People

Principal Investigator

Joseph Liao, MD

Principal Investigator
jliao@stanford.edu

Joseph Liao is a urologic surgeon scientist recognized for his contributions in image-guided surgery, molecular diagnostics, and medical device development for urological diseases.  Dr. Liao holds the Kathryn Simmons Stamey endowed professorship at Stanford University, and serves as the vice chair for academic affaris, director of research, and co-director of the endourology fellowship in the Department of Urology.  He also directs the new NIH/NIDDK-funded K12 Urologic Research at Stanford (KUReS) training program for faculty scholars. Dr. Liao's clinical interests include bladder cancer, upper tract urothelial carcinoma, prostate cancer, and urinary stone disease.  

Dr. Liao graduated from Harvard College and earned his medical degree from Stanford School of Medicine. He completed his urology residency and fellowship in endourology & minimally invasive surgery at UCLA Medical Center.  Dr. Liao is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and is the current President of the Engineering & Urology Society.

Lab Members

Kathy Mach, PhD

Senior Research Scientist / Lab Manager

kmach@stanford.edu
Joined: 2007

Kathy received her PhD in biochemistry from Vanderbilt then moved to Stanford for and postdoctoral training in Stuart Kim’s lab. She has been the lab manager since 2007 and has developed urine-based molecular diagnostics for urinary tract infections and bladder cancer.

Liang Qiu

Postdoctoral Scholar

qiuliang@stanford.edu
Joined: 2024

Liang received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from National University of Singapore. His primary focus lies in the fields of medical AI and surgical robotics. He is currently developing AI models to optimize cystoscopy and transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT).

 

Zac Kornberg, MD

Urology Resident

ztk@stanford.edu
Joined: 2022

Zac is a San Francisco native, he completed his undergraduate degree at Columbia University and graduated from medical school at UCSF. He is currently a urology resident with interest in urologic oncology.  His research interests include development and validation urine-based diagnostics for bladder cancer.  

Vinh La

Clinical Research Coordinator

vinhla96@stanford.edu
Joined: 2021

Vinh received his BA in global disease biology from UC Davis in 2020. Since joining the lab, Vinh recruits and consents human subjects, process biological samples, and collects data in the OR to support various projects in the lab. In his free time Vinh enjoys going on road trips, snowboarding, and rock climbing. 

Gene Shkolyar, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor (Urologic Oncology)

shkolyar@stanford.edu
Joined: 2018

Gene was born in Kyiv and moved to New York with his family when he was 3 years old. He received his MD at UCLA in 2015 and completed his urology residency and urologic oncology fellowship at Stanford. His research is focused on bladder cancer imaging, urine diagnostics, and clinical trial design.  

Qingsong Yao

Postdoctoral Scholar

qingsong@stanford.edu
Joined: 2024

Qingsong got his Ph.D. Degree from the Chinese Academy of Science. His research interest focus on developing computer-aided algorithms for helping doctors to better distinguish bladder cancer in the cystoscopy surgery.

Tim Lee, MPH

Data Scientist

timjlee@stanford.edu
Joined: 2019

Tim graduated from UCSD with a BS in human biology in 2017 and completed his MPH with a concentration in epidemiology and biostatistics at UC Berkeley in 2022.  He started as a clinical research coordinator in the lab and now manages and maintains the various lab datasets.  Outside of the lab, Tim enjoys playing his guitar, playing video games with friends, and reading fantasy books.

Jin Long, PhD

Senior Biostatistician

jinlong@stanford.edu
Joined: 2021

Jin received his PhD in Biostatistics from Texas A&M University in 2010. In addition to his role in the lab, he is the senior biostatistician in the Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine & Imaging. His research interests include developing methods or programming on statistical modeling, machine learning and artificial intelligence using medicine and imaging data.

Daniel Massana, PhD 

Postdoctoral Scholar

dmassana@stanford.edu
Joined: 2022

A native of Spain, Daniel obtained his BS in Chemistry from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and his PhD in Chemistry from Clarkson University in New York in 2022. Daniel's research is focused on development of biomaterials for kidney stone removal and the interface between kidney stone disease, urinary tract infections, and biofilms.

Jessie Ge, MD

Urologic Oncology Fellow

tjge@stanford.edu
Joined: 2021

Jessie attended Caltech for college and med school at Washington University in St. Louis, and completed a HHMI Medical Student Research Fellowship with Sam Gambhir at Stanford. She is spearheading technology development for magnetic surgical removal of kidney stones and precision health.

Mark Laurie, MS

Graduate Student

markl21@stanford.edu
Joined: 2018

Mark received his BS in Biomedical Computation at Stanford and is currently a graduate student in Computational and Mathematical Engineering (CME). Mark is interested in development of multimodal AI algorithms to guide decision support system for bladder cancer detection and treatment.

Gabriela Rodriguez

Clinical Research Coordinator

grod094@stanford.edu
Joined: 2022

Originally from San Francisco, Gaby graduated from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR where she studied biology. She recruits patients from Stanford Hospital and Palo Alto VA.  When she's not with patients, in the lab, or in the operating room, Gaby enjoys traveling, spending time with her dogs, and going to Giants games.