Can I join your research group as a PhD student?

In order to join the group, you must be admitted to a PhD program at Stanford University. Some programs that students I work with have come from:

Stanford's Biomedical Informatics Program

Stanford Biosciences, including 14 different programs

Stanford Computer Science

Stanford Statistics and Data Science

Can you talk with me before I submit my materials for graduate admissions?

No, I do not feel comfortable doing this. First, I receive a large number of these requests, and I cannot honor all of them while giving appropriate time to my current group members. Second, I believe it unfairly advantages those students that have received coaching on graduate school admissions. I am very eager, however, to talk with you about my group and the Stanford programs more generally once you have been accepted into a graduate program at Stanford.

Are you taking students this year?

If you are a stellar student and a great match for my group, there will always be a spot for you here. It matters more that you are a cultural fit for my group rather than if you have exactly the right background or experience -- students and postdocs in my group have had backgrounds that include mathematics, genetics, molecular biology, developmental biology, machine learning, databases, computational biology, biophysics, bioengineering, electrical engineering and optimization, and others.

What does it mean that you are also a Senior Investigator at Gladstone Institutes?

It means that you will have two institutes to call home rather than one! Students in my group will have Gladstone affiliations and desks there; some have chosen to move to San Francisco later in their PhD and spend time at Gladstone. We collaborate a lot with labs there, and I strive for seemless interactions between Stanford and Gladstone. I spend two to three days a week at Stanford and at Gladstone, and ensure that I meet with students and postdocs at least one day a week in person at each location.

What advice do you have for applying to graduate school?

Take or leave this advice, but, first, be sure you want to go to graduate school! Give your letter writers plenty of lead time (at least two months), and tend toward academics for letters because they tend to write letters in a language that admissions committees understand well. Prepare your research statement carefully, focusing on your research experiences and the process of research, obstacles you have overcome, and your hopes and dreams for the future. You can let your passions show in this statement, but we also look for concrete examples of how you interact with research problems. Apply for funding in parallel if you can, such as NSF GRFP.

If I have a few low grades on my transcript, should I apply to a Master's program?

If you are eager to do research and a full PhD, it is worthwhile to apply to the PhD program even with a few lower grades on your transcript. I had a senior faculty member at a top university say once "a few low grades indicate they like challenges" -- which is essential in research.

I don't have research experience; should I apply to a Master's program?

There is a lot of bias against applications without research experience for a PhD. I would recommend doing a summer program where research is involved. There are many such programs in machine learning, statistics, data science, and biomedical fields.

Where do I find out what work your group is doing?

So many places! Mostly, current papers and preprints, but also through presentations from affiliated group members at conferences, and write ups from news sources.

Are you taking rotation students?

Please reach out to me to find out whether I am taking students for rotations for any particular quarter. To join my group, I require a rotation (as do most of the programs at Stanford that I take graduate students from). Please plan rotations early — it is better to line up too many rotations and cancel one than too few.

Do you have advice on how to choose rotation labs?

If I were to advise on how to choose a rotation lab, I would say that it is better to find a cultural match than a perfect research match; your PhD is for learning new things and performing a full body of research from beginning to end, so you can afford to pivot from where you started early on in your degree. But you can never take leaps with your mental health.