MSTAR National Training Centers and Participating Schools

National Training Centers

All National Training Centers (NTCs) offer excellent facilities, diverse research programs, and provide the opportunity for interaction with other students participating in the program.

Please be in touch directly with the National Training Centers to determine their availability and program deadline.


Program for Aging Research in the Summer (PARIS) at Augusta University

Program Directors: Wendy Bollag and Carlos Isales

Available positions: 8 - 11

PARIS Application Deadline: January 31, 2024

Program application portal: https://www.augusta.edu/mcg/phy/t35-application.php

Positions available for students enrolled at these institutions in Puerto Rico, although other applicants will be considered:

  • Universidad Central del Caribe (UCC)
  • Ponce Health Sciences University
  • San Juan Bautista School of Medicine


Greater Boston MSTAR Program at Harvard Medical School

Program Director: Jane (Jenny) Driver and Cara McLaughlin-Gavin

Program Administrator: Leslie Power

Available positions: 11

Partner sites:

  • Boston University
  • University of Massachusetts
  • University of Mississippi
  • Brown University


Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Program Director: Rainier Soriano

Program website: https://medinfo.mssm.edu/MSTAR

Available Positions: 15


Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Program Directors: Colleen Christmas

Program Administrator: Lindia Holmes

Available positions: 18

(Please note: The program duration at Johns Hopkins is 8 weeks.)


New York University

New York University application deadline: January 29, 2024 at 5:00 pm Eastern Time.

Program Director: Joshua Chodosh

Program Administrator: Emily Johnston

Application Link

NYU 2024 Project List

Available positions: 16

University of California, Los Angeles - David Geffen School of Medicine

Program Directors: Cathy Lee (cathy.c.lee@ucla.edu), John Shen (johnshen@mednet.ucla.edu)

Program website: https://www.uclahealth.org/geriatrics/mstar

Contact email: uclamstar@mednet.ucla.edu

Available positions: 20

Partner sites: The UCLA Training Center includes positions at the partner sites below:

Students interested in training at UCLA, UCSF or UW must contact the respective program coordinator (UCLA & UCSF) or director (UW) prior to submitting their application. Please contact the UCLA Training Center for an application form as UCLA and its partner sites have their own application and will not accept applications forwarded from other MSTAR training sites.


University of California San Diego School of Medicine

Program Directors: Benjamin Han and Ellen Lee

Program website: https://medschool.ucsd.edu/research/aging/training/Pages/For-Medical-Students.aspx

Contact email: lajimenez@health.ucsd.edu

Available positions: 18


University of North Carolina

Program Director: Jan Busby-Whitehead

Associate Program Directors: Ellen Roberts and Joshua Niznik

Administrator: Kristen Ruck

Program website: https://www.med.unc.edu/aging/mstar

Available positions: 14

Interested applicants are required to contact the program and submit an interest form prior to completing their application. UNC Chapel Hill has its own application and will not accept applications forwarded from other National Training Centers.