Notable People 2013

Sanjay Basu, MD, PhD

Basu, assistant professor of medicine, has made the 2013 list of Foreign Policy's "Top 100 Global Thinkers." The annual list is compiled by the magazine. Basu was chosen for his research on the public health effects of different economic policy responses to the recession.

Katrin Andreasson, MD

Andreasson has been promoted to professor of neurology and neurological sciences, effective Nov. 1. She is interested in understanding the basic mechanisms by which neurons die in stroke and in neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Mark Blumenkranz, MD

Blumenkranz, the H.J. Smead Professor in Ophthalmology and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology, is the recipient of the Jackson Memorial Lecture Award presented by the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Journal of Ophthalmology. As part of the honor, Blumenkranz, delivered this year's Jackson Memorial Lecture, titled "The History and Evolution of Lasers in Ophthalmology: A Review of the Interactions Between Physicians, Patients and Photons," during the academy's 2013 annual meeting in November in New Orleans.

Fanny Chapelin

Chapelin, a life science research assistant in the lab of Heike Daldrup-Link, MD, associate professor of radiology, is the recipient of France's Best Young Engineer of the Year in Science award. The award is sponsored and organized by L'Usine nouvelle magazine and is intended to promote engineering studies in France. Chapelin's research focuses on the development of cellular therapies for clinical applications. Her current projects involve in vivo tracking of stem cell transplants and immune cells through magnetic-resonance imaging. She was honored on Dec. 4 at a ceremony in France.

Jaimie Henderson, MD

Henderson has been promoted to professor of neurosurgery, effective Nov. 1. His research interests encompass several areas of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery, including frameless stereotactic approaches for therapy delivery to deep brain nuclei; deformable patient-specific atlases for targeting brain structures; cortical physiology and its relationship to normal and pathological movement; neural prostheses; and the development of novel neuromodulatory techniques for the treatment of movement disorders, pain and other neurological diseases. He also is director of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery.

Seung Kim, MD, PhD

Kim, professor of developmental biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is the recipient of the 2013 Gerold & Kayla Grodsky Award presented by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. This award is given annually to a researcher who has made outstanding scientific contributions to diabetes research. Kim was chosen for his leadership and innovation in beta cell biology and diabetes research. He was honored Dec. 4 at the foundation's annual board retreat dinner in New York.

Anupama Narla, MD

Narla has been appointed assistant professor of pediatrics, effective July 1. She is starting a new lab focusing on translational hematology, with a particular emphasis on inherited bone marrow failure syndromes. Her clinical work will be in pediatric hematology/oncology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. 

Jochen Profit, MD

Profit has been appointed assistant professor of pediatrics, effective Aug. 1. He is interested in perinatal health services research, specifically in organizational and health systems characteristics that promote better, safer health-care delivery for sick newborns.

Christy Sandborg, MD

Sandborg, a professor of pediatrics and a pediatric rheumatologist at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, has been honored with a distinguished service award from the American College of Rheumatology.  The award recognizes "outstanding and sustained service" to the college.

Stanley Schrier, MD

Schrier, professor emeritus of hematology, is the recipient of the 2013 Mentor Award for Clinical Investigation and Training presented by the American Society of Hematology. Over his more than 50-year hematology career at Stanford, Schrier has been dedicated to advancing the clinical and research skills of his colleagues and trainees.

Yair Blumenfeld, MD

Blumenfeld has been appointed assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, effective Oct. 1. His research interests include prenatal diagnosis, genetics and clinical obstetrics. Blumenfeld also serves as medical director of labor and delivery at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

Paola Betancur, PhD

Betancur is a recipient of 2013 CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowships, the Cancer Research Institute's longest-standing continuous program. Fellows receive up to $164,500 over three years and train under the guidance of a leading immunologist. Betancur is being sponsored by Irving Weissman, MD, professor of pathology and of developmental biology. 

Vincent Christopher Luca, PhD

Luca is a recipient of 2013 CRI Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowships, the Cancer Research Institute's longest-standing continuous program. Fellows receive up to $164,500 over three years and train under the guidance of a leading immunologist. Luca is being sponsored by Christopher Garcia, PhD, professor of molecular and cellular physiology and of structural biology.

David Chan, MD, PhD

Chan has been appointed assistant professor of medicine, effective Nov. 1. His research focuses on the micro-foundations of variation in productivity within U.S. health care. In particular, he is interested in studying what drives more or less efficient physician behavior, including organizational features of workplace design, financial and social incentives, and the use of information.

Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD

Deisseroth, the D.H. Chen Professor and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and of bioengineering, is the recipient of the 2013 Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience, presented by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. The award recognizes outstanding mental health research achievements. Deisseroth was chosen for his pioneering work in the development of two technologies: CLARITY, which can convert biological systems into a fully transparent form, and optogenetics, which allows scientists to control individual types of neurons in living animals. He was honored Oct. 25 at the foundation's national awards dinner in New York City.

Maximillan Diehn, MD, PhD

Diehn, assistant professor of radiation oncology, is the recipient of a 2013 V Scholar grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, a leading cancer research foundation. The $200,000 grants are provided to top young researchers who are developing their own independent laboratory research projects. Diehn will use the grant to investigate the KEAP1-NRF2 pathway in lung stem cells and lung cancer.

Christopher Gardner, PhD

Gardner has been promoted to professor (research) of medicine, effective Nov. 1. He conducts research on nutrition and preventive medicine, with a particular focus on plant-based diets, cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, differential response to weight loss diets by insulin resistance status, the link between dietary behavior change and social movements, stealth nutrition and food systems.

Keith Glover

Glover, a forth-year medical student, is the recipient of the 2013 Herbert W. Nickens Award sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The award, named after the founding vice president of the AAMC's Diversity Policy and Programs unit, is given to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to promoting justice in medical education and health-care equity in the United States. This year, Glover co-led the Stanford University Minority Medical Alliance Conference and co-taught the course, "Rural and American Indian Health Disparities," which included a trip to the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. He received a $5,000 award and gave the Nickens Lecture at the AAMC's annual meeting Nov. 4 in Philadelphia.

Jennifer Lee, MD, PhD

Lee has been appointed associate professor of medicine, effective Oct. 1. Her research focuses on the molecular epidemiology, disease prevention, outcomes and treatment response related to hormonal and metabolic perturbations. She is particularly interested in the clinical and population impact of these alterations that occur in multiple complex chronic diseases during critical hormonal stages across the life span, and with aging.

Kenneth Mahaffey, MD

Mahaffey has been appointed professor of medicine, effective Oct. 1. His primary research interest is the design and conduct of multicenter clinical trials and analyses of important clinical cardiac issues using large patient databases. He also serves as vice chair of clinical research in the Department of Medicine.

Ciaran Phibbs, PhD

Phibbs has been appointed associate professor (research) of pediatrics, effective Nov. 1. His primary research interests are perinatal and neonatal care, and how hospital competition interacts with costs, demand and outcomes.

Julia Salzman, PhD

Salzman has been appointed assistant professor of biochemistry, effective Nov. 1. The goal of her research is to use experimental and statistical tools to construct a high-dimensional picture of gene regulation, including various ways of controlling the full repertoire of RNAs expressed by cells. Her lab focuses on studying the biogenesis and function of circular RNA.

Gary Shaw, DrPH

Shaw, professor of pediatrics and associate chair for research in the Department of Pediatrics, has received the March of Dimes Agnes Higgins Award for outstanding achievements in the field of maternal-fetal nutrition. The award was presented at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. Shaw is co-principal investigator of the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford University.

Kipp Weiskopf

Weiskopf, graduate student, was awarded top prize in the graduate student division of the 2013 Collegiate Inventors Competition. The annual competition, sponsored by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and AbbVie Foundation, recognizes undergraduate and graduate students for their outstanding work and achievements in the fields of science, engineering and technology. He won for the idea of creating high-affinity SIRP-alpha molecules to block the CD47 "don't eat me" signal that keeps macrophage cells from consuming and destroying cancer cells. The molecule has the potential to vastly boost the power and killing ability of antibody therapies against a variety of cancers. He will share the top prize of $15,000. His advisors, Irving Weissman, MD, and Christopher Garcia, PhD, will also be awarded $5,000.

Aaron Ring

Ring, graduate student, was awarded top prize in the graduate student division of the 2013 Collegiate Inventors Competition. The annual competition, sponsored by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and AbbVie Foundation, recognizes undergraduate and graduate students for their outstanding work and achievements in the fields of science, engineering and technology. He won for the idea of creating high-affinity SIRP-alpha molecules to block the CD47 "don't eat me" signal that keeps macrophage cells from consuming and destroying cancer cells. The molecule has the potential to vastly boost the power and killing ability of antibody therapies against a variety of cancers. He will share the top prize of $15,000. His advisors, Irving Weissman, MD, and Christopher Garcia, PhD, willl also be awarded $5,000.

Heng Zhao, PhD

Zhao has been promoted to professor (research) of neurosurgery, effective Nov. 1. His work focuses on the protective effects of postconditioning and remote preconditioning against stroke.

Members of Stanford's Primary Care Associate Program Class of 2014 were named champions of the National Medical Challenge Bowl, a competition coordinated by the Student Academy of the American Academy of Physician Assistants. During the Jeopardy-style competition, 48 teams answered medical-related questions. Stanford's winning team comprised students Rich Blackmon, Gourab Das, Hilary Hammond, and faculty coach Michele Toussaint, PA-C, a clinical instructor in the Physician Assistant Program. The event was held during the AAPA's annual conference in Washington, DC.

Michel Dumontier, PhD

Dumontier has been appointed associate professor of medicine, effective Oct. 1. He is interested in computational methods to better understand how living systems respond to chemical agents. His lab uses semantic technologies to integrate and analyze biomedical data and enable knowledge-based discoveries in biology, biochemistry and medicine.

James Faix, MD

Faix, clinical professor of pathology, is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the College of American Pathologists. Faix was recognized for his contributions in the area of clinical chemistry. He was honored Oct. 15 during the group's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Iris Schrijver, MD

Schrijver, professor of pathology, is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the College of American Pathologists. Schrijver was recognized for her efforts to ensure quality laboratory practices and improve patient care. She was honored Oct. 15 during the group's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.

Olivier Gevaert, PhD

Gevaert has been appointed assistant professor of medicine, effective Oct. 1. His research focuses on using advanced machine-learning methods to integrate molecular data from cancer patients.

Geoffrey Gurtner, MD

Gurtner, associate professor of surgery, will receive about $3 million to work with a consortium of researchers to develop new treatments for wounded soldiers. The five-year, $75 million federally funded project focuses on applying regenerative medicine to battlefield injuries.

Keith Humphreys, PhD

Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, has been appointed to the American Civil Liberties Union's new panel studying marijuana legalization in California. The panel, headed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, will engage in a multiyear research effort.

Seth Ammerman, MD

Ammerman, clinical professor of adolescent medicine, has been appointed to the American Civil Liberties Union's new panel studying marijuana legalization in California. The panel, headed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, will engage in a multiyear research effort.

Robert Siegel, MD, PhD

Siegel has been promoted to professor (teaching) of microbiology and immunology. He is interested in medical education and curricular development, especially in the areas of infectious disease, virology, HIV and molecular biology.

Juliane Winkelmann, MD

Winkelmann has been appointed professor of neurology and neurological sciences, effective Oct. 1. She investigates the genetic architecture of neurological complex genetic diseases. Winkelmann's lab focuses on restless legs syndrome and aims to understand how the functional organization of neuronal sensor motor circuits is altered in RLS patients leading to disease manifestation.

Jong Yoon, MD

Yoon has been appointed assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, effective Oct. 1. His research focuses on the development and application of neuroimaging methods to identify the neural bases of major psychiatric conditions, particularly psychosis and schizophrenia.

Paul Blumenthal, MD, MPH

Blumenthal, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, is the recipient of the 2013 Allan Rosenfield Award for Lifetime Contributions to International Family Planning, presented by the Society of Family Planning. The annual award is given to individuals who have made important contributions to international family planning through research, writing, teaching, institutional leadership or policy work, or a combination. Blumenthal is chief of gynecology, director of family planning services and research, and director of the Stanford Program for International Reproductive Education and Services.

Euan Ashley, MD

Ashley has been promoted to associate professor of medicine, effective Sept. 1. His laboratory is focused on the application of genomics in medicine. In 2010, he led the team that carried out the first clinical interpretation of a human genome. Ashley also directs the Clinical Genome Service, the Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease and the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center.

Bryan Bohman, MD

Bohman was selected to participate in the California Healthcare Foundation's Health Care Leadership Program, a two-year fellowship to help them prepare for challenges facing our state's health care system. Bohman is a clinical associate professor of anesthesia and associate chief medical officer for quality, safety and improvement at Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

Catherine Forest, MD, MPH

Forest was selected to participate in the California Healthcare Foundation's Health Care Leadership Program, a two-year fellowship to help them prepare for challenges facing our state's health care system.

Carlos Bustamante, PhD

Bustamante, professor of genetics, and Sharon Plon, MD, PhD, of the Baylor College of Medicine, have been awarded $8.4 million from the National Institutes of Health to lead a research group that will use computational and informatics tools and databases to determine which genomic variants have strong evidence for being associated with disease risk. They also will prioritize the variants for further study. The group is part of a consortium developing the Clinical Genome Resource, a framework for evaluating which genomic variants play a role in disease and those that are relevant to patient care.

Emilie Cheung, MD

Cheung has been promoted to associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, effective Sept. 1. Her research focuses on clinical outcomes following revision of total shoulder replacements, revision of total elbow replacements, and treatment of complications following shoulder and elbow reconstruction procedures. She also serves as chief of the shoulder and elbow service at Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

Catherine Forest, MD, MPH

Forest, clinical assistant professor of medicine and interim clinic chief at Stanford Family Medicine, is the recipient of the 2013 Hero of Family Medicine Award, presented by the California Academy of Family Physicians. The award honors a family physician who has "gone above and beyond the call of duty" to advocate for his or her patients, family physician colleagues and the profession of family medicine.

Steven Goodman, MD, PhD, MHS

Goodman, associate dean for clinical and translational research and professor of medicine and of health research and policy, has been appointed vice chair of the methodology committee of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. The independent, nonprofit organization was authorized by Congress in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act. It has an annual $500 million budget to fund patient-centered, comparative-effectiveness and methods research to provide evidence that will help patients, their caregivers and clinicians make better-informed health-care decisions.

Joseph Levitt, MD

Levitt has been appointed assistant professor of medicine, effective Sept. 1. His research focuses on the physiologic and biomarker characteristics of early acute lung injury prior to need for mechanical ventilation. He also serves as associate program director of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

John Morton, MD, MPH

Morton, associate professor of surgery, has been named president-elect of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons, the largest society for this specialty in the world, with 4,000 members from over 44 countries. Morton is a leading weight-loss surgeon and serves as director of bariatric surgery at Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

Ann Folkins, MD

Folkins was appointed assistant professor of pathology, effective Aug. 1. She is interested in gynecologic and obstetric pathology, specifically in the origin and pathogenesis of serous ovarian carcinoma and the diagnostic difficulties surrounding trophoblastic disorders and neoplasia in the placenta.

Shai Friedland, MD

Friedland was promoted to associate professor of medicine, effective Aug. 1. He is interested in techniques and outcomes in gastrointestinal endoscopy, development of new endoscopic devices, diagnosis of intestinal ischemia, and high-risk endoscopic resection.

John Higgins, MD

Higgins was promoted to professor of pathology, effective July 1. He works as a diagnostic surgical pathologist doing translational research in renal neoplasia and medical renal disease and neoplastic and medical liver disease.

Lawrence Hofmann, MD

Hofmann was promoted to professor of radiology, effective Aug. 1. He is interested in acute and chronic deep venuous thrombosis, peripheral arterial diseases and interventional oncology. Hoffman also serves as chief of interventional radiology and co-medical director of cardiac and interventional radiology at Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

Andrea Kossler, MD

Kossler was appointed assistant professor of ophthalmology, effective Aug. 1. Her research interests include thyroid eye disease, adenoid cystic carcinoma of the lacrimal gland, lacrimal gland stimulation for the treatment of dry eyes, neurostimulation, orbital tumors, floppy eyelid syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea. She also serves as co-director of ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery and the thyroid eye disease clinic.

Ginna Laport, MD

Laport was promoted to professor of medicine, effective Aug. 1. Her research interests include haploidentical transplantation, adoptive immnotherapy, follicular lymphoma and supportive care. Laport also serves as director of medical informatics at the Stanford Cancer Institute.

Gordon Lee, MD

Lee was promoted to associate professor of surgery, effective Aug. 1. He is interested in surgical education and training in plastic surgery. Lee has also studied surgical outcomes in breast reconstruction, head and neck reconstruction, abdominal wall reconstruction and genital reconstruction.

Robert Lowsky, MD

Lowsky was promoted to professor of medicine, effective July 1. His research focuses on understanding the role of regulatory T cells in the prevention of graft-versus-host disease and in promoting immune tolerance following organ transplantation.

AC Matin, PhD

Matin, professor of microbiology and immunology, is leading a team of Stanford researchers that has received a five-year, $3.5 million grant from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences to study the clinical utility of extracellular RNA in the development of new cancer therapies. The Stanford group is part of a national consortium receiving approximately $20 million to study this subject. In addition to Matin, who is the principal investigator, other members of the Stanford group are Mark Pegram, MD, professor of oncology; Stefanie Jeffrey, MD, professor of surgery; Christopher Contag, PhD, professor of pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology; and Bradley Efron, PhD, professor of statistics and of health research and policy.

Jason Merker, MD, PhD

Merker was appointed assistant professor of pathology, effective July 1. The goal of his research is to identify somatic genetic changes and associated hematologic neoplasms using high-throughput, whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing methods.

Alan Pao, MD

Pao was appointed assistant professor of medicine, effective Aug. 1. He is interested in the hormonal and signal transduction pathways that control epithelial ion transport. Clinical implications of Pao's work include a better understanding of the pathogenesis of salt-sensitive hypertension and hypertension associated with the insulin resistance syndrome.

Lucy Tompkins, MD, PhD

Tompkins, professor of infectious diseases and of microbiology and immunology, is the recipient of 2013 Walter E. Stamm Mentor Award presented by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Named to honor the memory of a former president of the society who was renowned for nurturing the careers of others, the award recognizes "individuals who have served as exemplary mentors, and who have been exceptional in guiding the professional growth of infectious diseases professionals."

Eric A. Weiss, MD

Weiss was promoted to professor of surgery, effective Aug. 1. The focus of his research is wilderness medicine, including hypothermia, heat illness, altitude illness, improvised medical care in austere environments and wound care. Weiss also has a strong interest in disaster medicine, travel medicine and international health and pandemics.

Michael Zeineh, MD

Zeineh, assistant professor of radiology, has been awarded a two-year, $150,000 grant from the Radiological Society of North America Research and Education Foundation. His project, titled "Multimodal MRI to Detect Brain Injury in Athletes," will focus on the detection of subtle brain pathology using advanced MRI. The project "should provide important information concerning the potential accumulated risk to athletes of mild concussive brain impact," said Burton Drayer, MD, a member of the foundation's board of trustees and RSNA's board of directors.

Catherine Blish, MD, PhD

Two Stanford physician-scientists have been selected to receive 2013 Clinical Scientist Development Awards presented by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The award — $486,000 each over three years — provides funding for "physician-scientists in the process of establishing their own research teams and enables them to secure 75 percent of their professional time for clinical research." Blish, assistant professor of infectious diseases, will study "Systems Immunology to Understand Antiviral Deficits during Pregnancy." 

Shirit Einav, MD

Two Stanford physician-scientists have been selected to receive 2013 Clinical Scientist Development Awards presented by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The award — $486,000 each over three years — provides funding for "physician-scientists in the process of establishing their own research teams and enables them to secure 75 percent of their professional time for clinical research." Einav, assistant professor of infectious diseases and of microbiology and immunology, will study the "Development of AAK1 and GAK Inhibitors for Combating Drug-Resistant HIV."

Joseph Liao, MD

Liao has been promoted to associate professor of urology, effective July 1. Much of Liao's research is focused on translating molecular diagnostics for urological diseases from bench to bedside, with a particular interest in in harnessing the diagnostic potentials of urine using ultrasensitive molecular biosensors and incorporating optical and molecular imaging to improve the outcome of cancer surgery. Liao serves as chief of urology at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and co-director of laparoscopic and minimally invasive urologic surgery at Stanford Hospital & Clinics.

Daniel Herschlag, PhD

Herschlag, professor of biochemistry and senior associate dean for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, has been awarded a multi-site project grant from the General Medicine Science Institute to study the principles by which RNA molecules fold into their biologically active structures. The project, titled "The Fundamental Studies of RNA folding," will bring together seven investigators from Stanford, Rutgers, the University of Michigan and University of Texas-Austin. Herschlag, the project director, will share Stanford's approximately $5 million portion of the five-year grant with Stanford co-investigators Rhiju Das, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry; Hideo Mabuchi, PhD, professor and chair of applied physics;, and Sebastian Doniach, PhD, professor of applied physics.

Clarence Braddock, MD, MPH

Braddock, professor of medicine and associate dean for undergraduate and graduate medical education, has been named chair-elect of the board of directors for the American Board of Internal Medicine. ABIM sets the standards and certifies physicians practicing in internal medicine and its subspecialties.

Rush Bartlett

Bartlett, Stanford Biodesign fellow, was awarded second place in the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance's annual Biomedical Engineering Innovations, Design and Entrepreneurship Awards competition. His company, AWAIR, was chosen for creating the Wyshbone drug delivery catheter, which continuously applies topical anesthetic to the throat to reduce discomfort from an endotracheal tube.

Ryan Van Wert

Van Wert, Stanford Biodesign fellow, was awarded second place in the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance's annual Biomedical Engineering Innovations, Design and Entrepreneurship Awards competition. His company, AWAIR, was chosen for creating the Wyshbone drug delivery catheter, which continuously applies topical anesthetic to the throat to reduce discomfort from an endotracheal tube.

Steven Chu, PhD

Chu has been appointed professor of molecular and cellular physiology and of physics, effective April 23. Chu served as U.S. energy secretary from January 2009 to April 2013. Previously, he has held positions as director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, professor of physics and of molecular and cell biology at UC-Berkeley, and professor of physics at Stanford. He shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1997 for his contributions to the laser cooling and trapping of atoms. At Stanford, Chu plans to continue efforts in applying new biophysical techniques to the study of biological systems, with an eye toward disease research. 

Huy Do, MD

Do has been promoted to professor of radiology, effective May 1. His research has been targeted at understanding the effectiveness of vertebroplasty as a treatment for painful spinal compression fractures, developing embolic materials to treat arteriovenous malformation and for tumor embolization, aneurysm therapy and acute stroke treatment. 

Christopher Holsinger, MD

Holsinger has been appointed professor of otolaryngology (head and neck surgery), effective June 1. He also serves as chief of the Division of Head and Neck Surgery.

Angela Makalinao Guerrero 

Guerrero, a second-year medical student, is among the 15 winners of a competition to create videos to help students prepare for the revised Medical College Admission Test to be administered in 2015. The contest was sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges, Khan Academy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which are collaborating in an effort to provide free, online resources to help students prepare for the new test. The competition winners will participate an all-expenses-paid, weeklong training program facilitated by Khan Academy staff and scholars to create tutorials — i.e., collections of videos, questions and articles — about concepts that will be tested in the new exam.

Paul Nuyujukian

Nuyujukian, an eighth-year MD/PhD student, is among the 15 winners of a competition to create videos to help students prepare for the revised Medical College Admission Test to be administered in 2015. The contest was sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges, Khan Academy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which are collaborating in an effort to provide free, online resources to help students prepare for the new test. The competition winners will participate an all-expenses-paid, weeklong training program facilitated by Khan Academy staff and scholars to create tutorials — i.e., collections of videos, questions and articles — about concepts that will be tested in the new exam.

James Huddleston, MD

Huddleston has been promoted to associate professor of orthopaedic surgery, effective May 1. His primary research interests include arthritis, clinical outcomes of primary and revision hip and knee replacement surgery, evaluation of the inflammatory cascade that leads to premature failure of hip and knee replacements, biomaterials, and the design of hip and knee implants and instrumentation. He serves as associate residence program director and medical director of Stanford Hospital & Clinics' Total Joint Replacement Center.

Ning Liu, PhD

Liu, a postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is the recipient of a translational postdoctoral fellowship from Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization. The fellowship was created to support talented scientists pursuing training in autism-related translational research. Liu will receive $121,355 over two years for a project using functional near-infrared spectroscopy to enable therapists to monitor brain activation responses in individuals with autism during therapy sessions. This feedback can also be shared with the individuals receiving therapy.

Paul Sharek, MD, MPH

Sharek has been named the inaugural Paul V. Miles Fellow in Quality Improvement by the American Board of Pediatrics. The award was created to honor Miles' passion for improving children's health care. Miles, MD, served at the board for more than a decade, most recently as senior vice president for maintenance of certification and quality. Sharek's research focuses on quality-of-care improvement in hospitals, particularly pediatric patient safety. He is a chief clinical patient safety officer and medical director of quality management at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

Ellen Yeh, MD, PhD

Yeh has been appointed assistant professor of pathology, of biochemistry and of microbiology and immunology, effective May 1. Her lab studies the novel biology of the apicoplast, a plastid organelle, with the goal of developing therapeutics against malaria and related pathogens.

Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD

Deisseroth, the D.H. Chen Professor and professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, has been awarded Brandeis University's 16th annual Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine. Other winners of this year's Gabbay Award are Gero Miesenböck of Oxford University and Edward Boyden of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The three scientists were selected for their contributions to the discovery and applications of optogenetics, which allows neurons can be selectively activated or inhibited with pulses of light. They will share a $15,000 prize and present lectures in the fall.

John Pringle, PhD

Pringle, professor of genetics, has been awarded the E.B. Wilson Medal for lifetime contributions to cell biology. This is the highest honor conferred by the American Society for Cell Biology. He was chosen for his pioneering work in using yeast genetics to discover general principles of cell-polarity development, cytokinesis and the septin cytoskeleton. Pringle, who also serves as associate chair of the Department of Genetics and was formerly senior associate dean for graduate education and postdoctoral affairs, will be presented with the medal and deliver the E.B. Wilson Lecture at the society's annual meeting on Dec. 17 in New Orleans.

Manu Prakash, PhD

Prakash, assistant professor of bioengineering, has been named a 2013 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts. As one of 22 early-career scientists selected for this honor, he will receive $240,000 over four years to pursue innovative solutions for improving human health. A physicist by training, Prakash is a pioneer in the "frugal science" movement, completely rethinking appropriate medical solutions for underserved regions of the world. His most recent work is focused on developing low-cost microfluidic tools to rapidly measure infection rates of the West Nile virus, malaria and Dengue within mosquito populations in field conditions.

Kimberly Allison, MD

Allison has been appointed professor of pathology, effective May 1. Her research interests include how standards should be applied to breast cancer diagnostics (such as HER2 testing), the utility of molecular panel-based testing in breast cancer, and identifying the most appropriate management of specific pathologic diagnoses. She is the author of Red Sunshine, a memoir about her personal experience with breast cancer.

Sepideh Bajestan, MD, PhD

Bajestan, a fourth-year resident in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, is a recipient of 2013 Laughlin Fellowship presented by the American College of Psychiatrists. Each year, 10 third-, fourth- and fifth-year residents are chosen by ACP to attend the college's annual meeting and participate in all educational functions. The ACP's 2013 meeting was held Feb. 23 on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.

Christina Tara Khan, MD, PhD

Khan, a first-year child and adolescent psychiatry community track fellow, is a recipient of 2013 Laughlin Fellowship presented by the American College of Psychiatrists. Each year, 10 third-, fourth- and fifth-year residents are chosen by ACP to attend the college's annual meeting and participate in all educational functions. The ACP's 2013 meeting was held Feb. 23 on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.

Edward Bertaccini, MD

Bertaccini has been promoted to professor of anesthesiology, effective May 1. His research interests focus on deciphering the molecular mechanisms of anesthetic action via the techniques of computational chemistry and molecular modeling.

Steven Coutre, MD

Coutre has been promoted to professor of medicine, effective May 1. His work emphasizes translational clinical research involving hematologic cancers, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Coutre also serves as vice chair of clinical affairs for the Department of Medicine.

George Fisher, MD, PhD

Fisher has been promoted to professor of medicine, effective May 1. His research program focuses on clinical trials for patients with gastrointestinal cancers. Fisher also serves as director of the Cancer Clinical Trials Office.

Amato Giaccia, PhD

Giaccia is the recipient of a 2013 gold medal from the American Society for Radiation Oncology. The award is the society's highest honor and recognizes distinguished members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of radiation oncology, including research, clinical care, teaching and service. Giaccia, who is director of the Division of Radiation and Cancer Biology at Stanford, will be honored at the society's 55th annual meeting in Atlanta.

Robert Shafer, MD

Shafer, professor of medicine, has been recognized with an award from the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology. Shafer was awarded the 2013 Ed Nowakowski Senior Memorial Clinical Virology Award, which is given to an individual whose contributions to clinical virology have had a major impact on the epidemiology, treatment or understanding of the pathogenesis of viral diseases. Much of his work focuses on the mechanisms and consequences of virus evolution, with a focus on HIV therapy and drug resistance. He also created the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database.

Benjamin Pinsky, MD, PhD

Pinsky, assistant professor of pathology and of medicine, has been recognized with an award from the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology. Pinsky was given the 2013 Young Investigator Award, which recognizes a significant contribution to the field of clinical or diagnostic virology by an early-career researcher. Pinsky's work focuses on the development and implementation of diagnostic assays for the detection and identification of clinically important viruses. He also serves as director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Stanford. The award consists of a $1,000 prize and a plaque, and was presented at the society's annual meeting in April.

Leanne Williams, PhD

Williams has been appointed professor (research) of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, effective May 1. She conducts research in applied personalized neuroscience, focusing on novel ways of classifying mood, anxiety and attention disorders and of predicting treatment outcome.

Joseph Wu, MD

Wu has been promoted to professor of medicine and of radiology, effective May 1. His lab works on biological mechanisms of adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells. Wu also serves as co-director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute.

Atul Butte, MD, PhD

Butte, chief of systems medicine and associate professor of pediatrics and of genetics, was recently elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Butte is one of 80 new members from top scientific institutions across the country to be honored this year. He was formally inducted April 26 at the society's annual meeting in Chicago.

Amrapali Maitra

Maitra is among the 30 recipients of the 2013 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Established in 1998, the program acknowledges the "extraordinary promise, diversity, drive and determination of recent immigrants — and children of immigrants — to this country." Each fellow is awarded up to $50,000 in grants and up to $40,000 in tuition support for two years. Maitra was born in India and came to Texas when she was 10. She earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard and completed field research in Tanzania and Bangladesh with a focus on health-care needs of women affected by violence-related trauma. She is now working toward both a medical degree and a doctorate in anthropology at Stanford.

Guillem Pratx, PhD

Pratx was appointed assistant professor of radiation oncology, effective May 1. His research interests center around three areas of medical physics: radionuclide imaging, X-ray molecular imaging and high-performance medical computing. Pratx's research aims to advance cancer care by integrating new imaging techniques into the clinical workflow, and further basic understanding of cancer biology by designing new assays that can probe subtle biochemical processes in single cells.

Nicole Yamada, MD

Yamada, a postdoctoral scholar in the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, is the recipient of the 2013 Klaus Research Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The award provides $5,000 to support her research on deviations from the standard algorithm for neonatal resuscitation and focused strategies for remediation. That project is also supported by a grant from the AAP Neonatal Resuscitation Program.

Robert Haile, PhD

Haile was appointed professor of medicine, effective May 1. He joined the Stanford faculty from the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. A recognized leader in the genetic epidemiology of cancer, Haile's research focuses on the causes and prevention of colorectal and breast cancer.

Ngan Huang, PhD

Huang was appointed assistant professor of cardiothoracic surgery, effective May 1. Her lab aims to understand the chemical and mechanical interactions between extracellular matrix proteins and pluripotent stem cells that regulate vascular and myogenic differentiation.

Suzanne Pfeffer, PhD

Pfeffer, the Emma Pfeiffer Merner Professor in the Medical Sciences and chair of the Department of Biochemistry, is one of seven Stanford faculty elected members of American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. Founded in 1780, the academy is one of the country's oldest and most prestigious honorary learned societies and a leading center for independent policy research. Pfeffer, who is the only member from the School of Medicine, is among 4,600 members and 600 foreign fellows, which include some of the world's most accomplished leaders from academia, business, social policy, energy, global security, the humanities and the arts. The new class will be inducted at a ceremony Oct. 12 at the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Yasser El-Sayed, MD

El-Sayed, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, was appointed obstetrician in chief at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. He also serves as director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Obstetrics. El-Sayed succeeds Maurice Druzin, MD, who has stepped down from the position after 22 years but will continue to care for patients, teach and conduct research. Prior to becoming chief, El-Sayed served as associate director of maternal-fetal medicine and obstetrics. He is the founder of the Stanford-Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Research Collaboration, and is the co-principal investigator of the NICHD Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network.

Preetha Basaviah, MD

Basaviah, clinical associate professor of medicine, was appointed assistant dean for pre-clerkship education. She will oversee the required MD program curriculum in the pre-clerkship years and provide leadership for the pre-clerkship course director group. In addition to her role as director of the Practice of Medicine course, she is also one of the founding members of the Educators for CARE program.

Michael Cherry, PhD

Cherry was promoted to professor (research) of genetics, effective March 1. His research focuses on identifying, validating and integrating scientific information into encyclopedic databases essential for investigation as well as scientific education.

Craig Comiter, MD

Comiter was promoted to professor of urology, effective March 1. Using various animal models of bladder outlet obstruction, he is investigating how intervening with pharmacotherapy, neuromodulation and other novel therapies may help to reverse the adverse changes in the bladder caused by the obstruction. Comiter also serves as vice chair of the Professional Practice Evaluation Committee in the Department of Surgery.

Nishita Kothary, MD

Kothary was promoted to associate professor of radiology, effective March 1. Her research interests include imaging and therapies for primary liver cancer. She also serves as director of clinical operations for the Division of Interventional Radiology.

William Kuo, MD

Kuo was promoted to associate professor of radiology, effective March 1. He pioneered treatment of complications arising from the use of filters implanted in the inferior vena cava using advanced endovascular techniques, and his team at Stanford was the first in the world to successfully use this procedure in humans. His research has led to improvements in the treatment of venous thromboembolism and new protocols for managing embedded IVC filters.

Henry Lee, MD

Lee was appointed assistant professor of pediatrics, effective March 1. His research interests include perinatal and neonatal epidemiology, health outcomes and quality improvement. He also serves as director of research at the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative.

Irene Loe, MD

Loe was appointed assistant professor of pediatrics, effective March 1. Her research interests focus on executive function deficits, attention and learning difficulties, and behavior problems in children at risk for these problems because of premature birth and family history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. She is also interested in interventions to improve outcomes in children with or at risk for developmental disabilities.

George Sledge, MD

Sledge was promoted to professor of medicine, effective March 1. He is chief of the Department of Medicine's Division of Oncology, and is a former president of the American Society for Clinical Oncology. As a clinician-scientist, he is interested in innovative treatments for breast cancer.

Lu Tian, PhD

Tian was promoted to associate professor of health research and policy, effective March 1. His research interests include survival analysis and semiparametric modeling; resampling method; meta-analysis; high dimensional data analysis; and personalized medicine for disease diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

Suzanne Tharin, MD, PhD

Tharin was appointed assistant professor of neurosurgery, effective March 1. The long-term goal of her research is the repair of damaged corticospinal circuitry.

Bioinformatics team

A team of five scientists and software developers at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research has won second place and a $10,000 prize in the national Health Data Platform Metadata Challenge. The contest's participants were asked to analyze 380 data sets in the Health Data Initiative and to provide mechanisms for integrating information in these data sets. The Stanford team consisted of Mark Musen, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and head of the Center for Biomedical Informatics Research; senior research scientist Natasha Noy, PhD; undergraduate student Amy Sentis; and software developers Csongor Nyulas, MS, and Manuel Salvadores, PhD.

Stephen Roth, MD, MPH

Roth, professor of pediatric cardiology, has been elected to a second consecutive term on the board of directors of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society. The society is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote excellence in pediatric cardiac critical care medicine. Roth is the James Baxter Wood and Yvonne Craig Wood Endowed Director for the Pediatric CVICU and chief of the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

Marius Wernig, MD, PhD

Wernig has been selected as the recipient of the fifth annual International Society for Stem Cell Research-University of Pittsburgh Outstanding Young Investigator Award in 2013. He is recognized for his research demonstrating that previously specified cells have the capacity to be reprogrammed directly to other, distantly related cell types, a discovery that has transformed the field of cellular reprogramming. Wernig, as assistant professor of pathology, will receive his award and present his latest research at the ISSCR annual meeting in Boston on June 15.

Jeffrey Axelrod, MD, PhD

Axelrod has been promoted to professor of pathology, effective Feb. 1. His lab studies developmental patterning events at the level of morphogenesis, using a combination of genetic, molecular, cell biological and mathematical approaches. The goal of his research is to understand how genes orchestrate the elaborate choreography of development to reproducibly give rise to morphological patterns seen in multicellular organisms.

Jonathan Bernstein, MD, PhD

Bernstein was appointed assistant professor of pediatrics, effective Jan. 1. He is interested in the genetics of autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disorders. He is working with other Stanford researchers on developing induced pluripotent stem cell models of genetic disorders associated with autism and developmental disability. Bernstein also serves as associate director of the medical genetics residency program.

Paul Buckmaster, DVM, PhD

Buckmaster has been promoted to professor of comparative medicine, effective Feb. 1. The goal of his research is to better understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of temporal lobe epilepsy so that rational and effective therapies can be developed. He uses electrophysiological, molecular and anatomical techniques to evaluate neuronal circuitry in normal and in epileptic brains.

Liang Feng, PhD

Feng has been appointed assistant professor of molecular and cellular physiology, effective March 1. He is interested in the structure, dynamics and function of eukaryotic transport proteins mediating ions and major nutrients crossing the membrane; the kinetics and regulation of transport processes; the catalytic mechanism of membrane-embedded enzymes; and the development of small-molecule modulators based on the structure and function of membrane proteins. 

Everett Meyer, MD, PhD, MS

Meyer, senior clinical fellow in the Department of Medicine, has been awarded a three-year, $240,000 grant from the Amy Strelzer Manasevit Research Program for the Study of Post-Transplant Complications, which supports research in blood and marrow transplantation. The program was created by Martin Strelzer, who lost his daughter to post-transplant complications in 1997. Meyer will use the grant to work on a project titled "Immune Monitoring of Regulatory T Cell Therapy to Treat Steroid Refractory Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease."

Lucy O'Brien, PhD

O'Brien has been appointed assistant professor of molecular and cellular physiology, effective March 1. Her research interests focus on the adaptive dynamics of stem cells and tissues, with emphasis on heterogeneity and tissue-level control of stem cell populations.

David Rosenthal, MD

Rosenthal was promoted to professor of pediatrics, effective Feb. 1. He is primarily interested in improving the care of children with heart failure and cardiomyopathy. Rosenthal also serves as director of the PACT Program for pediatric heart failure and heart transplantation at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

Sandip Biswal, MD

Biswal was promoted to associate professor of radiology, effective Jan. 1. He also serves as director of the musculoskeletal imaging fellowship in the Department of Radiology.

Paul Bollyky, MD, DPhil

Bollyky was appointed assistant professor of medicine (infectious diseases), effective Jan. 1. His research is focused on the role of extracellular matrix in inflammation and infection.

Anne Dubin, MD

Dubin was promoted to professor of pediatrics, effective Feb. 1. She is interested in the diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmia in pediatric heart failure, especially the use of resynchronization therapy in the pediatric and congenital heart population.

Lisa Giocomo, PhD

Giocomo was appointed assistant professor of neurobiology, effective Feb. 1. Her lab studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the organization of cortical circuits important for spatial navigation and memory.

Joanna Wysocka, PhD

Wysocka, associate professor of chemical and systems biology and of developmental biology, is the recipient of a 2013 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science. The awards were established in 2009 to encourage and support younger immigrants "who have already demonstrated exceptional achievements, and who often face significant challenges early in their careers," according to the Vilcek Foundation website. Wysocka is originally from Poland. She will receive a $35,000 cash prize for her work that has led to the discovery of novel and crucial insights into regulation of cell fate and lineage determination. She plans on addressing the questions related to gene regulation in human diversity as she moves forward with her research.

Geoffrey Gurtner, MD

Gurtner, professor of surgery, is the recipient of a Harrington Scholar-Innovator grant awarded by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals-Case Medical Center. The inaugural grant program is focused at supporting physician-scientists and their efforts to accelerate promising drug discoveries into novel treatments for patients. Gurtner will receive up to $200,000 over two years to work on the development of a novel topical drug to heal wounds, particularly in diabetic populations.

Mark Kay, MD, PhD

Kay, the Dennis Farrey Family Professor in Pediatrics and professor of genetics, will receive the 2013 Outstanding Achievement Award from the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy. Kay is also director of the School of Medicine's Program in Human Gene Therapy. He conducts studies on how diseases such as hemophilia, diabetes, and hepatitis B and C could be alleviated with gene therapy. He will accept the award and deliver a presentation about his research at the society's annual meeting in May in Salt Lake City.

John Kerner, MD

Kerner, professor of pediatric gastroenterology, and the nutrition support team at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, were recently named the recipient of the ASPEN Clinical Nutrition Team of Distinction Award. The American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition selected Kerner and the entire team, including leaders Robert Poole, PharmD; Colleen Nespor, RN, CNS; and Andrea Gilbaugh, RD, for their excellent service and leadership in interdisciplinary clinical nutrition practice.

Michael Lin, MD, PhD

Lin, assistant professor of pediatrics and of bioengineering, is the recipient of a 2013 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. The grant of $450,000 over three years is awarded to early career scientists whose projects have the potential to significantly impact the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Lin's project, ""Building the magic bullet: Protein switches for sensing oncogenic signals and executing therapeutic programs," aims to take a new approach to cancer treatment by reprogramming viruses to replicate specifically in cancer cells, triggering their destruction.

Nihar Nayak, PhD

Nayak has been appointed associate professor (research) of obstetrics and gynecology as of Dec. 1. His research is focused on understanding the mechanisms of endometrial angiogenesis and vascular remodeling during the menstrual cycle and pregnancy. Nayak's main goal is to identify the abnormalities in implantation that may lead to various pregnancy-related vascular complications.

Monica Ortiz

A paper written by Ortiz, a PhD student in the lab of Drew Endy, PhD, assistant professor of bioengineering, was chosen as the "Article of 2012" by the Journal of Biological Engineering. Pieces are selected based on the number of accesses during the calendar year. "Engineered cell-cell communication via DNA messaging" was accessed 7,331 times in less than four months from the time of its publication on Sept. 7 to the end of the year. Ortiz's paper will be recognized during the Institute of Biological Engineering's annual meeting in March in Indianapolis.

Iris Schrijver, MD

Schrijver has been promoted to professor of pathology as of Dec. 1. Her research interests include the characterization of the molecular basis of inherited disorders such as hereditary hearing loss and cystic fibrosis, genotype-phenotype correlations, and development of novel molecular diagnostic tools. She also serves as director of the molecular pathology laboratory at Stanford.

Mehrdad Shamloo, PhD

Shamloo has been appointed associate professor (research) of comparative medicine as of Dec. 1. The goal of his research is to rapidly advance the understanding of normal brain function at the molecular, cellular, circuit, behavioral and functional levels, and to reveal the pathological process underlying malfunction of the nervous system following injury and neurologic disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease and autism. His effort will focus on the beta 1-adrenergic receptor and Npas4, a transcription factor.