Public Speaking

Topics include: career paths, science communications, why diversity matters, starting a nonprofit, and plain & inclusive language.

Raves

"Kudos to your editor [Ellen] for their time and efforts. It is clear that they went through the paper with a fine-tooth comb, from slight one-word changes here and there to correcting a citation...I am happy with the final product, and I think overall, it is improved over our initial submittal without impacting any of the information."

— Manuscript Author, Journal of Environmental Health

"Ellen is an exceptional editor. I had the opportunity to work with her on a project that contained many components. She is well-organized, thoughtful, and has tremendous expertise in a variety of style requirements. She made significant improvements to the materials she was given and she did so in a respectful way, always providing options for consideration. Our project was improved immeasurably by her contributions. I highly recommend Ellen. Not only is she thorough, reliable, and flexible, she is also an absolute joy to work with."

— Senior Communications Manager, Washington Health Alliance

"Ellen did a fantastic job editing my program’s annual report. She knows the style guides inside and out and made word choice and grammatical corrections that took the report to the next level of professionalism. I was proud to share it with leaders inside and outside our organization. Ellen has excellent communication skills, is easy to work with, and flexible. I am happy to recommend her as a copyeditor and would enthusiastically work with her again."

— Manager, Treuman Katz Center for Pediatric Bioethics

Past Presentations

It all started when…

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About Ellen Kuwana, M.S.

Ellen is a trained scientist (MS in neuroscience from the University of California San Francisco) with more than 10 years of basic, clinical, and translational research experience. Her areas of subject matter expertise include neuroscience, molecular biology, cancer biology, and bioethics. She worked at the University of Washington for 14 years and Seattle Children’s bioethics center for 6 years.

She has edited more than 400 scientific articles and dozens of successful grant applications (Ro1, R34, K08, P50, STTR/SBIR) totaling more than $1 billion in funding. She has worked with English as a second language (ESL) authors. She is an expert in plain language, appropriate reading levels, and inclusive language.

She is President of the Northwest Science Writers Association, host of a twice-monthly coffee chat for freelancers for the National Association of Science Writers, and VP of the Congress of Regional Science Writers Groups.

Ellen founded WeGotThisSeattle, a COVID-19 emergency relief project, and has fed more than 56,000 frontline and essential workers since March 13, 2020. She has fundraised more than $125,000 and has helped keep more than 150 Seattle restaurants in business. She has been featured in The New York Times, The Seattle Times, Seattle Met Magazine, CBS This Morning, Mother Jones, High Country News, and has been drawn by David Horsey as one of 2020’s local heroes.

Education

MS in Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Thesis work in laboratory of John Rubinstein, MD, PhD, Weill Institute for Neurosciences

BS in Organismal Biology, University of Kansas

Intensive Japanese language summer sister city-exchange program, Hiratsuka, Japan

Leadership

Nonprofit executive director and creative agency director-level experience

Founder, WeGotThisSeattle

Past-President, Northwest Science Writers Association

National Association of Science Writers

• Recipient, Diane McGurgan Service Award

• Founding member, Writing for K-12 Students Committee

• Founder, Freelance Writers #SciWriCoffee Chat

Even More Raves

"Ellen utilizes a wealth of scientific knowledge and extraordinary writing expertise in styles, grammar, and nonbiased language to complete each copy editing project. This combination of scientific and writing expertise is invaluable to scientific publications, resulting in a final product that is scientifically sound, logical, grammatically and stylistically sound, and comprehendible. Her editing is always thorough, thoughtful, and consistent. Ellen is a pure joy to work with, always meeting deadlines, being flexible when needed, and never needing oversight."

— Client, Scientific Journal Editor

“Ellen has been a tremendous asset in copy editing for Issues in Science and Technology. She obviously knows grammar and punctuation rules inside and out, but she also has a great feel for flow and wording. She is careful and detail-oriented, precise in her editing and judicious in her choices. She rapidly got up to speed on our publication’s style quirks and takes on dense and knotty prose with élan. When necessary she asks insightful questions of both the author and editors. Her suggested phrasing alternatives are invariably on point. And—a virtue never to be taken for granted—she on time, returning polished, vastly improved essays on deadline. It has been a true pleasure working with Ellen, and we look forward to continuing to partner with her on future projects.”

— Managing Editor, Issues in Science and Technology

Ellen’s scientific writing is precise, succinct, yet accessible Her working style is precisely what one wants on a team attempting to draft a highly technical, detailed research grant that proposes to move the field forward with innovative research. She is personable yet professional. Ellen asked thoughtful questions, assembled and summarized complex literature, and always brought a pleasant vibe to team meetings. I found her to be reliable, engaging, and productive. I have complete confidence in her judgment, skills, and ability to navigate complex work environments.”

— Andrew Forsyth, PhD, consultant, University of California and US Agency for International Development.