Time-to-Write: November 9

– REGISTRATION REQUIRED – 

Do you have a paper, dissertation, grant proposal, or application you’ve been putting off? Or maybe you’re finding it hard to motivate yourself to sit down and write?

Back by popular demand! The Grant Writing Academy is hosting multiple time-to-write sessions for Stanford graduate students and postdocs this fall quarter–attend one or sign up for all!

This session runs from 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM and requires participants to attend the full session. Please register only if you can stay for the entire time.

What to Expect

During the session, we’ll guide you through a series of 25-minute writing blocks using the Pomodoro technique. Participants will be placed in small groups of 2–4 students or fellows. At the start of each block, you’ll briefly share your writing goal with your group. At the end of the block, you’ll do a quick check-in to reflect on your progress and set your next goal.

How to Prepare

Please bring a fully charged laptop or whatever materials you prefer to write with. If possible, review any relevant literature and have your references ready in advance. Preparing a brief outline ahead of time can also help you make the most of the session.

We’re looking forward to a productive afternoon of focused writing and helping you move closer to your writing goals.

To help us improve future sessions, we’ll also invite attendees to share feedback on the timing and format of upcoming Time-to-Write events.

Questions? Please contact the Grant Coaches: Dr. Cameron Bader,  Dr. Mekhala Dissanayake, or Dr. Brittany Bush.

Meet Your Grant Coaches:

Dr. Cameron Bader is a postdoctoral scholar and immunologist in the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at Stanford University. His graduate studies investigated the role of the innate immune sensor STING in murine models of graft-versus-host disease and bone marrow transplantation. In his postdoctoral training, he has continued to investigate novel strategies to augment hematopoietic cell transplantation as a cure for cancer, to improve solid organ transplantation, and to prevent neurodegenerative disease with animal models and bioinformatic approaches in humans. Cameron has been the recipient of NIH F31 and F99/K00 fellowships and is now funded by a K99/R00 career development award which has supported his transition to Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison beginning December 2026. Cameron is passionate about mentorship and teaching and is excited to apply his experience to help graduate and postdoctoral grant writers achieve their goals. Outside of science, Cameron enjoys spending time with his wife, dog, and experimenting with new ingredients in the kitchen.

Dr. Mekhala Dissanayake is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics. She received her PhD in Epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill. As a public health researcher, her work is at the intersection of social epidemiology and health services research, focusing on how availability, accessibility, and quality of healthcare contribute to maternal health disparities. Her grant writing experience includes an R36 Dissertation Award as a doctoral student and an NIH Loan Repayment award for Health Disparities Research as a postdoc, the latter of which she developed in a Stanford proposal bootcamp. She hopes to support diverse groups of graduate students and postdocs in their grant writing process through her involvement in BIOS 432: Boost your Research Productivity With Design Thinking Tools. When she’s not writing grants, Mekhala is reading fantasy/science fiction novels, cooking, or playing pickleball.

Dr. Brittany Bush is a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Giardino Lab) investigating sex differences in neurocircuitry involved in sleep regulation, stress response, and reward. She is a proud HBCU graduate, earning her BS in Biology from Savannah State University, as well as her, MS in biomedical research, MS in Clinical Research, and PhD in Biomedical Sciences from Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Bush is currently an HHMI 2024 Hanna Gray Postdoctoral Fellow, Propel Program Alumni, Co-President of the Stanford Black Postdoc Association and facilitator for the Pathways to Neuroscience Program. She is passionate about increasing minority representation in STEM and mentoring students of color interested in pursuing a STEM career. As a co-lead for the Seminar Series, Brittany combines her passion for mentoring diverse trainees with practical guidance on preparing strong grant application they can be proud of while managing the grant writing process with low stress. She is excited to share her tips and tricks to becoming a successful and effective grant writer.

If you need a disability related accommodation to participate in this event (captioning, sign language interpreting, Braille, etc.), please contact the Diversity & Access Office at disability.access@stanford.edu or 650.725.0326. Requests should be received at least one week prior to the event.