Program goals

​After completion of the post-bac program, participating students will be prepared for graduate school admission, successful completion of a research-focused doctoral degree, and careers in the biomedical research workforce, through our offered:

• Research Experiences: Hands-on exposure to research and individual mentoring in your field of interest.
• Courses for Skills and Career Development: Advanced courses in a specific discipline, research technique or research area, and/or courses or workshops to develop scholarly potential and increase confidence. See our curriculum page for the growing list of courses we offer.

Other benefits

• On-campus housing:  PROPEL scholars are eligible for UCSF on-campus housing as UCSF staff members. You will need your official UCSF job offer to apply.
• Graduate program application fee waivers:  PROPEL scholars qualify for a fee waiver for applications to graduate programs at UCSF and other institutions.
• UCSF Fitness Center membership:  PROPEL scholars qualify for a discounted membership rate at the UCSF Fitness Center

• Must be working as a full-time research technician (e.g. Junior Specialist or Research Staff Associate) in the lab of a UCSF faculty member.
• Must have earned an undergraduate degree at an accredited institution. Trainees with Master's degree are also eligible.
• Highly interested in pursuing a doctorate degree in biomedical science (PhD or MD/PhD). PROPEL is not appropriate for trainees who intend to apply to medical school.  These trainees should consider the UCSF Pre-Med Postbac Program.
• Must commit to participating in program events for at least one academic year.
• Must be a US Citizen, Permanent resident, or DACA recipient.

Applications to the PROPEL program are accepted at any time, but will be evaluated at set times of the year.  Application will be evaluated four times per year based on the following deadlines:  March 1st, June 1st, September 1st, and December 1st.  Applications must be submitted by 5pm Pacific Time on these dates to be considered in that evaluation period.  Late applications will be considered in the following application period.

Essay Questions:
Enrollment is limited and not guaranteed. Priority will be given to applicants who can clearly demonstrate their commitment to pursuing a doctorate degree in biomedical science (Ph or MD/PhD) and to building strong scientific communities. Our application will have three essay questions as described below. For more information on how we evaluate our applicants, you can review our application rubric here.

Current Career Path
We are interested in scholars that are preparing themselves to pursue a scientific career. In your application, tell us about what you’ve done in the past to explore science as a career.  This could include previous research experiences, previous attempts to apply to grad school, or any other career exploration activities.  We are particularly interested in scholars that have taken advantage of every opportunitiesy offered to them. (Please include context, as opportunities and the ability to pursue them vary across institutions and personal circumstances (i.e. employment, family responsibilities, etc).

Future Career Goals and Alignment with PROPEL
The last thing we want to do is waste you time.  Let us know your future career goals, including the degree you are most interested in pursuing and how you believe joining PROPEL will help you achieve your goals

Leadership and Commitment to Science Community Building
Commitment to building strong communities is an important pillar of PROPEL.  Priority will be given to applicants who clearly articulate how their personal history, achievements, and/or future career goals provide evidence of a strong commitment to promoting a community that is welcoming for all. For example, experiences may include:

• Participation, through volunteer or paid work, in clubs, organizations, activities, or training programs designed to promote science outreach to those currently outside of scientific discourse.
• Leadership experience, especially in affinity groups, community spaces, and student organizations.
• Lived experiences that would provide unique perspectives and/or add representation for a point-of-view currently lacking in the sciences.

Applications will be reviewed as soon as possible after the cycle deadline and admission decisions will typically be issued within 1-2 weeks after the deadline.  Applications may be submitted before the scholar’s start date at UCSF.  In this case, the applicant must have already accepted a verbal offer of employment in a UCSF research group.  If the application cycle deadline occurs before the start date, an offer of admission into PROPEL will be contingent on the completion of the hiring process. 

• If you do not already work in a UCSF lab and are interested in applying for research positions, sign up for our UCSF Matchmaking Event, in which you can meet UCSF faculty who are interested in hiring research technicians. The annual event takes place by Zoom each year in January. You can also check our job board year round for posted positions and instructions on how to find postbac-level positions across UCSF. .
• If you are interested in joining PROPEL and meet the criteria above, please fill out the Scholar's application form and ask your PI to fill out the PROPEL Mentor's Application Form. We will inform you of our decision once application evaluations have concluded.

Scholar's Application Form

PROPEL Mentor's Application Form

You can download both forms here if you would like to review the questions offline before filling out the form online.  However, you must submit your responses using the online form

Scholars are required to be employed by a UCSF mentor to be part of PROPEL. This means scholars must find a UCSF mentor and secure a job offer (verbal or written job offer letter) before applying to PROPEL.

There are various ways to find a mentor at UCSF:

• Attend our annual Matchmaking Event. Our next Matchmaking Event is scheduled for January 30th, 2025.  At the event, UCSF faculty interested in hiring full-time research technicians meet applicants for several 10 minutes interview sessions over zoom. Trainees interested in attending the matchmaking event should complete their application no later than December 4th, 2024.  Apply at justice.ucsf.edu.
• Check our job board for open positions at the junior specialist level.  This currated list of job openings feature postings from current and former PROPEL mentors.
• Search APrecruit for open positions (click "applicants" in the lower left corner.  Any UCSF faculty member is eligible to be a PROPEL mentor, so please feel free to search boardly for a position.  We find that using the key word "junior" works best to call up all Junior Specialist positions (the job title most PROPEL scholars are hired under).
• Check our list of PROPEL faculty.  If there is a faculty who's work particularly interests you, you can contact that faculty for that to inquire about open positions.

UCSF PROPEL proudly partners with other postbac programs that share our mission and values. See the links below for additional opportunties at other universities:

Stanford University: REACH

University of Washington/Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center: PROPEL NW

University of Iowa: ICARE (cancer-focus) and iDREAM (neuroscience-focus)

• January, 2026  UCSF Matchmaking Event (Apply at justice.ucsf.edu.)
  • Participate in this event to apply for research technician jobs at UCSF and the opportunity to join PROPEL in the 2026-27 academic year
• May 2025 PROPEL Symposium
• August  Start of the 2025/26 PROPEL academic year