Stanford FARM Program

Arts Program

Vivianne Tawfik, MD, PhD

Director, Fellowship in Anesthesiology Research & Medicine (FARM)

Overview

The goal of the Stanford Fellowship in Anesthesiology Research and Medicine (or Stanford FARM Scholars) is to recruit applicants who want careers as researchers and academic anesthesiologists.  This Resident Research Career Development Award awards an additional unrestricted $10,000 department stipend (taxed either as income over the normal postgraduate year salary and paid during each academic year, or as a research budget, as decided by the FARM scholar) annually for each year the resident is in the FARM program. The FARM program requires a minimum of one research fellowship year in addition to the 3 years of traditional residency. Additional funding to support research costs during the fellowship year is available through the departmental small grants program after review by the department’s Research Committee.

Applicants are encouraged to take advantage of the great breadth of research training available at Stanford by seeking out faculty mentors and laboratories in any department in the medical school or university. The FARM Program Director, Dr. Vivianne Tawfik, will mentor the resident until a suitable PI/lab is found, which should occur by the end of the CA1 year. Ongoing outstanding clinical performance is required. The program structure is flexible, with several possible options, as outlined below.

Following completion of the 3 residency years, these awardees will be appointed as junior faculty at the Stanford School of Medicine, with a commitment of 80% effort for research and 20% for clinical care on the Departmental NIH T32 grant for post-doctoral research. This can continue for 1, 2, or more years. The spirit of the FARM program is to nurture young investigators with departmental funding until extramural support is obtained. Mentored Clinical Scientist (K08) or Mentored Patient-Oriented Research (K23) Career Development Awards by the NIH are common options following an initial FAER or T32 fellowship. Any salary support obtained from extramural funding during the FARM fellowship would be incremental. The resident can also apply for the NIH Loan Repayment program; qualification for this program can result in a reduction of up to $35,000 for 2 years.

Apply to FARM

Once you have submitted your research statement, it will be included in your application package for review by the admissions committee. For those selected for an interview, we will have 3 “FARM” interview dates which will consist of the regular residency track interviews followed by additional interviews with departmental research faculty. Prior to the rank deadline, Dr. Tawfik will reach out to let you know whether you would be admitted to the FARM program should you match at Stanford. Note that we do not have a separate FARM match spot. 

Options for Resident Research Career Development Pathway

Normal Residency

  • CA1
  • CA2
  • CA3

Residency with 21 Months Lab Research

  • CA1
  • 3 Months Research / CA2
  • 6 Months Research / CA3
  • Instructor (80% Research)

Residency with 30 Months Lab Research

  • CA1
  • 6 Months Research / CA 2
  • FAER Research Fellowship Grant
  • CA3
  • Instructor (80% Research)

Clinical Research Track*

  • *30 months for Masters and Research Time
  • 3 Months Research / CA2
  • 6 Months Research / CA3
  • Masters of Science*
  • Instructor (80% Research)

*The Stanford Clinical Research Training Program, funded in part by an NIH Clinical Research Curriculum Award (K30). The main component of the K30 is a training program in clinical research leading to a Master of Science (MS) degree in Clinical Epidemiology.

Current FARM Residents

CA3

  • Lichy Han
  • Laura Tetri (Peds-Anesthesia)
  • Chris O’Donnell (Med-Anesthesia-Final Year)

CA2

  • Richard Perez
  • Ben Deverett
  • Moi Arriaga
  • Megan Garland (Med-Anesthesia)
  • Jim Goodman (Med-Anesthesia)

CA1

  • Caitlin Coombes
  • Sofija Canavan
  • Anna McCarter
  • Payton Marshall

CBY

  • Natalie Koons 
  • Akansha Tarun