Our Faculty
We are dedicated to improving human and animal health. We offer innovative training experiences that shape the next generation of biomedical professionals.
Megan Albertelli, DVM, PhD, DACLAM
Department Chair and Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Albertelli is a laboratory animal veterinarian with a research background in genetics. Her scholarly activity focuses on the development and refinement of animal models of human disease. Better animal models lead to advancement in both biomedical research and animal welfare. Dr. Albertelli’s research is collaborative in nature, and she works with several groups at Stanford. Examples include the Department of Chemistry to investigate new treatments and diagnostic assays for celiac disease and the Department of Biochemistry to develop the mouse lemur as a new model organism for research using noninvasive phenotyping techniques. She oversees the clinical care and management of research animal species with a focus on nonhuman primates and manages clinical care for a mouse lemur colony.
David Bentzel, VMD, MPH, DACLAM, DACVPM
Clinical Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Bentzel’s areas of expertise include biocontainment and animal welfare. His specialized experience directing a high biocontainment animal facility has positioned him to offer an introductory biosafety class, which is ever more relevant in a post-COVID world. He also teaches an introductory course for medical terminology to assist the next generation of medical professionals and biomedical researchers. Dr. Bentzel’s research interest is improving animal welfare focusing on the tenet of refinement through his collaboration with the department’s animal ethologist.
Paul Buckmaster, DVM, PhD
Professor of Comparative Medicine and of Neurology & Neurological Sciences
Dr. Buckmaster’s research focus is temporal lobe epilepsy, which is common, frequently refractory to treatment, and devastating to those affected. His long-term goal is to understand better the pathophysiological mechanisms of this disease so that rational and effective therapies can be developed. He uses electrophysiological and anatomical techniques to evaluate neuronal circuitry in normal and epileptic brains.
Not Accepting MLAS Students
Kerriann Casey, DVM, DACVP
Clinical Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Casey is a comparative pathologist specializing in both diagnostic and experimental pathology. She collaborates regularly with physicians and basic scientists throughout Stanford and has a special interest in animal models of cancer. Dr. Casey enjoys teaching at the resident, graduate student, and undergraduate levels and is a faculty co-advisor for Stanford’s Pre-Veterinary Society.
Corinna Darian-Smith, PhD
Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Darian-Smith and her lab research the process of recovery/compensation following spinal cord injury (SCI). She primarily uses clinically relevant nonhuman primate SCI models that are designed to target sensory/motor innervation of just 2-3 digits in one hand. Her lab uses a range of neuroanatomical, electrophysiological, and behavioral approaches to examine the neural basis of functional 'recovery,’ over the subchronic to chronic timeframe following injury. Her lab’s work provides insight into specific neuronal and glial populations directly affected by the injury, both within the spinal cord and across the neuraxis (from periphery to the sensorimotor cortex) to better understand how to best design and target therapies.
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Stephen Felt, DVM, MPH, DACVPM, DACLAM
Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Felt’s expertise is in the development of novel animal models of human and veterinary diseases. His current research interests include infectious diseases, particularly zoonoses, and exploring techniques that promote the health and welfare of laboratory animals. He enjoys teaching and mentoring postdocs, graduate, and undergraduate students in courses and on research projects which explore contemporary laboratory animal medicine and zoonotic disease topics.
Joseph Garner, DPhil
Professor of Comparative Medicine and, by courtesy, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Dr. Garner is an internationally renowned expert in animal welfare and animal wellbeing. The overarching theme of Dr. Garner’s research is understanding why most drugs (and other basic science findings) fail to translate into human outcomes; the role that animal models, animal methodology, and animal wellbeing play in these failures; and developing new approaches to animal research which improve the translation and benefits of animal work through improvements in the wellbeing of animal participants.
Katherine Gates, DVM,PhD, DACLAM
Clinical Assistant Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Gates is a laboratory animal veterinarian who is passionate about promoting the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement). She has focused on areas such as environmental health monitoring, tunnel handling, and peri-operative support. She also has experience developing large animal models and refining anesthetic plans. Her aim is to advance animal welfare while also ensuring the advancement of biomedical research.
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Sherril L. Green, DVM, PhD, DACVIM
Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Green’s research focuses on the biology, health, and disease of laboratory Xenopus, a major, non-mammalian laboratory animal model. Stanford undergraduates, graduates, and veterinary residents participate in her Xenopus research projects on topics ranging from infectious disease, parasitology, husbandry and housing, to animal welfare and behavior.
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Kathleen Heng, DVM, PhD, DACLAM
Clinical Assistant Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Heng is an ACLAM-certified veterinarian in laboratory animal medicine. She specializes in medical management, colony health, and anesthesia in large animal species including rabbits, swine, and non-human primates. Her goals are to promote animal welfare, advance translational research, and train the next generation of laboratory animal veterinarians, technicians, and scientists.
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Flavio Herberg de Alonso, DVM, PhD, DACVP (Clinical)
Clinical Assistant Professor of Comparative Medicine
Director, Animal Diagnostic Lab
Dr. Alonso has expertise in veterinary clinical pathology. He teaches subjects like hematology, cytology, and clinical chemistry and does research in the areas of body fluids analysis and laboratory diagnosis of lab animal species.
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Shaul Hestrin, PhD
Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Hestrin’s research interest is to understand how behavioral states affect communication across different brain areas, which is a fundamental question associated with several psychiatric and neurological disorders. We train mice in a visually guided task and use in vivo large-scale imaging, multisite electrical recordings, and optogenetics to investigate the neuronal mechanisms that govern the flow of information between the visual cortex and downstream frontal motor areas.
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Monika Huss, DVM, MS, DACLAM
Clinical Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Huss is dedicated to advancing the field of laboratory animal medicine through teaching, clinical care, and research. She enjoys mentoring trainees and collaborating with fellow clinicians and scientists to advance scientific and medical knowledge. Her research centers on refining biomedical research techniques including anesthesia and analgesia. Dr. Huss is a co-advisor for Stanford’s Pre-Veterinary Society.
Claude M. Nagamine, DVM, PhD, DACLAM
Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Nagamine’s expertise is the laboratory mouse. He is the director of the undergraduate course, the Laboratory Mouse in Biomedical Research (CompMed 87Q), and the director of the graduate course, Laboratory Animal Medicine Seminar (CompMed 209). His research is on mouse models of human infectious diseases and is currently involved in collaborative research using mouse models of dengue virus, Zika virus, enterovirus, and parechovirus.
Cholawat Pacharinsak, DVM, PhD, DACVAA
Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Pacharinsak is a board-certified veterinary anesthesiologist and pain researcher. His research interests are to refine anesthesia and analgesia in animal care. Dr. Pacharinsak’s lab has extensive experience in postoperative pain modeling and his research has been focused on extended-release analgesics and novel anesthetics.
Jose Vilches-Moure, DVM, PhD, DACVP
Associate Professor of Comparative Medicine
Director, Master of Laboratory Animal Science
Dr. Vilches-Moure’s collaborative research interests include refinement of animal models, cancer biology and early cancer detection techniques, host-pathogen interactions, and pathology of aging. Additional research interests include characterization of novel animal models, optimization of histology-based techniques, and developmental pathology. His teaching interests include clinical and research histology, general and systems pathology, comparative pathology, and pathology of laboratory animal species.
By Courtesy
Karen J. Parker, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories and Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator), Truong-Tan Broadcom Endowed Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Parker’s research program seeks to advance understanding of the biological basis of social functioning across a range of species, and to translate these fundamental insights to drive diagnostic and treatment advances for patients with social impairment. Her core research interests include: oxytocin and vasopressin signaling pathways, development of valid animal models for streamlined translation and clinical impact, and biomarker discovery and therapeutic testing in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Hannes Vogel, MD
Professor of Pathology and of Pediatrics (Pediatric Genetics) and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery, Neurology and of Comparative Medicine
Dr. Vogel's principal interests include mitochondrial diseases, muscle and nerve pathology, brain tumors and the toxic effects of therapy, and forensic neuropathology.
Not Accepting MLAS Students