in the Climate Crisis (Knopf 2022, and a finalist for the Governor General’s Award), and Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics and Risks of De-Extinction (Greystone Books 2017).

She has hosted and produced several science radio programs, podcasts and television programs for international broadcasters including the BBC and CBC, and is a TED speaker.

Dr Wray is an advisor to the Climate Mental Health Network (addressing the mental health consequences of climate change through community engagement and by harnessing the power of media and technology), Climate Cares (a mental health research collaboration between the Institute of Global Health Innovation and the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London), and the Good Energy Project (a nonprofit unlocking the power of TV and film to inspire courage in the face of climate change).

Dr Wray is a Chicago Council on Global Affairs Next Generation Climate Changemaker. She is also the Creator of Gen Dread (gendread. substack.

com), a newsletter about building courage and taking meaningful action on the far side of climate grief. For questions, please contact us at Stanford-hph@stanford. edu and include the name of the fellowship in the subject line.

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