Alumni Day 2023

Welcome Remarks

Volney F. Van Dalsem III, BA ’71, MD ’75

President, Stanford Medical Alumni Association

Dr. Van Dalsem III has had a long engagement with Stanford University, receiving his BA in Biology in 1971 and M.D. in 1975.  He completed his internship, residency and fellowship in Diagnostic Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco in 1980, where he continues to  serve on the Diagnostic Radiology Margulis Society Alumni Board of Directors.

Dr. Van Dalsem practiced Diagnostic Radiology at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, California from 1980 through 2007, and has served as the Medical Director of the Radiologic Technology and Diagnostic Medical Sonography Training Programs at Foothill College since 1991. In 2007, he returned to Stanford Medical School as an Associate Professor, Clinical Educator faculty member and Medical Director of Outpatient Imaging for Stanford Hospital and Clinics.  He was appointed Professor of Abdominal Imaging in the Stanford Department of Diagnostic Radiology in 2012.

Dr. Van Dalsem has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Stanford Medicine Alumni Association since 2014, and is currently president-elect of the association.

DAVID FURMAN, PHD, POSTDOC ’13

Director, Stanford 1000 Immunomes Project,
Associate Professor and Director of the Bioinformatics Core,
The Buck Institute for Research on Aging

Dr. Furman is the director of the Stanford 1000 Immunomes Project and director of the Bioinformatics Core at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. He received his PhD from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, for his work on the identification of factors produced by tumors that enable cancer cells to escape immune attack. During his postdoctoral training at the Stanford School of Medicine, he focused on the application of advanced analytics to study aging of the immune system in humans and to decipher how cumulative inflammatory responses associated with aging lead to accelerated cardiovascular aging. Dr. Furman has published dozens of scientific articles in top-tier journals such as Cell, Nature Medicine, PNAS, The Lancet, and others.

ANNE LYNN S. CHANG, MD, RESIDENT ’07

Professor of Dermatology and Director of the Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma Clinic

Dr. Chang’s research is both translational and clinical in nature and centers on the human genetics and epigenetic mechanisms of healthy skin aging and diseases related to aging skin including new treatments for advanced skin cancers. As director of Dermatologic Clinical Trials, Dr. Chang has worked with Stanford’s own research panel, leading pharmaceutical companies, and the FDA to safely and ethically expand the medical field’s knowledge of dermatologic treatments. She completed her MD degree from Harvard Medical School, her internship at UCSF, and her dermatology residency and fellowship at Stanford.

LISA GIOCOMO, PHD

Associate Professor of Neurobiology

Dr. Giocomo is a member of Stanford’s Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Her research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the organization of cortical circuits important for spatial
navigation and memory. This includes work to understand the plasticity of the aging brain. Her research has been supported by awards from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship, the Office of Naval Research, the James S. McDonnell Foundation, and the Vallee Foundation. Dr. Giocomo received her PhD in neuroscience at Boston University and completed her postdoctoral training at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience.

SIMON TAN, PSYD, ABPP, ABAP, MS

Clinical Associate Professor (Affiliated), Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

Dr. Tan is a licensed clinical psychologist and board-certified neuropsychologist specializing in the diagnosis of developmental, psychiatric, and neurologic disorders. He has spent more than 20 years conducting both inpatient and outpatient assessments at hospital-based settings and clinics. At Stanford, he is involved in didactic training of neurological residents and fellows. Dr. Tan received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University, and completed a pre-doctoral internship at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center at Harvard. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the Behavioral Neurology Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Cambridge Hospital at Harvard.

PETER A. TASS, MD, PHD

Professor of Neurosurgery

Dr. Tass investigates and develops neuromodulation techniques for understanding and treating neurologic conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, dysfunction following stroke, and tinnitus. His work creates therapeutic procedures by means of comprehensive computational neuroscience studies and advanced data analysis techniques. From this research, he has pioneered a neuromodulation approach that employs dynamic self-organization, plasticity, and other neuromodulation principles to produce sustained improvement after stimulation. Dr. Tass received his MD from the Universities of Ulm and Heidelberg in Germany and his master’s degree in mathematics and PhD in physics from the University of Stuttgart in Germany

EMMANUEL MIGNOT, MD, PHD, FELLOW ’96

Craig Reynolds Professor of Sleep Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health

Dr. Mignot discovered the cause of the sleep disorder narcolepsy, an autoimmune disease affecting neurons secreting the wake-promoting substance orexin. This discovery is leading to pharmaceuticals for insomnia, hypersomnia, and narcolepsy. His lab uses state-of-the-art techniques to study sleep and sleep disorders. He also studies the role of the immune system in neurological and neurodegenerative disorders. Originally from Paris, he studied at the École Normale Supérieure and received his MD and PhD from Paris V and VI University. He joined Stanford in 1993 and became professor in 2001. Dr. Mignot has received numerous awards for his work, including a 2023 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

DEBORAH M. KADO, MD, MS

Professor of Medicine, Primary Care and Population Health and Co-Director, Stanford Longevity Center

Dr. Kado is co-chief of the Geriatric Section of the Department of Medicine, and co-director of the Stanford Longevity Center. A specialist in geriatrics and bone health, she has conducted extensive research on osteoporosis and age-related hyperkyphosis. Dr. Kado previously practiced at UC San Diego where she started a dedicated osteoporosis clinic. Her research also includes other aging-related topics such as the gut microbiome and the effects of cancer treatments on aging. She received her MD degree from Weill Cornell Medicine Medical College and trained at UCSF and UCLA. She also has an MS degree from the UCLA School of Public Health.

LUCIA ARONICA, PHD, POSTDOC ’15, POSTDOC ’17

Lecturer, Stanford Prevention and Research Center and Instructor, Stanford Genomics Certificate

Dr. Aronica investigates how diet, genetics, and epigenetics interact with each other to impact our health and longevity, and how to use this information to design personalized lifestyle interventions. Dr. Aronica received her PhD from the University of Vienna and has research experience from the University of Oxford, the University of Southern California, and the University of Naples Federico II, and completed her postdoctoral
work in cancer and medicine at Stanford School of Medicine. She is also the genomics lead investigator at Metagenics, Inc., and editor of the peer-reviewed journal Life by MDPI.

LLOYD B. MINOR, MD

Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean, Stanford University School of Medicine

Dean Minor is a scientist, surgeon, and academic leader. He has served as dean of Stanford University School of Medicine since December 2012. In addition, he is a professor of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck
Surgery and, by courtesy, of Neurobiology and Bioengineering at Stanford University. As dean, Dr. Minor plays an integral role in setting strategy for the clinical enterprise of Stanford Medicine. He also oversees the
quality of Stanford Medicine’s physician practices and growing clinical networks. With Dr. Minor’s leadership, Stanford Medicine has established a strategic vision to lead the biomedical revolution in precision health.

LARS OSTERBERG, MD, MPH, RESIDENT ’84

Professor of Medicine, Primary Care and Population Health
Co-Director, Stanford Medicine Teaching and Mentoring Academy and Director, Educators-4-CARE

The RISE (Reach, Inspire, Serve, Engage) Award will be presented to Dr. Osterbeg in recognition of his exceptional dedication to nurturing Stanford Medicine and its alumni community through acts of leadership, volunteerism, mentoring, and teaching.