Writing tips for psychoneuroimmunology trainees: Lessons learned from Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser

Abstract

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) researchers can advance their careers and increase their scientific impact by prioritizing their writing skills. In addition to Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser's landmark research that inspired this special issue, her legacy is reflected in her prolific writing. Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser has the unique ability to convey her innovative research clearly and to diverse audiences. She also made writing mentorship a critical part of the training experience in her lab. In these ways, Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser's writing skills and mentorship have shaped both the PNI field and her trainees' careers. In this paper, I distill lessons learned about writing from Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser during my time as a graduate student in her Stress and Health Lab in the 2010s. I reflect on Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser's influence on her trainees' writing habits, summarize “writing pearls” inspired by her feedback/revisions, and provide observations on her writing mentorship habits. These tips are intended to help PNI trainees to clearly communicate their work and to help mentors reflect on ways they can prioritize and advance their trainees' writing skills. Finally, I reflect on how Dr. Kiecolt-Glaser's mentorship and scientific accomplishments had a tremendous impact on my own career development.