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David B. Larson Fellowship in Health and Spirituality

East corridor, Great Hall, ceiling mosaic

Ceiling mosaic representing Medicine, Great Hall, Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.

About the Program

The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress invites qualified scholars to apply for a post-doctoral fellowship in the field of health and spirituality. Made possible by a generous endowment from the International Center for the Integration of Health and Spirituality (ICIHS), the fellowship is named in honor of the Center's late founder, David B. Larson, an epidemiologist and psychiatrist, who focused on potentially relevant but understudied factors which might help in prevention, coping, and recovering from illness.

The fellowship is designed to continue Dr. Larson's legacy of promoting meaningful, scholarly study of these two important and increasingly interrelated fields. It seeks to encourage the pursuit of scholarly excellence in the scientific study of the relation of religiousness and spirituality to physical, mental, and social health. The fellowship provides an opportunity for a period of six to twelve months of concentrated use of the collections of the Library of Congress, through full-time residency in the Library's John W. Kluge Center. The Kluge Center is located in the splendid Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library, and it furnishes attractive work and discussion space for its scholars as well as easy access to the Library's specialized staff and to the intellectual community of Washington. If necessary, special arrangements may be made with the National Library of Medicine for access to its materials as well.

Eligibility

Applicants must by U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must possess a doctoral degree awarded by the deadline date. For the purposes of the Larson Fellowship, doctoral degrees include the Ph.D., M.D., Sc.D., Dr.P.H., D.S.W., P.Psy., D.S.T., Th.D., and J.D.

Tenure & Stipend

The David B. Larson Fellowship in Health and Spirituality is tenable for a period from six to twelve months, at a stipend of $4,200 per month, for residential research at the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress will pay stipends monthly by means of electronic transfer to a U.S. bank account. Transportation arrangements, housing, and health care insurance and costs are the responsibility of the Fellow. The Library will provide Fellows with information on housing and can provide Fellows with contacts for commercial providers of health care insurance. The Library is required to ensure that nonresident alien visitors maintain minimum levels of medical insurance, and will provide information about insurers that offer qualifying policies to nonresident aliens.

Applications

Applicants must submit:

  • A completed application form, in English
  • A curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages; additional pages will be discarded)
  • A single paragraph abstract
  • A statement of proposed research (maximum 3 pages)
  • An explanation of why the Library of Congress is the required venue for your research (maximum 1 paragraph)
  • A bibliography of works you have consulted for your proposal (maximum 3 pages)
  • 3 references with completed reference forms from people who have read the research proposal

The research proposal must define those aspects the applicant wishes to study in the relationships of religiousness and spirituality to physical, mental, and social health. Research perspectives may begin with, but need not be limited to, medical, psychiatric, psychological, nursing, public health, religious, ministerial, legal, sociological, anthropological, or historical experience. Interdisciplinary or cross-cultural proposals are welcomed. Applicants should be prepared to indicate those Library of Congress collections they anticipate using. Successful proposals will clearly indicate the purpose and principal scholarly contribution of the project, and the benefit to the project of working in the Library of Congress.

Due Date

The annual application deadline is April 17. Application materials must be submitted by the deadline date via the Kluge Center's online application system.

Expectations

The Larson Fellow is expected to develop research of a publishable quality. As a Library of Congress resident scholar, fellows are also expected to make at least one public presentation about their research and to participate actively in Kluge Center events and programs as appropriate.

Contact Information

Completed application packets should be submitted via the Kluge Center's online application system. Applications submitted via email, fax, or regular mail will not be considered. For questions about application procedures, eligibility, stipend or deadlines, please email [email protected] or write to us at:

David B. Larson Fellowship in Health and Spirituality
The John W. Kluge Center / Office of Scholarly Programs
Library of Congress, LJ-120
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20540-4860
tel. 202 707-3302; fax 202 707-3595
email: [email protected]

"The Kluge Center experience is one of the most congenial academic environments I have ever encountered."

-Tara Tappert, Larson Fellow, 2013

Application Deadline: April 17

Research Areas: Research on the relation of religiousness and spirituality to physical, mental, and social health.

Eligibility: Open to U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a doctoral degree conferred. prior to April 15.

Stipend: $4,200 per month (6 to 12 months).

Further information:
   The John W. Kluge Center
   phone: (202) 707-3302
   fax: (202) 707-3595
   email: [email protected]

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Current Fellows

Joanne Braxton (2016-2017)

Joanne Braxton

The Frances L & Edwin L Cummings Professor of English & Humanities at the College of William & Mary, at the Kluge Center Braxton is researching a project titled "Religion, Spirituality and Health in the African American Experience."

Samira Mehta (2016-2017)

Samira Mehta

An Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Albright College, Mehta’s research at the Kluge Center examines contraception, sexuality, and American religion.

Past Fellows

Tara Tappert (2014-2015)

Tara Tappert

An independent scholar, archivist and art consultant, at the Kluge Center Tappert researched arts and crafts making as a transformational healing process for war trauma.






Manuella Meyer (2013-2014)

Manuella Meyer

An Assistant Professor of History at University of Richmond, Meyer’s research at the Kluge Center examined narratives of madness and concepts of mental illness in Rio de Janeiro during the 19th and early 20th centuries.





Farr Curlin (2012)

Farr Curlin

An associate professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Chicago and co-director of the Program on Medicine and Religion at the University of Chicago, at the Kluge Center Curlin researched irony and its place in the practice of medicine.




Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi (2011)

Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi

An author and independent scholar, at the Kluge Center Ghamari-Tabrizi researched a project titled “Tracking the Meaning of Presence.”

  • Lecture: “The Chaplain Writes a Chart Note: Spiritual Diagnosis in a Multidisciplinary Care Team”

Fayth Parks (2009-2010)

Fayth Parks

Associate Professor of Leadership, Technology & Human Development at Georgia Southern University, at the Kluge Center Parks researched folk healing, mental health and spirituality.





Kelly Pemberton (2008-2009)

Kelly Pemberton

An Associate Professor of Religion and Women's Studies at The George Washington University, at the Kluge Center Pemberton researched women and the institutionalization of Islamic medical knowledge.





Frances Garrett (2007-2008)

Frances Garrett

Associate Professor of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto, at the Kluge Center Garrett researched religious healing and the history of medicine in pre-17th century Tibetan literature.





Janet Roseman (2006)

Janet Roseman

A clinical instructor at Brown University Medical School, at the Kluge Center Roseman researched a book project on Martha Graham.

  • Lecture: “Martha Graham and Erick Hawkins' love affair with the Southwest”

Most Rev. Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna (2006)

The Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna was in residence at the Kluge Center researching a therapeutic approach to mental illness that incorporates Eastern Orthodox Hesychastic spiritual exercises into traditional psychoanalytical methodologies.

  • Lecture: “From Franny and Zooey to Freud: The Psychotherapeutic Application of the Teachings of the Desert Fathers, Hesychasm, and Eastern Orthodox Mysticism”

Juliet Bruce (2004-2005)

Juliet Bruce

The inaugural David B. Larson Fellow in Health and Spirituality and Executive Director for the Institute for Transformation through the Arts, at the Kluge Center Bruce researched and wrote a book project on the theory and practice of creative self-expression for healing.




Deadline: April 17

Research Areas: Research on the relation of religiousness and spirituality to physical, mental, and social health.

Eligibility: Open to U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a doctoral degree conferred. prior to April 15.

Stipend: $4,200 per month (6 to 12 months).

Further information:
   The John W. Kluge Center
   phone: (202) 707-3302
   fax: (202) 707-3595
   email: [email protected]

Subscribe to our RSS Feed:
   To learn about news, events, and
   application and nomination periods.
   Subscribe now

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