The Duke Aging Center Postdoctoral Research Training Program (RTP) is housed at the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development (a.k.a. Duke Aging Center). The RTP provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary research training for both clinician and non-clinician scientists across the translational spectrum, equipping researchers with the skills and knowledge to drive innovation in biomedical, behavioral, social, and implementation science.
Funded by the National Institute on Aging (T32AG000029), the program offers 3 postdoctoral research training fellowship positions each academic year. Appointments are typically for a duration of two years, pending availability of funding and good standing in the program.
About the program
The overall goal of the Duke Aging Center T32 Postdoctoral Research Training Program (RTP) is to forge the development of independent investigators and leaders in the field of aging research, who are skilled in leading multidisciplinary, collaborative scientific teams that develop excellent, ethical science that benefits all segments of the older adult population.
Much of the training for each fellow is provided by that person’s faculty mentor(s) through a hands-on research apprenticeship program. A fellow carries out their research as a junior colleague in the mentor’s research program or laboratory. In addition, fellows attend a weekly interdisciplinary didactic seminar and other required didactics. The table below lists types of training activities and estimated time commitment for each.
| Training Activities | Trainee % effort |
| Individualized Mentored Training Activities | |
| Preparation and ongoing monitoring of Individual Development Plan (IDP) by each trainee in collaboration with their mentoring team and with feedback from program leadership | < 1% |
| Trainees to participate in research projects and other research activities detailed in the IDP | 80% |
| Trainees to participate in formal didactic and other training opportunities identified in the IDP | 5% |
| Shared Training Activities | |
| Trainees to participate in the weekly RTP Seminar | 3% |
| Other relevant didactic opportunities in aging research (i.e., Geriatrics Grand Rounds, Duke Pepper Center Data Integration Working Group, Duke/UNC ADRC All Hands bimonthly series) | 5% |
| Trainees to work in group research projects under the guidance of program faculty | 5% |
| Program evaluations by trainees | 1% |
A key component of the Duke Aging Center RTP is a weekly interdisciplinary seminar. Over a two-year period, its curriculum includes training in:
- research skills (e.g., team science, community engagement)
- career development competencies (e.g., research dissemination, preparing and giving a job talk)
- core content areas in aging
- biomedical science
- behavioral science and neuroscience
- social science
- health services research/dissemination and implementation
This structure enables the RTP to provide highly specialized and individualized training in a fellow’s substantive area, while also providing a broad understanding of basic gerontological issues. This strategy encourages each developing scientist to relate their work to the overall field of aging, and, on a more practical level, to interact with other scholars and build a network of colleagues and collaborators in gerontology. The exchange of ideas that occurs in this interdisciplinary framework has, in fact, led to multidisciplinary work among fellows and faculty.
Our seminar is attended by trainees from this and other training programs at Duke and in the area, by visiting scholars to the Aging Center and the campus, and by faculty associated with the Aging Center. It is a forum for discussing gerontological issues from many perspectives.
Abby Hillmann, PhD
Dr. Abby Hillmann is a psychologist who researches psychosocial and contextual factors that contribute to healthy aging throughout midlife and later life. She earned dual bachelor’s degrees in biology and psychology from the University of Kentucky and her PhD in Biological and Health Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on measuring biological aging and understanding how variation in aging processes may relate to subsequent cognitive outcomes. As a postdoctoral research scholar in the Moffitt and Caspi Lab, Dr. Hillmann is investigating the psychosocial correlates of healthy midlife aging. Her work also applies an ecological systems perspective to examine how developmental stage, community environment, and cultural context shape health and aging outcomes.
Sam Honeycutt, PhD
Dr. Samuel Honeycutt is a cell biologist currently investigating the role of the immune system in ageing. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) and subsequently obtained his Doctorate in Cell Biology and Physiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Sam’s previous research has been multi-faceted and includes investigation into the role of the immune system in tissue regeneration, fate choices of hematopoietic stem cells, and the formation and patterning of blood vessels in the developing kidney. Currently, Sam is a post-doctoral Scholar in the lab of Dr. James White, where he is focused on the mechanisms of how immune cells can be utilized as a therapeutic approach to slow the aging process.
Sid Madhavan, PhD
Dr. Sid Madhavan is a clinical-translational scientist developing interventions for chronic diseases of aging. He graduated summa cum laude from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in honors in Clinical Neuroscience. He then completed his Ph.D. in Biology of Aging in a joint program between the University of Southern California and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. During his doctoral research with Dr. John Newman at the Buck Institute, he identified how ketone bodies and other structurally-related metabolites can bind and clear damaged proteins within the brain.
At Duke, he is working in the labs of Dr. Laurie Sanders and Dr. Senthil Selvaraj on a diverse set of clinical trials spanning Parkinson’s disease and heart failure. The ultimate goal of his research is to develop therapeutic molecules which allow older adults to remain independent throughout the entirety of their lives.
Tyler Reekes, PhD
Dr. Tyler Reekes is a neuroscientist who investigates the neural mechanisms of vulnerability and resilience to postoperative delirium in older adults. He earned his undergraduate degree from Hampden-Sydney College and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Neuroscience from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. His previous work examined the contributions to cognitive dysfunction in age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. He is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar under the mentorship of Drs. Michael Devinney, Jeffrey Browndyke, and Miles Berger, where he studies how anesthesia and surgery act as a stress test for the aging brain to uncover why some older adults develop delirium after surgery while others remain resilient.
Joab Odera, Ph.D.
Dr. Joab Odera is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Duke Aging Center in the School of Medicine, working in the TORCHE Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters and Dr. Katherine Ramos. His research integrates biostatistics, deep learning, and behavioral medicine to improve survivorship outcomes among older adults with cancer, particularly Head and Neck Cancer. Joab earned a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology from Winston-Salem State University and a Ph.D. in Integrated Biosciences from North Carolina Central University, where his research focused on metabolic reprogramming in alcohol-associated esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. He holds a certificate in Applied Data Science from MIT and additional training in Clinical Data Science from the University of Colorado. Joab has prior postdoctoral experience in non-small cell lung cancer research at the Duke Department of Medicine and completed the AIM-AHEAD Bridge2AI Clinical Care Training Program, which helped him apply his AI and ML expertise in clinical settings. His current work develops AI-enhanced tools for early detection of mental health vulnerabilities and personalized eCoaching systems to promote resilience and well-being. His long-term goal is to lead a research program that advances technology-driven interventions for aging populations.
Morgan Severn, PhD
Dr. Morgan Severn is a microbiologist whose research examines how skin microbiome influences aging homeostasis. She earned her bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Arizona and her PhD in microbiology from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where she trained in Dr. Alexander Horswill's laboratory. Her doctoral research investigated how commensal Staphylococci use conserved quorum-sensing mechanisms to inhibit colonization and infection by the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. As a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Dr. Julia Oh, Dr. Severn is investigating how age-related changes in skin microbiome composition and function influence biological aging processes and skin health.
Information for Applicants
- Interest and commitment to a career in aging research (interest in expanding expertise with multidisciplinary teams is preferred)
- US citizenship or permanent residence (green card holder)
- Doctoral degree/terminal degree in your field completed by the time to start the program (all coursework must be completed, and if applying for a PhD, final orals must be passed, and the dissertation signed before you can begin the program).
- At least two remaining years of post-doctoral training eligibility per NIH and Duke policy (see application form for details)
We will be recruiting three new post-doctoral fellows to begin in the Summer/Fall 2027.
The deadline to submit applications for this cycle is November 18, 2026. Selections will be finalized by March 2027.
To apply submit the following materials to AgingCenterRTP@duke.edu in a single PDF file.
- Candidate's current CV
- Candidate’s 2-page statement of interest (including research focus, training goals, and commitment to a career in aging research)
- Candidate’s graduate school transcripts (official copy). If you cannot attach the official school transcript to the PDF, ensure to send them to AgingCenterRTP@duke.edu. Without official transcripts, we cannot process your application.
- One Letter of Recommendation from a research mentor or faculty member from the doctoral degree program.
Basis for Judging Applications
Applications are assessed by a faculty committee via an NIH-style review and judged on the basis of their scientific merit, relevance to aging, and the fit of the trainee’s needs for training with the resources of the mentor and the training program.
Identifying a Mentor
The mentors listed below will be accepting post-doctoral fellows to start in the Summer/Fall 2027. Please review the list below and include the names of up to three potential mentors that fit your interests and goals for post-doctoral training in your completed Application Form. Feel free to reach out to specific mentors directly if you have questions about their research. For other questions about the Duke Aging Center T32 program, please contact AgingCenterRTP@duke.edu.
Our team is developing and validating brain MRI-based biomarkers of accelerated aging, especially in midlife, that can function as both risk indices for chronic age-related diseases and surrogate outcomes in randomized clinical trials of anti-aging interventions broadly as well as those targeting specific diseases. Ideally, postdoctoral trainees interested in joining our team will have a strong background in neuroimaging and geroscience.
Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi
Our team seeks a postdoc to help us develop technology to measure aging. We use the measures in our own substantive research on midlife aging, its origins in early life, and its implications for mental and physical health in later life. Our work gathers and analyses longitudinal data from participants in cohorts such as Dunedin and Framingham to track change over decades of aging. Then we translate and export our measures to enrich data sets such as UKBiobank, MIDUS, HRS, NHANES and others. The measures are made in DNAmethylation of the epigenome, and they are also made in MRI neuroimages (with Prof Ahamd Hariri). At present we are working on DunedinPACE for the pace of aging, and also on newer measures of Intrinsic Capacity, cognitive decline, physical function decline, and the increase in inflammation with age. We are just beginning to use the measures in randomised clinical trials of geroprotective treatments including nutritional supplements, exercise and cognitive training. Postdocs with a strong background in geroscience and skills in longitudinal data analysis, and postdocs who have interests in inflammation, cognition, and physical function would enjoy this training opportunity. We are also developing measures of aging in facial photographs, and postdocs with skills in AI-drive data-science can help with this work. Our fun team in the Duke Psychology and Neuroscience Dept. comprises about a dozen professional staff, PhD students, and postdocs.
Brian Andonian, MD, MHSc, ATC is a rheumatologist and clinician scientist studying the effects of exercise training, diet, and lifestyle interventions to improve immune health, joint health, and overall health for older persons with rheumatic disease, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The goal of his translational research is to improve outcomes in patients with chronic inflammatory diseases of aging such as RA, including disease activity, cardiometabolic risk, and disability, via personalized lifestyle prescription.
The Taylor lab uses molecular analyses, cellular studies, and mouse genetic modeling to study basic biochemical pathways of relevance to aging biology. Current projects focus on: (1) changes in fibrosis during tissue repair with aging, and (2) regulation of autophagy and mitochondrial homeostasis as relevant to immune function and inflammation.
The White Lab focuses on understanding molecular pathways altered with aging across tissues and utilize longevity interventions to inhibit or enhance such pathways to slow the aging process. We utilize human tissue, mouse and cell culture models in our approaches to investigate these topics.
We investigate how the microbiome shapes human health in aging. Our lab complements cutting-edge ‘omics technologies and computational tools with clinical studies, organoid platforms, and mouse models to investigate how the microbiome shapes epithelial and tissue-resident immune function in health and disease. Our current focuses are include microbiome interactions primarily in the skin and respiratory tract, examining mechanisms of aging, infection, and antiviral immunity.
Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on reducing disparities in access to hospice and palliative care for older adults with serious illness. Fellows will have the opportunity to participate in various projects, including analyses of large secondary datasets related to advance care planning, qualitative data collection and analysis to understand factors related to disparities primary care related health outcomes, and other projects within the Health Disparities Research and Community Engagement Core of ASCENT (Advancing the Science of Palliative Care Across the Life Span), a national NIH-funded research consortium with a focus on improving outcomes for persons with serious illness and their caregivers.
The Sanders Lab is focused on understanding the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as biomarker and neurotherapeutic development. Dr. Sanders also designs and leads clinical trials for people with Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
The Anesthesiology, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Engineering Research (ACkER) Lab studies the neural mechanisms that allow some older adults to recover from major stresses such as surgery while others do not. We conduct human studies across the adult lifespan using multimodal neuroimaging, EEG, physiologic monitoring, behavioral testing, wearables, and blood-based biomarkers. Fellows with strong quantitative backgrounds and experience in neuroimaging and/or EEG will have opportunities to work across our two current NIH-funded studies—one on attentional resilience and one on the bidirectional relationships between Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers and postoperative delirium—and develop expertise in resilience and aging neuroscience.
Postdoctoral trainees will examine the mechanisms and treatments for respiratory and limb muscle dysfunction in animal models and humans. We conduct basic, translational, and clinical research focused on the role of muscle in aging resilience and diseases (heart failure with preserved ejection fraction) using mice, rats, muscle biopsies in patients, and noninvasive rehabilitation strategies (exercise and nutrition) in older individuals. An active area of investigation is the link between impairments in muscle metabolism, mitochondria, and contractile function.
Dr. Marquine’s research focuses on addressing neurocognitive disparities in aging, with a focus on finding digital solutions to address these disparities. Fellows will receive hands-on training via ongoing studies examining digital biomarkers and AI-driven methods for improving the early identification of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), with a focus on the US Latino population. This research will provide opportunities for interdisciplinary training at the intersection of aging, ADRD, neurocognitive disparities, data science, and artificial intelligence.
The Terrando lab studies the mechanisms underlying perioperative neurocognitive disorders, focusing on postoperative delirium, and how neuroimmune interactions ultimately impact cognitive outcomes during aging and neurodegeneration. We use an integrated interdisciplinary, collaborative, and translational approach to address the biological complexity of this common complication in many older adults. The lab combines mouse models, micro physiological systems, and clinical samples to understand how brain barriers are affected following inflammation in order to develop safe strategies to resolve delirium and prevent subsequent cognitive decline following anesthesia and surgery.
We study fundamental mechanisms of cardiac growth and resilience. We apply cutting-edge functional genomics tools for our work using cardiac organoids. Trainees will have opportunities for both discovery and translational work with our group.
My laboratory investigates the neural correlates of memory and cognition in young and older adults using fMRI. We have three main lines of research: First, we distinguish the neural correlates of various episodic memory processes. For example, we have compared encoding vs. retrieval, item vs. source memory, recall vs. recognition, true vs. false memory, and emotional vs. nonemotional memory. We are particularly interested in the contribution of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and medial temporal lobe (MTL) subregions and their interactions. Second, we investigate similarities and differences between the neural correlates of episodic memory and other memory and cognitive functions (working, semantic, implicit, and procedural memory; attention; perception, etc.).
We lead an interdisciplinary program in study design and statistical methods to harness real‑world evidence (RWE), particularly EHR, claims, and registry data, to generate actionable insights for aging populations. Our research integrates data on the exposome and targets analytic problems that arise from heterogeneous routine clinical care, including informative missingness, time‑varying treatment patterns, and site‑level variation. Methodologically, we emphasize causal inference, transportability/generalizability, longitudinal modeling, and simulation‑based design evaluation, aiming to improve decision‑making for older adults with high comorbidity burden. Fellows will collaborate with clinical partners across Duke to co‑design studies, develop novel methods, and translate results for practice and policy. Ideal candidates bring strong skills in R/Python, experience with EHR data curation and quality assessment, and curiosity about how groups of people may age differently.
The Han Lab studies how the gut microbiome and microbial metabolites influence aging, longevity, stress resilience, and proteostasis. Our NIA R01-funded research program provides opportunities for postdoctoral fellows to gain multidisciplinary training in microbiology, C. elegans and mammalian models, and mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to uncover mechanisms of microbiome-host communication. We aim to support scientific independence and advance microbiome-focused interventions to promote healthy aging.
Tamara Somers, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and a clinical psychologist. Her research program focuses on the development, testing, and implementation of behavioral interventions for pain and symptom management in individuals with chronic illness. A central emphasis of this work is addressing the unique symptom management needs and challenges of older adults with multimorbidity (e.g., cancer co-occurring with arthritis). Trainees have opportunities to engage closely in ongoing NIH- and foundation-funded behavioral intervention studies; conduct secondary analyses using large, well-characterized datasets; leverage secondary findings as pilot data for grant submissions; receive structured training in grant writing with an emphasis on behavioral intervention development; and obtain mentorship and support in building an independent research program in symptom management in older adults.
Dr. Galanos mentors in grief, bereavement, and resilience across the life course, with particular attention to clinicians and older adults. Current areas of interest include professional grief following adverse or sad outcomes in medical settings; communication during grief and bereavement; the relationship between grief and burnout; and the effects of cumulative loss in later life. Mentees may also explore how repeated experiences of grief after age 70 influence resilience, well-being, and the ability to experience positive aging, including how these relationships may differ across socioeconomic groups. The mentoring environment is interdisciplinary, collaborative, and informed by extensive clinical, geriatric, and aging research experience.
Virginia Byers Kraus, MD, PhD, is the Mary Bernheim Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Professor of Pathology and a faculty member of the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute in the Duke University School of Medicine. She is a practicing Rheumatologist with over 30 years’ experience in translational musculoskeletal research focusing on osteoarthritis, the most common of all arthritis.
Dr. Kraus’ research group focuses on understanding the biological mechanisms whereby exercise training results in health benefits and then translating that knowledge into clinical practice. The work spans basic science to cell culture to integrative physiology in human subjects. A second, but integrated line of work seeks to use multiplatform molecular data from human subjects to understand the molecular architecture of human atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Stipend and Benefits
- Stipends will follow those set out by NIH and the Duke Postdoctoral Office for Postdoctoral Scholars.
- The program also provides health insurance (using the University’s insurance plan). For information on health insurance and other benefits at Duke, review the information provided by the Duke Postdoctoral Office.
- Partial travel support is provided when you are presenting your research at a professional meeting. If the proposed research will require additional funding, this should be discussed with your mentor.
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