Notable People 2012

December 2012

Adam de la Zerda, PhD

De la Zerda, assistant professor of structural biology, has been named one of Forbes Magazine's "30 under 30." Each year, the magazine compiles a list of 30 up-and-coming stars under the age of 30 in 12 different categories. Nominations are submitted by readers and a panel of experts in each category. De la Zerda, who was chosen for the science category, pioneered novel molecular-imaging techniques in which he uses nanotechnology to watch how molecules move within the body, leading to insights at the cellular level of what goes wrong in diseases such as cancer and age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness.


Cara Bohon, PhD

Bohon has been appointed assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences as of Nov. 1. Her research interests focus on the neural bases of eating disorders and obesity. She is particularly interested in the way emotion and reward is processed in the brain, and how that may contribute to eating behavior and food restriction.


Edward Bertaccini, MD

Bertaccini, associate professor of anesthesia, had research that was selected as "Best of abstracts: Basic science" by the American Society of Anesthesiologists. He gave an oral presentation of the scientific abstract titled, "Assessment of homology templates and the anesthetic binding site within the GABA receptor," during the ASA's annual meeting in October.


Gerald Crabtree, MD, PhD

Crabtree, professor of pathology, is one of 13 recipients of a cancer grant from the Mary Kay Foundation to fund innovative gynecological cancer research. He will use the $100,000 grant to investigate the function of the protein ARID1A. Using a combination of biochemistry and mouse genetics, Crabtree hopes to uncover how ARID1A functions within a certain complex to protect cells from becoming oncogenic.


Tracy George, MD

George has been promoted to associate professor of pathology as of Nov. 1. Her research interests focus on translational hematopathology, which includes systemic mastocytosis and other myeloproliferative neoplasms, laboratory hematology, post-transplant and immunodeficiency-related lymphoproliferative disorders, and reactive lymphadenopathies.

Leonard Herzenberg, PhD, and Leonore Herzenberg, PhD

The Herzenbergs have been selected to receive the ABRF Annual Award for Outstanding Contributions to Biomolecular Technologies presented by the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities. The award recognizes those who develop powerful tools that serve as the foundation of the modern biological research enterprise. Since 1959, they have jointly operated research groups at Stanford focused on gene regulation in the immune system, the development and function of B cell subpopulations, and applications of fluorescence-activated cell sorting. The award will be presented at the annual ABRF meeting in March 2013.

Ware Kuschner, MD

Kuschner has been promoted to professor of medicine as of Nov. 1. He is interested in occupational and environmental lung disease; pulmonary and systemic responses to toxicant inhalation; and indoor and outdoor air pollution health effects. Kuschner also serves as chief of the pulmonary section at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System.


Sean Mackey, MD, PhD

Mackey has been promoted to professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine and of neurology and neurological sciences as of Nov. 1. His primary research interest involves the use of advanced research techniques — such as neuroimaging, psychophysics and neurobehavioral assessment — to investigate the neural processing of pain and neuronal plasticity in patients with chronic pain. Mackey also serves as chief of the Division of Pain Management and co-director of the Stanford Pain Research and Clinical Center.


Tracey McLaughlin, MD

McLaughlin has been promoted to associate professor of medicine as of Nov. 1. She conducts a number of clinical research studies related to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. McLaughlin also serves as chair of the diabetes task force at Stanford Hospital & Clinics.


Beverly Mitchell, MD

Mitchell is the recipient of the 2012 Mentor Award winner for Clinical Investigation, presented by the American Society of Hematology. The award recognizes hematologists who have excelled in mentoring trainees and colleagues. Mitchell, MD, the George E. Becker Professor and director of the Stanford Cancer Institute, developed the Clinical Research Training Institute, a career-development programs now in its 10th year. She accepted the award at ASH's annual meeting Dec. 9.


Mindie Nguyen, MD

Nguyen has been promoted to associate professor of medicine (gastroenterology & hepatology) as of Nov. 1. Her research interests include the clinical aspects, molecular epidemiology and pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma with an emphasis on disease determinants, diagnostic and screening tests, and ethnic differences. She is also interested in epidemiological and clinical behaviors of viral hepatitis, particularly in hepatitis C patients with novel genotypes and in understudied populations.


Andrew Quon, MD

Quon has been promoted to associate professor of radiology as of Nov. 1. He is interested in multimodality fusion imaging with PET, CT and MRI for oncology; translational research bringing new radiotracers to clinical use; and cardiovascular multimodality PET/CT imaging.


Steven Shafer, MD

Shafer has been appointed professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine as of Nov. 1. He is interested in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of intravenous anesthetics, including drug interactions and continuous measures of drug effect; model-based drug development; target-controlled drug delivery; and advanced models of drug behavior.


Manjula Tamura, MD

Tamura has been promoted to associate professor of medicine as of Nov. 1. Her primary interest is in improving the quality of end-stage renal disease care among older adults. Her work aims to describe outcomes in older patients and to compare the effectiveness of different renal-disease management strategies on these outcomes.


Heather Wakelee, MD

Wakelee has been promoted to associate professor of medicine as of Nov. 1. Her research is focused on clinical trials in patients with lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies, such as thymoma and thymic carcinoma. She also works with novel agents for all malignancies as part of the developmental therapeutics group of Stanford's cancer center. Other interests include translation projects in thoracic malignancies, and collaborations with population scientists regarding lung cancer questions.


Irene Wapnir, MD

Wapnir has been promoted to professor of surgery as of Nov. 1. Her research includes exploring the activity of breast iodide transporter in breast cancer, which has lead to translational research protocols. She also serves as chief of breast surgery for the surgical oncology section.


Joanna Wysocka, PhD

Wysocka is the winner of the Harland Winfield Mossman Award in Developmental Biology presented by the American Association of Anatomists. The award recognizes Wysocka for her role in the study of epigenetic regulation of gene expression in developmental biology, using biochemical approaches in her investigations of chromatin in embryonic stem cells and in embryos leading to seminal contributions such as identification of chromatin regulators of stem cell fate and discovery of epigenetic priming of developmental enhancers in pluripotent cells. She will present an award lecture at the AAA annual meeting in 2013.


November 2012

Donald Barr, MD, PhD

Barr has been promoted to professor (teaching) of pediatrics as of Nov. 1. His research focuses on undergraduate premedical education, and how innovative approaches to teaching can contribute to enhancing the academic and cultural diversity of students applying to medical school. He is working to develop integrated, web-based teaching resources in human behavior and in health disparities.


Lloyd Minor, MD

Minor has been appointed professor of otolaryngology as of Sept. 1. Minor, who will become the dean of the School of Medicine on Dec. 1, specializes in the diseases and disorders of the inner ear.


Gregory Scherrer, PharmD, PhD

Scherrer has been appointed assistant professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine as of Oct. 1. He is interested in resolving the identity of the neurons in the nerves, spinal cord and brain that participate in generating the sensation of pain, and to uncover the molecular mechanisms by which opioids regulate neural activity in pain circuits.


Julie Theriot, PhD

Theriot has been promoted to professor of biochemistry and of microbiology and immunology as of Nov. 1. Her group studies the mechanics and dynamics of cell structure, organization and motility both in bacteria and in eukaryotic cells.


Sean Wu, MD, PhD

Wu has been appointed assistant professor of medicine as of Nov. 1. His lab seeks to identify mechanisms regulating cardiac lineage commitment during embryonic development and the biology of cardiac progenitor cells in development and disease. He received a 2008 NIH Director's New Innovator Award, and is an investigator for the NHLBI Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium.


Joanna Wysocka, PhD

Wysocka has been promoted to associate professor of chemical and systems biology and of developmental biology as of Nov.1. Her research focuses on understanding how chromatin modifications affect stem cell biology.


Justin Annes, MD PhD

Annes has been appointed assistant professor of medicine as of Oct.1. His research interests are in discovering new treatments for diabetes and a rare hereditary cancer known as the paraganglioma syndrome. These two disorders, while very different in clinical manifestation, have a common basis: pathologic disruption of cellular metabolism. His lab is finding ways to therapeutically leverage these disease-related defects in metabolic behavior. Annes is clinically interested in hereditary endocrine disorders and is developing a specialized clinic to care for these families.


Jan Carette, PhD

Carette, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology, is the recipient of the 2012 Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering. He will receive an unrestricted research grant of $875,000 over five years. Carette's lab uses a unique genetic approach in human cells to study the interplay between pathogens and their host. He believes that expanding and sharpening the genetic tools to dissect virus-host interactions is a powerful way to systematically discover genes paramount in health and disease.


Denise Monack, PhD

Monack has been promoted to associate professor of microbiology and immunology as of Oct. 1. The primary focus of her research is to understand the genetic and molecular mechanisms of intracellular bacterial pathogenesis. She uses two model systems, Salmonella typhimurium and Francisella tularensis, to study the complex host-pathogen interactions.


Joy Wu, MD, PhD

Wu has been appointed assistant professor of medicine as of Oct. 1. As a physician-scientist with a clinical focus on osteoporosis, her lab addresses the mechanisms guiding the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells, and how mesenchymal lineages support hematopoiesis in the bone marrow.


October 2012

Russ Altman, MD, PhD

Altman, the Kenneth Fong Professor and professor of genetics and of medicine, has been appointed to two new positions: president-elect of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics and chair of the science board to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The ASCPT is the largest scientific and professional organization serving the discipline of clinical pharmacology. He will assume the presidency in March 2013. As chair of the FDA's science board, he will provide advice to the FDA commissioner and to the agency's chief science officer. He will assume these duties this fall. Altman's research focuses on a molecular understanding of drug response, including pharmacogenomics, 3D structure-function relationships, data mining, and systems pharmacology.


Gabriel Garcia, MD

Garcia, professor of medicine, has been named the William and Dorothy Kaye University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, part of the Bass University Fellows in Undergraduate Education program. Established in 2001, the appointment recognizes faculty for extraordinary contributions to undergraduate education, including faculty from the graduate and professional schools. Garcia also serves as associate dean for MD admissions.


Jennifer Cochran, PhD

Cochran has been promoted to associate professor of bioengineering, as of Oct. 1. Her lab uses interdisciplinary approaches in chemistry, engineering and biophysics to study complex biological systems and develop new technologies for biomedical applications, including regenerative medicine and cancer imaging and therapy.


Monte Winslow, PhD

Winslow, assistant professor of genetics and of pathology, is the recipient of a 2012 V Scholar grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, a leading cancer research foundation. He is one of 17 researchers to win the $200,000 two-year grant, which funds "rising star" scientists as they begin their careers in cancer research. Winslow will use this funding to better characterize the molecular mechanisms that govern lung cancer metastasis.


John Adler, MD

Adler, the Dorothy and Thye King Chan Professor in Neurosurgery, Emeritus, is the recipient of the 2012 Cloward Award given by the Western Neurosurgical Society. The award honors the late Ralph Cloward, MD, and his pioneering efforts to establish anterior cervical and posterior lumbar interbody fusion plus the numerous instruments he devised. Adler was chosen for his work in the development and implementation of computerized, image-guided surgical tools to be used during minimally invasive brain operations, particularly his invention of the Cyberknife, which administers radiation deep into the brain and the body to treat cancer. The award, which includes a medal and a special lecture, was presented in September during the WNS' 58th annual meeting in Colorado.


September 2012

Valerie Baker, MD

Baker has been promoted to associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology as of Sept. 1. She is interested in primary ovarian insufficiency/premature ovarian failure, infertility and outcomes from assisted reproductive technology. Baker serves as medical director of the Stanford Fertility and Reproductive Medicine Center In Vitro Fertilization and Reproductive Endocrinology Program and research-committee chair of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, a national professional organization.


Stephen Baccus, PhD

Baccus has been promoted to associate professor of neurobiology as of Aug. 1. He studies how the neural circuitry of the retina transforms visual images into electrical signals in the optic nerve. He uses a combination of physiological experiments and computational approaches to understand rules of how neural circuits of the brain function.


Victor Carrion, MD

Carrion has been promoted to professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences as of Sept. 1. His research examines the interplay between brain development and stress vulnerability via a multi-method approach that includes psychophysiology, neuroimaging, neuroendocrinology and phenomenology. Carrion is particularly interested in treatment development that focuses on individual and community-based interventions for stress-related conditions in children and adolescents who experience traumatic stress.


Stephanie Chao, MD

Chao has been named to receive the 2012 Association of Women Surgeons Hilary Sanfey Outstanding Resident Award for clinical excellence and accomplishments during professional development years. The award will be presented at the 2012 annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4 in Chicago. Chao, who is now a chief resident in the Department of Surgery, will be joining the pediatric surgery division for a two-year fellowship at the completion of her residency. She is the third Stanford surgery resident to receive the award.

Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD

Deisseroth has been promoted to professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, as of Sept. 1. His research focuses on developing optical, molecular and cellular tools to observe, perturb and re-engineer brain circuits. He is both a practicing psychiatrist and the developer of optogenetics, a technique that allows scientists to tease apart the complex circuits that compose the brain so that the role of individual circuit components in brain function can be studied with high precision.


Jason Dragoo, MD

Dragoo has been promoted to associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, as of Sept. 1. His research has focused on the development of viable tissue-engineered structures of the knee including articular (hyaline) and meniscal (fibrocartilage) cartilage, as well as bone. The goal of this research will be curing the patient's arthritis by re-establishing articular cartilage using their own stem cells. Dragoo also serves as the head team physician for the Stanford football program.


Stefan Heller, PhD

Heller, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor in the School of Medicine, has been elected as a member of the Collegium Oto-Rhino-Laryngologicum Amicitiae Sacrum. Established in 1926, CORLAS is an association of otorhinolaryngologists with more than 400 members. Heller, a leader in stem-cell based research on the inner ear, has recently focused on two paths for possible cures for deafness: drug therapy and stem cell transplantation into the inner ear. He delivered two presentations during the CORLAS annual meeting in Rome on Aug. 26-29.


Henry Lowe, MD

Lowe has been appointed associate professor of pediatrics as of Sept. 1. His research focuses on the development of novel uses of information technology and computer science to improve human health. Lowe also serves as chief information officer at the School of Medicine; senior associate dean for Information Resources and Technology; and director of both the Stanford Center for Clinical Informatics and the CTSA Translational Informatics Program.


Walter Park, MD

Park has been appointed assistant professor of medicine as of Sept. 1. His research interests are in the diagnosis and management of pancreatic cysts, acute and chronic pancreatitis, and quality improvement in gastrointestinal diseases. His approach includes translational collaborations in biomarker discovery and methods in health services research including the use of large observational data sets and cost-effectiveness studies. He also serves as medical director of the Pancreas Clinic within the Digestive Health Center.


Anand Veeravagu, MD

Veeravagu, a neurosurgery resident, has been appointed by President Barack Obama to be one of the 15 members of the 2012-13 class of White House fellows, based on his record of professional achievement, evidence of leadership potential and proven commitment to public service. Veeravagu works on advancing minimally invasive diagnostic and surgical techniques for diseases of the central nervous system and has developed a novel radiotherapeutic to treat glioblastoma multiforme, a malignant brain tumor. He most recently served as chief neurosurgery resident at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, caring for soldiers returning from Afghanistan with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries.

Jeffrey Yao, MD

Yao has been promoted to associate professor of orthopaedic surgery as of Sept. 1. His research interests include developing minimally invasive and arthroscopic treatment alternatives for common hand and wrist disorders and using stem cells for the biologic augmentation of tendon repair strategies.


Edward Riley, MD

Riley has been promoted to professor of anesthesia as of Aug. 1. The primary focus of his research is on anesthesia for cesarean delivery and labor analgesia.

Six researchers from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences have been selected to receive the 2012 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant, which provides up to $60,000 over two years to enable promising investigators to either extend research fellowship training or begin careers as independent research faculty. This year's recipients and their research focus are: Alexander Urban, PhD, (schizophrenia); Ami Citri, PhD, (addiction and related disorders); Sergiu Pasca, MD, (schizophrenia); Lara Foland-Ross, PhD, (depression); Melissa Warden, PhD, (depression); and Amit Etkin, MD, PhD, (anxiety). The grants, which are considered one of the highest distinctions in the field of mental health research, are awarded by Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.


August 2012

Dean Felsher, MD, PhD

Felsher has been promoted to professor of medicine and of pathology as of Aug. 1. His laboratory has shown that tumors are addicted to oncogenes and exploits this to develop novel therapies for cancer.


Adam de la Zerda, PhD

De la Zerda has been appointed assistant professor of structural biology as of Aug. 1. His lab focuses on developing new optical imaging instrumentation and chemistry tools to study the complex spatiotemporal behavior of biomolecules in living subjects. The lab uses animal models for cancer and ophthalmic diseases such as age-related macular degeneration.


Aaron Gitler, PhD

Gitler has been appointed associate professor of genetics as of July 1. His lab studies the cell biology and genetics underpinning human neurodegenerative diseases, which include Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).


Joanna Kelley, PhD

Kelley, postdoctoral scholar in genetics, is the recipient of the 2012 L'Oréal USA Fellowships For Women in Science. Recipients receive up to $60,000 toward their postdoctoral research. Kelly will explore the genomic basis of adaptation to environments containing high levels of hydrogen sulfide. She will use sulfide spring populations of the fish Poecilia from three river drainages to study adaptive trait divergence, differentiation in gene sequences and gene expression patterns.

Anthony Oro, MD, PhD

Oro, professor of dermatology, has won a $600,000 translational grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, one of the nation's leading cancer research foundations. He is one of 10 research teams to win the three-year grant, which aims "to bridge the gap between the laboratory and patient bedside" and "bring the benefits of new basic-level understandings to patients more quickly and efficiently." Oro plans to work on novel therapies for hedgehog-dependent cancers.


Jean Tang, MD, PhD

Tang, assistant professor of dermatology, has won a $600,000 translational grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, one of the nation's leading cancer research foundations. She is one of 10 research teams to win the three-year grant, which aims "to bridge the gap between the laboratory and patient bedside" and "bring the benefits of new basic-level understandings to patients more quickly and efficiently." Tang plans to work on novel therapies for hedgehog-dependent cancers.


Judith Prochaska, PhD

Prochaska has been appointed associate professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center as of July 1. Her research focuses on developing treatments for tobacco dependence and other leading risk factors (e.g., sedentary behavior, obesity, stress and distress), with a focus on complex and multi-problem groups including the homeless, the unemployed and people with serious mental illness, alcohol and drug problems, and heart disease.


Diane Tseng

Tseng, an MD/PhD student, is a recipient of grants from the Cancer Research Institute to further her research in cancer immunology. The CRI funds global research efforts to develop immunotherapies to prevent, treat and eventually cure all cancers. Tseng, who works in the lab of Irving Weissman, MD, the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Professor, will be focusing on characterizing the role of anti-CD47 therapy on antigen presentation in solid tumors.

John Burg, PhD

Burg, a postdoctoral scholar in molecular and cellular physiology, is a recipient of grants from the Cancer Research Institute to further his research in cancer immunology. The CRI funds global research efforts to develop immunotherapies to prevent, treat and eventually cure all cancers. Burg, who is being sponsored by Christopher Garcia, PhD, professor of molecular and cellular physiology and of structural biology, will be working on structural studies of the calcium release activated calcium.


Susan Hintz, MD, MS Epi

Hintz has been promoted to professor of pediatrics as of June 1. Her work focuses on understanding and improving short-term morbidities and neurodevelopmental outcomes of extremely premature and high-risk infants. Hintz is Stanford's principal investigator for neurodevelopmental follow-up as part of the NICHD Neonatal Research Network. She is also a leader in the California Children's Services/CPQCC High-Risk Infant Follow-Up Quality-of-Care Initiative, and serves as medical director of the Center for Fetal and Maternal Health at Packard Children's.


Robert Harrington, MD

Harrington has been appointed professor of medicine as of July 1. An interventional cardiologist and experienced clinical investigator in the area of heart disease, he joins Stanford as the new chair of the Department of Medicine. He came from Duke, where he served as director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute.


James Kahn, MD

Kahn has been appointed professor of medicine as of July 1. He serves as chief of medical services at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and vice chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford. Much of his work has focused on HIV/AIDS including antiretroviral therapy. His most recent research involves capitalizing on the data stored in electronic medical records for outcomes-based research, HIV disease modeling and developing a mentorship program for early career scientists.


Holbrook Kohrt, MD, PhD

Kohrt has been appointed assistant professor of medicine as of Aug. 1. He is interested in immune cell allotransplantation and augmenting antibody therapy for curing cancer.


Sam Lolak, MD

Lolak has been selected as Rathmann Family Foundation Educators-4-CARE Medical Education Fellow in Patient-Centered Care for 2012-13. The program provides the part-time salary support for a Stanford faculty, fellow or chief resident to pursue further study and activities focused on promoting patient-centered care in medical education. Lolak, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and associate director of the psychosomatic medicine fellowship program, is interested in mindfulness practices and compassion cultivation in medical education, brief bedside psychotherapy for the medically ill and curriculum development in psychosomatic medicine.

Tracy Rydel, MD

Rydel has been selected as Rathmann Family Foundation Educators-4-CARE Medical Education Fellow in Patient-Centered Care for 2012-13. The program provides the part-time salary support for a Stanford faculty, fellow or chief resident to pursue further study and activities focused on promoting patient-centered care in medical education. Rydel, clinical assistant professor and co-director of the core clerkship in family medicine, is interested in a holistic approach to primary care with particular attention to nutrition, behavioral change and the mind-body connection in somatic disease, as well as fostering patient-centered communication in the clinical setting.


Jose Montoya, MD

Montoya has been promoted to professor of medicine as of Aug. 1. His work focuses on infections of immunocompromised hosts, laboratory diagnosis of toxoplasmosis and infectious triggers of chronic unexplained illnesses. Montoya also directs the National Reference Laboratory for the Study and Diagnosis of Toxoplasmosis.


Stephen Skirboll, MD

Skirboll has been promoted to associate professor of neurosurgery as of June 1. He is also chief of neurosurgery at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, and his primary clinical interest is in brain tumors. His research focuses on the characterization of cancer stem cells in human brain tumors, and he is working to develop a novel technique to identify cancer stem cell phenotypes in glioblastoma multiforme.


Christopher Ta, MD

Ta has been promoted to professor of ophthalmology as of Aug. 1. His research and clinical interests include cornea transplantation, the prevention and treatment of ocular infectious diseases, device development for dry eyes and ocular graft-versus-host disease.


C. Jason Wang, MD, PhD

Wang has been appointed associate professor of pediatrics as of July 1. His research focuses on using mobile consumer technologies to motivate patients to do a better job of following medical advice, and to enhance provider-patient communications and care coordination. He is the recipient of a 2011 NIH Director's New Innovator Award.


July 2012

Alexander Butwick, MBBS, FRCA, MS

Butwick has been appointed assistant professor of anesthesia as of May 1. His research in obstetric anesthesia focuses on investigating dynamic hematologic and hemostatic changes that occur in women during the peripartum and postpartum periods, as well as clinical and analytic strategies for better preventing and managing postpartum hemorrhage.


Garret Anderson, PhD

Anderson, postdoctoral scholar in neuroscience, has been awarded an Autism Speaks Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Research. Anderson received $108,700 to study the role of the CNTNAP2 gene in neuronal development and synaptic transmission. Autism Speaks funds autism research, increases awareness of autism and advocates for the needs of individuals with autism.


Dean Carson, PhD

Carson, postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, has been awarded an Autism Speaks Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Research. Carson received $104,200 to conduct a randomized, controlled trial of oxytocin treatment for social deficits in children. Autism Speaks funds autism research, increases awareness of autism and advocates for the needs of individuals with autism.

Daniel Chang, MD

Chang has been promoted to associate professor of radiation oncology as of June 1. He is interested in developing stereotactic body radiotherapy for tumors of the liver, both primary and metastatic, and in developing functional imaging as a means of determining treatment response with radiation. Other interests include developing image-guided radiotherapy to improve radiation delivery for GI cancers.


Nayer Khazeni, MD, MS

Khazeni has been appointed assistant professor of medicine as of June 1. Her research interests include international health policy, pulmonary infectious diseases and strategic planning for global health catastrophes, with a focus on international pandemic influenza mitigation strategies.


Cesar Lopez Angel

Lopez Angel, a medical student and PhD candidate in immunology, has received a 2012 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans. Fellows receive tuition and living expenses of up to $90,000 over two academic years for study at a U.S. university. The fellowships were established for the children of immigrants and are awarded for creativity, originality, initiative and sustained accomplishment. Lopez Angel is studying the influence of age on T-cell function in the lab of Mark Davis, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology, and has worked with Stanford's free clinic.

Josef Parvizi, MD, PhD

Parvizi has been promoted to associate professor of neurology and neurological sciences as of June 1. As principal investigator in the Laboratory of Behavioral & Cognitive Neurology, he conducts research on the human brain using direct recordings from the cerebral cortex in patients implanted with intracranial electrodes, seeking to understand the anatomical and physiological basis for cognition in the human brain and how this might be broken during epileptic seizures.


Lee Sanders, MD

Sanders has been appointed associate professor of pediatrics as of June 1. His research focuses on the field of health literacy. Using social cognitive theory, he conducts interdisciplinary research to understand child and parent health literacy as potentially modifiable determinants of child health disparities, especially in kids with chronic illness and special health-care needs.


Alexander Ungewickell, MD, PhD

Ungewickell, a postdoctoral scholar, received the 2012 American Society of Hematology Research Training Award for Fellows, a $50,000 grant that encourages junior researchers to pursue careers in academic hematology by supporting their research during their fellowship training. He studies the role of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.

June 2012

Jason T. Lee, MD

Lee, associate professor of surgery and program director in vascular surgery, was lead author of a study titled, “Simulation-based endovascular training improves resident performance in the OR: Results of a randomized prospective trial,” that was chosen as one of the top 10 abstracts of the June 8 annual meeting of the Society for Vascular Surgery in Washington, D.C. Co-authors included David Gaba, MD, professor of anesthesiology; Thomas Krummel, MD, professor of surgery; Ronald Dalman MD, professor of surgery; and Amy Peruzzaro, vascular research coordinator.


Fernando Mendoza, MD

Mendoza has received the 2012 Stanford President’s Award for Excellence through Diversity. The award is given to one individual and one group at the university each year. Mendoza, chief of general pediatrics at Packard Children’s and a professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, was honored for creating a range of programs supporting diversity in medicine, including what is now the Leadership in Health Disparities Program, as well as the Center of Excellence in Diversity in Medical Education. Mendoza was also commended for his role as a mentor to physicians in training, and for his compassion, caring and dedication to public service.


Mark Pegram, MD

Pegram has been appointed professor of medicine as of May 1. He is head of the Breast Oncology Program and co-leader of the Molecular Therapeutics Program. Pegram’s research efforts include a continued focus on the oncogene that encodes HER-2, and developing new ways to target cancer cells expressing this marker. He is also pursuing various strategies for targeting estrogen receptors, implicated in some 70 percent of all breast cancer cases.


Richard Popp, MD

Popp, professor emeritus of cardiovascular medicine, is one of four recipients of the 2012 Rambam Award from Technion University’s Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel. Popp was recognized for his pioneering technique of applying ultrasound technology to detect heart diseases as well as for his commitment to medical education and training in Israel. The award is the Rambam Health Care Campus’s highest honor.


Eila Skinner, MD

Skinner has been appointed professor of urology as of May 1. Her primary research interests are in the area of cancer prevention, bladder cancer and urinary tract reconstruction. She is the chair of the Department of Urology.


Edda Spiekerkoetter, MD

Spiekerkoetter has been appointed assistant professor of medicine as of June 1. She is working to develop an assay for screening FDA-approved drugs and small molecules for their potential to induce type-2 bone morphogenetic protein receptor signaling in cells. She is also studying microRNA expression in pulmonary hypertension and the potential of microRNAs to regulate BMPR2 expression.


Robert Tibshirani, PhD

Tibshirani, professor of health research and policy and of statistics, won the 2012 Gold Medal of the Statistical Society of Canada. This award recognizes a Canadian statistician who has made outstanding research contributions to statistical sciences. Tibshirani’s award citation notes his pioneering work in the development and implementation of statistical methodology in many important and evolving fields such as the bootstrap, generalized additive models, statistical learning, high-dimensional data analysis, multiple hypothesis testing and significance analysis of microarrays.

John Day, MD, PhD

Day has been appointed professor of neurology as of April 1. His research involves identifying the genetic cause of several neuromuscular disorders and working with patients to define these disorders more rigorously and to understand them more thoroughly, so that novel treatments can be developed.


Gabriel Garcia, MD

Garcia, professor of gastroenterology and hepatology, was named one of five finalists for the 2012 Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Civically Engaged Faculty Award. Founded in 1985 by the presidents of Brown, Georgetown and Stanford universities, Campus Compact is a national coalition of college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. The award is named in honor of Thomas Ehrlich, former chair of the Campus Compact board of directors.


Suzana Kahn, PhD

Kahn, a postdoctoral scholar, was one of 10 researchers named 2012 Pew Latin American Fellows in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The fellowship, established in 1991, provides $30,000 salary support in each of two years for postdoctoral-level, Latin American scientists to work in top laboratories in the United States. Upon completion of the U.S.-based research, fellows returning to Latin America to establish labs in their home countries receive an additional $35,000 in funding. Kahn, from Brazil, studies cancer cell biology in the lab of Irving Weissman, PhD, director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Her work attempts to isolate and characterize cells that initiate cancer in the brain.


Nicholas Leeper, MD

Leeper has been appointed assistant professor of surgery as of April 1. His research interests include the investigation of the genetics of abdominal aortic aneurysm and atherosclerosis, and translational studies of vascular regeneration therapies for patients with peripheral vascular disease.


John Ratliff, MD

Ratliff has been appointed associate professor of neurosurgery as of April 1. His research interests focus on preventing complications in spine surgery, assessing patient outcomes after spine surgery procedures and developing population-based metrics for assessing surgical outcomes. Trained in complex spinal reconstructive surgery, he is working to develop a clinical tool to assess the risk of complications in spine surgery procedures that could be used in patient counseling.


Phillip Yang, MD

Yang has been promoted to associate professor of medicine as of April 1. His research focuses on developing innovative in vivo cellular and molecular MRI of stem cell biology to understand the mechanism of cell therapy in restoring the injured myocardium. By combining the chemical sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance with high spatial and temporal resolution, a wide range of regenerative processes spanning from molecular to physiologic processes is visualized.


May 2012

Stephan Busque, MD

Busque has been promoted to professor of surgery as of April 1. His research interest centers on the improvement of clinical immunosuppression in kidney transplant patients, with the goal of achieving freedom from drugs now required to prevent rejection of donated organs. He also evaluates new immunosuppressive drugs and participates in trial design and data analysis of the drug development process from phase-1 to phase-3 studies.


Kiki Chang, MD

Chang has been promoted to professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences as of April 1. As director of the Pediatric Bipolar Disorders Program, he conducts research into various facets of bipolar disorder. He is currently conducting phenomenologic, biologic, pharmacologic and genetic studies of the disorder in adults and children, and is particularly interested in detecting prodromal bipolar disorder in children who might then be treated to prevent the development of the full-blown form of the disease. He is the co-director of the Pediatric Mood Disorders Clinic and the director of research initiatives for the Division of Child Psychiatry.


Lynne Huffman, MD

Huffman has been appointed associate professor (teaching) of pediatrics as of May 1. Her research interests and activities include the early identification and treatment of behavioral problems, particularly in children at increased risk for developmental disorders, and the use of evidence-based practices in behavioral health care.


Jason Lee, MD

Lee has been promoted to associate professor of surgery as of April 1. His clinical and research interests include endovascular treatment of aortic aneurysms, carotid angioplasty/stenting, endovascular lower extremity procedures, thoracic outlet syndrome, vascular disorders in high-performance athletes and surgical education.


Hillary Lin

Lin, a medical student, has been selected as one of the 2012-13 Bay Area Schweitzer Fellows. This year’s 15 local graduate-student fellows join approximately 230 from across the country in carrying out service projects that address the social determinants of health in underserved communities. For her project, Lin will assist in developing and implementing a new electronic medical record program to help patients at the medical school’s Pacific Free Clinic in San Jose keep track of upcoming appointments, prescriptions, tests and other medical services. The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship is a national nonprofit organization with offices located in Boston and hosted by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Philippe Mourrain, PhD

Mourrain has been appointed associate professor (research) of psychiatry and behavioral sciences as of May 1. His research focuses on neurobiology and genetics of sleep and associated behaviors. He uses zebrafish as a model to investigate the functions of sleep and the neural circuits underpinning its regulation.


Jeffrey Norton, MD

Norton, the Robert L. and Mary Ellenburg Professor in Surgery, received the 2012 Flance-Karl Award at the American Surgical Association’s annual meeting. The award recognizes a surgeon who has made a seminal contribution in basic laboratory research that has application to clinical surgery. The awards committee cited Norton’s work in advancing the understanding of tumor and cytokine interactions and in the immunotherapy of cancer, and noted that his translational studies have fundamentally altered the surgical therapy of a number of malignancies. The Flance-Karl Award was established in 1996 by Samuel Wells Jr., MD, who was then the ASA’s president.


Xinnan Wang, PhD

Wang has been appointed assistant professor of neurosurgery as of May 1. Her research studies the regulatory mechanisms controlling mitochondrial dynamics and function in cells, and the ways even subtle disturbances of these processes may contribute to neurodegenerative disorders.


Katrin Chua, MD, PhD

Chua has been promoted to associate professor of medicine, effective May 1. Her research interests include understanding molecular processes that underlie aging and age-associated pathologies in mammals.


Jorina Elbers, MD

Elbers has been appointed assistant professor of neurology, as of March 1. Her research interests include inflammatory vasculopathies and neuroimaging techniques for the study of stroke and inflammation. She is a member of Packard Children’s neurology team.


Neil Gesundheit, MD, MPH

Gesundheit has been promoted to professor (teaching) of medicine, effective July 1. An endocrinologist and the school’s associate dean for medical student advising, Gesundheit helped design the current Stanford medical school curriculum. His research interests include developing and validating the best educational practices to train competent and compassionate physicians and physician-scientists.


Sabine Girod, MD, DDS, PhD

Girod, associate professor of surgery, has been selected as a fellow of the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Program for Women at the Drexel University College of Medicine. The program prepares senior women faculty for leadership positions at academic health centers. Girod serves as chief of Stanford’s oral medicine and maxillofacial surgery service.


Karla Kirkegaard, PhD

Kirkegaard, professor and chair of microbiology and immunology, has been elected fellow at the American Academy for Microbiology. She is among 80 microbiologists chosen as fellows through a peer-review process, based on her achievement and original contributions to the field.


Peter Sarnow, PhD

Sarnow, professor of microbiology and immunology, has been elected fellow at the American Academy for Microbiology. He is among 80 microbiologists chosen as fellows through a peer-review process, based on his achievement and original contributions to the field.


Maxence Nachury, PhD

Nachury, assistant professor of molecular and cellular physiology, was awarded one of the Human Frontier Science Program’s eight 2012 Young Investigators research grants. The award provides $250,000 annually for the next three years for a project involving Nachury’s lab in collaboration with physicist Manuel Thery, PhD, of Grenoble, France. The researchers will probe how a cellular component, the microtubule, opens the cellular lattice to provide access to its interior. The grants are given to international teams of scientists who are all within five years of obtaining their first independent positions, and strong preference is given to intercontinental collaborations taking on risky projects relating to complex biological systems.


Edward Plowey, MD, PhD

Plowey has been promoted to assistant professor of pathology, as of March 1. His research focuses on novel roles for neuronal autophagy in synaptic development and dysfunction.


Biomedical informatics students

Hua Fan-Minogue, Katie Planey, Ken Jung, Tomer Altman and Jon Palma, all graduate students in the Biomedical Informatics Training program, won the Innovate 4 Healthcare Challenge, awarded by the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, for their project NeoStream. The team’s winning entry developed an online platform to improve outcomes for sick babies by better engaging parents in their care. The collegiate competition seeks to improve health care through new processes enabled by information technology applications and supported by a sustainable market strategy. NeoStream was chosen from among 26 entries and received the $20,000 first prize.

April 2012

Helen Bronte-Stewart, MD, MSE

Bronte-Stewart has been promoted to professor of neurology and neurological sciences, as of April 1. Her research investigates the mechanisms of abnormal axial, limb and fine-motor control in people with movement disorders, and the role of neuronal oscillations in abnormal movement among patients undergoing deep brain stimulation. She serves as director of the Stanford Movement Disorders Center, co-director of the Stanford Balance Center and chief of the movement disorders division.


James Brooks, MD

Brooks has been promoted to professor of urology, as of April 1. His research interests encompass developing diagnostic and prognostic markers for urological diseases, including the use of genomic approaches to discover biomarkers. His laboratory focuses on prostate and kidney cancer research as well as kidney obstruction.


Yoon-Jae Cho, MD

Cho has been appointed assistant professor of neurology, as of March 1. He was recently recruited from Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard Medical School, and his laboratory studies medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children.


Manisha Desai, PhD

Desai has been appointed associate professor (research) of medicine, as of March 1. She is interested in applying biostatistical methods to all areas of medicine, and is involved in studies of HIV, breast cancer, obesity, women’s health and chronic fatigue syndrome. She works on methods for analyzing studies with correlated data and with missing observations. Desai is the director of the quantitative sciences unit in the Department of Medicine.


Grant Miller, PhD

Miller has been promoted to associate professor of medicine, as of April 1. His primary interests are health economics, development economics and economic demography. His research includes two major arms: one investigates the principal determinants of population health improvement around the world, and the other analyzes fundamental behavioral obstacles to further health gains using field experiments.


Stephen Ruoss, MD

Ruoss has been promoted to professor of medicine, as of March 1. His work focuses on both the basic and clinical aspects of non-tuberculous mycobacterial lung infections, as well as on clinical care and therapy research for women with lymphangioleiomyomatosis.


Kathleen Sakamoto, MD, PhD

Sakamoto has been appointed professor of pediatrics, as of March 1. She conducts research on the molecular regulation and development of blood cells. Her research focus is to understand how aberrancies in blood formation result in diseases, including leukemia, bone marrow failure and myeloproliferative disease. Sakamoto is also the director of the Bass Center for Cancer and Childhood Blood Diseases at Packard Children’s Hospital.


Christina Smolke, PhD

Smolke has been promoted to associate professor of bioengineering, as of June 1. Her research focuses on the design and application of new molecular tools for performing information processing, computation and control functions in living systems. These technologies are leading to transformative advances in how we interact with and program biology, and are being applied to address key challenges in cellular therapeutics and green biosynthesis strategies.


Glyn Williams, MD

Williams has been promoted to professor of anesthesia, as of March 1. His research interests pertain to pediatric cardiac anesthesia and include the perioperative management of children with conditions such as pulmonary hypertension, cardiomyopathy, coagulation disorders and low birth weight.


Steven Artandi, MD, PhD

Artandi has been promoted to professor of medicine, as of Feb. 1. His research involves unraveling the molecular and cellular mechanisms with which telomeres and telomerase modulate stem cell function and carcinogenesis. Telomeres are the nucleotide repeats that cap and protect the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes. Without the telomerase protein, telomeres gradually shorten with each cell division.


Robert Jackler, MD

Jackler, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor in Otorhinolaryngology, was recently inducted as an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England at a ceremony in London. During his visit, he gave a graduation oration to the school’s diplomates who had recently completed their surgical training.


Jennifer Johns, DVM, PhD

Johns has been appointed assistant professor of comparative medicine, as of Feb. 1. She studies hematologic changes in infectious diseases, and is investigating altered production and trafficking of immune cells during granulocytic anaplasmosis due to infection with the tick-borne pathogen A. phagocytophilum. She is a veterinary clinical pathologist and supervisor of the diagnostic laboratory in the Veterinary Service Center at Stanford.


Erica Machlin

The researchers won the 2011 Cozarelli Prize in biomedical science, awarded by the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for their paper, “Masking the 5’ terminal nucleotides of the hepatitis C virus genome by an unconventional microRNA-target RNA complex.” Machlin, is a graduate student in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. This paper and five other winners, each in one of the different disciplines that comprise the journal’s coverage, were chosen for their excellence and originality from more than 3,500 research articles that appeared in PNAS in 2011.

Peter Sarnow, PhD

The researchers won the 2011 Cozarelli Prize in biomedical science, awarded by the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for their paper, “Masking the 5’ terminal nucleotides of the hepatitis C virus genome by an unconventional microRNA-target RNA complex.” Sarnow, is a professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. This paper and five other winners, each in one of the different disciplines that comprise the journal’s coverage, were chosen for their excellence and originality from more than 3,500 research articles that appeared in PNAS in 2011.


Selena Sagan, PhD

The researchers won the 2011 Cozarelli Prize in biomedical science, awarded by the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, for their paper, “Masking the 5’ terminal nucleotides of the hepatitis C virus genome by an unconventional microRNA-target RNA complex.” Sagan, is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. This paper and five other winners, each in one of the different disciplines that comprise the journal’s coverage, were chosen for their excellence and originality from more than 3,500 research articles that appeared in PNAS in 2011.

John Morton, MD, MPH

Morton, director of bariatric surgery at Stanford Hospital & Clinics and associate professor of surgery, is one of three practicing physicians selected to receive a Castle Connolly National Physician of the Year Award for Clinical Excellence. Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. is a health-care research firm that publishes America’s Top Doctors, among similar titles. The award will be presented to Morton on March 26 in New York City.


Nihar Nayak, DVM, PhD

Nayak, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, is one of seven scientists whose work will be supported by the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Initiative grants. The 2012 grants of almost $3 million bring the 8-year-old program’s total to more than $22 million. Nayak will investigate how the interaction of two genes in the placenta may contribute to pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy-related form of high blood pressure that contributes to about 15 percent of premature births. Pre-eclampsia can be fatal and the only effective treatment is early delivery.

February 2012

Anne Lynn Chang, MD

Chang has been appointed assistant professor of dermatology, as of Feb. 1. Her current studies focus on the genetics of healthy skin aging and on novel therapeutics for non-melanoma skin cancers. She also serves as director of the adult dermatological clinical trials.


Christopher Contag, PhD

Contag has been promoted to professor of pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology, as of Feb. 1. His lab develops and uses molecular imaging tools to understand oncogenesis, reveal patterns of cell migration in immunosurveillance, monitor gene expression, visualize stem cell biology and assess the distribution of pathogens in living animal models of human biology and disease. He serves as co-director of Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford; director of the Stanford Center for Photomedicine and the Stanford Center for Innovation in In Vivo Imaging; and associate chief of the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine.


Edward Damrose, MD

Damrose has been promoted to associate professor of otolaryngology (head and neck surgery), as of Feb. 1. His lab is primarily interested in laryngeal physiology and function, with a particular interest in the application of advanced imaging techniques in studying vocal fold physiology. Damrose is interested in developing a method of high-speed digital image analysis of normal and abnormal vocal fold vibration in a variety of states, including neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and spasmodic dysphonia.


Garry Gold, MD

Gold has been promoted to professor of radiology, as of Feb. 1. His primary focus is in the application of new magnetic resonance imaging technology to musculoskeletal problems. Gold is currently studying the application of new MRI techniques such as rapid imaging, real-time imaging and short echo time imaging to learn more about the biomechanics and pathology of bones and joints.


Edward Graves, PhD

Graves has been promoted to associate professor of radiation oncology, as of Feb. 1. His research is focused on applications of emerging functional and molecular-imaging techniques in radiation therapy for cancer.


Gordon Li, MD

Li has been appointed assistant professor of neurosurgery, as of Feb. 1. His clinical practice will focus on patients with primary brain tumors. His lab studies the biology of brain tumors with the goal of developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of malignant tumors and translating that research into clinical trials.


Kim Butts Pauly, PhD

Pauly has been promoted to professor of radiology, as of Feb. 1. Her research interests lie in the area of magnetic resonance and MR-guided, high-intensity, focused ultrasound for minimally invasive cancer therapy and neuromodulation. She also serves as director of the Center for Biomedical Imaging at Stanford.


Aaron Straight, PhD

Straight has been promoted to associate professor of biochemistry, as of Feb. 1. His research is focused on understanding how chromosomes are faithfully transmitted during cell division. Straight’s lab studies the structure and biology of chromosomes and the mechanisms of chromosome segregation during mitosis.


Nancy Fischbein, MD

Fischbein has been promoted to professor of radiology, as of Dec. 1. Her research interests include the imaging of head and neck cancer and diseases of the skull base, as well as the application of advanced imaging modalities for the diagnosis and evaluation of ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage and diseases of the spinal cord. Fischbein is chief of head and neck radiology and also serves as senior editor for head and neck for the American Journal of Neuroradiology.


Douglas Owens, MD

Owens, associate director of the Center for Health Care Evaluation at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and the Henry J. Kaiser, Jr. Professor, has been appointed to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The task force is an independent, volunteer panel of 16 experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that makes recommendations about preventive services for primary care clinicians and patients. As a member of the USPSTF, Owens will evaluate the benefits and harms of preventive services for specific groups of people. Owens is also director of the Center for Health Policy in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and of the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research.


Barbara Sourkes, PhD

Sourkes has been promoted to professor of pediatrics, as of Dec 1. Her area of interest is pediatric palliative care. Sourkes established and developed the palliative care program at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and has served as the first Elizabeth A. Haehl and John A. Kriewall Director of Palliative Care at LPCH since 2001. She has published several books on psychological aspects of life-threatening illness and bereavement, and co-edited the recently published Textbook of Interdisciplinary Pediatric Palliative Care.


James Spudich, PhD

Spudich, the Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Cardiovascular Disease, has won the 11th annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Science. The prize, established by the Wiley Foundation in 2001, recognizes breakthrough research in pure or applied life science that is distinguished by its excellence, originality and impact on our understanding of biological systems and processes. Spudich shares the award with Columbia professor Michael Sheetz, PhD, and UCSF professor Ronald Vale, PhD, for their work on the mechanisms of cell transformation. Understanding motor functions in cells is integral to understanding and treating deficiencies which lead to disease. The award will be presented at a ceremony in New York City in April.


Abraham Verghese, MD

Verghese, professor of medicine and senior associate chair for the theory and practice of medicine, reached on Feb. 5 the two-year mark —104 weeks — for his novel, Cutting for Stone, being on the New York Times best-seller list. The listing describes it as the story of “twin brothers, conjoined and then separated, growing up amid the political turmoil of Ethiopia.” Most of its main characters are involved in the practice of medicine at two hospitals, one in Addis Ababa, the other in the Bronx.


Bertha Chen, MD

Chen has been promoted to professor of obstetrics and gynecology, as of Dec. 1. Her area of research is in abnormalities in connective tissue metabolism in women with pelvic-floor disorders. Chen, who also serves as co-director of urogynecology and pelvic reconstructive surgery, is interested in evaluating and treating female urinary conditions, pelvic organ prolapse, vaginal abnormalities and sexual dysfunction related to pelvic-floor disorders.


Louis Halamek, MD

Halamek has been promoted to professor of pediatrics, as of Dec. 1. He serves as director of the Center for Advanced Pediatric and Perinatal Education, which he founded in 2002. His primary focus is using simulation-based learning methods to improve the performance of health-care professionals and systems and to enhance patient safety. He also directs the neonatal-perinatal medicine fellowship program.


Safwan Jaradeh, MD

Jaradeh has been appointed professor of neurology and neurological sciences, as of Dec. 1. His research focuses on autonomic disorders, small fiber neuropathies and developing methods of testing and treating these disorders. Jaradeh, who serves as director of the autonomic disorders program at Stanford, also has an interest in the neurology of phonation and swallowing disorders, as well as peripheral nerve injury and repair.


Kiran Khush, MD

Khush has been appointed assistant professor of medicine, as of Dec. 1. She is interested in evaluating donors and recipients for heart transplantation; mechanisms of adverse outcomes after heart transplantation, including coronary allograft vasculopathy and antibody-mediated rejection; the treatment of acute decompensated heart failure; and the cardio-renal syndrome.


Jennifer Tremmel, MD

Tremmel has been appointed assistant professor of medicine, as of Dec. 1. She studies sex differences in cardiovascular disease, and is investigating differences in coronary endothelialmicrovascular disease in women and men who have chest pain, but also have normal-appearing coronary arteries. She is an interventional cardiologist and clinical director of Women’s Heart Health at Stanford.


P.J. Utz, MD

The Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program was one of nine organizations to receive grants from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to support clinical research experiences for high school students from underrepresented minority groups. SIMR will receive a three-year grant of up to $194,400 to provide as many as 10 students per year the opportunity to participate in mentored, clinical research activities. P.J. Utz, MD, associate professor of medicine, serves as director of SIMR.


Ben Barres, MD, PhD

Barres, professor of neurobiology, of developmental biology and of neurology and neurological sciences, is one of four recipients of the 2012 Memory and Cognitive Disorders Award presented by the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience. The award encourages collaboration between basic and clinical neuroscientists, with the ultimate goal of helping to translate laboratory discoveries into diagnoses and therapies for brain disorders. Barres’ project is titled, “Do astrocytes control synaptic turnover? A new model for what causes Alzheimer’s disease and how to prevent it.”


Ken Cox, MD

Cox, professor and associate chair of pediatrics and senior associate dean for clinical affairs/pediatrics and obstetrics, will receive the American Liver Foundation’s 2012 “Salute to Excellence” Award. The award, which honors those who have made an outstanding contribution to biotechnology and medical innovation, will be presented at ALF’s annual gala in March. Cox also serves as chief medical officer at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, as well as chief of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition and medical director of the pediatric liver transplant program.


Stuart Goodman, MD, PhD

Goodman, the Robert L. and Mary Ellenburg Professor in Surgery, has been elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. The AIMBE is a nonprofit organization representing 50,000 individuals and the top 2 percent of medical and biological engineers. Goodman’s research focuses on adult reconstructive surgery, arthritis surgery, joint replacement, biomaterials, biocompatibility, tissue engineering and mesenchymal stem cells.


Of Note Archive

2023 ISSUE 3

Exploring ways AI is applied to health care