The Pathways to Neurosciences program fosters belonging, excellence, and leadership in the next generation of Stanford neuroscience trainees.
Pathways to Neurosciences is a mentorship and leadership training program that fosters belonging among neuroscience trainees during their transition from PhD to postdoctoral training (late-stage grad students and early-stage postdocs). The program supports participants through peer and faculty mentorship, professional and scientific development opportunities, and community-building events.
This program is part of an NIH-funded research study that seeks to collect actionable data about how to effectively increase social connection and feelings of belonging for trainees in the neurosciences.
Applications open July 7 through August 1, 2025
No letters of recommendation are required to apply for the Pathways to Neurosciences program at Wu Tsai Neuro, although two short, open-ended text responses are requested as part of the application form.
Program Components
Pathways trainees have access to the following opportunities:
- NeuroCircles: Facilitated peer-to-peer mentoring groups. NeuroCircles meet every other week starting in the Fall. Each NeuroCircle cohort will last two years and will consist of ~10 trainees who are approaching or have recently completed the transition from predoctoral to postdoctoral status.
- Pathways Mentors: Faculty available for one-on-one meetings centered around specific topics related to mentorship, scientific advancement, and networking.
- Unwritten Rules: Casual moderated conversations between Pathways trainees and invited faculty around navigating career choice, career transitions, and personal and professional challenges as a scientist.
- Enrichment Funds: Grants for career development or scientific training experiences, such as travel to another lab to learn a technique or to a career development meeting.
- Grant-writing workshops: Designed specifically for Pathways by Dr. Crystal Botham, the founder of the award-winning Grant Writing Academy, these events will boost your ability to choose the right fellowship program and to develop a writing practice.
Pathways Mentors
Pathways trainees have access to one-on-one meetings with mentors where they can discuss their questions and request advice regarding mentorship, scientific advancement, and networking.
Contact Us
For questions about the program, please contact Valerie Vargas-Zapata at vvargasz@stanford.edu.
For questions about the rights of participants in our study, call 1-866-680-2906.