CVI Mentorship Program
for Early Career Researchers
The Cardiovascular Institute Mentorship Program connects early career cardiovascular scientists with faculty mentors for one-on-one career and research advice.
We welcome Mentee applications from any early career researcher (e.g. graduate student, medical student, resident, postdoc, fellow, or instructor) who is either a CVI member (join here) or whose primary research mentor is a CVI member.
You must be currently studying or working at Stanford to participate in the program.
We welcome Mentor applications from any Stanford University faculty member.
CVI Faculty Mentors
Kevin Alexander, MD, FACC
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine
amyloidosis, heart failure, transplant, molecular biology
Euan A. Ashley, MCRP, DPhil
Associate Dean, School of Medicine, Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular), of Genetics, of Biomedical Data Science
Leah Backhus, MD, MPH, FACS
Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery
health services research, health disparities, cancer surveillance, career advice for MPH
Daniel Bernstein, MD
Alfred Woodley Salter and Mabel Smith Salter Endowed Professor in Pediatrics
cell signaling in cardiovascular disease, cardiomyopathy, hiPSC-CMs, right ventricular failure, mitochondrial dynamics and function
Vivek Bhalla, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Nephrology)
hypertension, kidney physiology, aldosterone, diabetes, chronic kidney disease
Helen Blau, PhD
The Donald and Delia Baxter Foundation Professor; Director, Baxter Lab for Stem Cell Biology
nuclear reprogramming, plasticity of the differentiated state, muscle stem cell biology, inflammaging, iPSC modeling of DMD cardiomyopathy
Vinicio de Jesus Perez, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine)
vascular biology, pulmonary vascular disease, drug-induced cardiopulmonary toxicity, endothelial biology, pericyte and smooth muscle cell biology
Alexander Dunn, PhD
Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering
biophysics, mechanobiology, microscopy, cryo-EM tomography
Jesse Engreitz, PhD
Assistant Professor, Genetics, and the Children’s Heart Center Basic Sciences and Engineering Initiative
genetics, genomics, CRISPR, vascular cells
Dan Ennis, PhD
Associate Professor of Radiology (VA Palo Alto)
cardiac MRI, cardiac mechanics, cardiovascular flow and motion, cardiac imaging biomarkers, cardiovascular devices
William Fearon, MD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
interventional cardiology, coronary physiology, clinical trials
Michael Fischbein, MD, PhD
Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery
aorta, aneurysm, iPSC derived smooth muscle cells, precision medicine, multi-omics, cardiac surgery
Paul George, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurology (Adult Neurology)
regenerative medicine, stem cells, biomaterials, electrical stimulation, stroke
Eric Gross, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
ischemia-reperfusion injury, aldehydes, opioids, anesthesia, surgery, e-cigarettes
Francois Haddad, MD
Clinical Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine
Paul Heidenreich, MD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular)
outcomes, economic analysis, health services, quality of care, health policy
Sarah Heilshorn, PhD
Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
biomaterials, drug delivery, regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, bioprinting
Ngan Huang, PhD
Associate Professor (Research) of Cardiothoracic Surgery
tissue engineering, biomaterials, angiogenesis, stem cells
Michael Kapiloff, MD, PhD
Associate Professor (Research) of Ophthalmology
signal transduction, cardiac hypertrophy, cardiac physiology, gene therapy
Ioannis Karakikes, PhD
Assistant Professor (Research), Cardiothoracic Surgery
Kiran Khush, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
clinical research, heart transplant, donor selection, non-invasive biomarkers
Joshua Knowles, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine
genetics of cardiovascular disease, inherited lipid disorders, insulin resistance and diabetes, preventive cardiology, physician scientist training
Brian Kobilka, MD
Helene Irwin Fagan Chair in Cardiology
G-protein coupled receptors, membrane protein structure, biophysics
Jason T. Lee, MD
Professor of Surgery (Vascular Surgery)
aortic aneurysm, vascular surgery, aortic dissection, aortic stent-grafts
Nicholas Leeper, MD
Professor of Surgery (Vascular Surgery)
atherosclerosis, vascular biology, vascular medicine, efferocytosis
Eldrin Lewis, MD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
heart failure, outcomes research, quality of life, clinical trials, and health care disparities
David Liang, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular), Emeritus
Ronglih Liao, PhD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
myocardial biology and physiology, cardiac amyloidosis, animal models of heart disease
Kenneth Mahaffey, MD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
clinical trials, acute coronary syndromes, atrial fibrillation, hyperlipidemia
David Maron, MD
Clinical Professor, Medicine - Stanford Prevention Research Center
primary and secondary prevention of coronary artery disease
Alison Marsden, PhD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) and Bioengineering
biomechanics, cardiovascular devices, computational modeling, finite element simulations, mechanobiology
Jonathan Myers, PhD
Clinical Professor (Affiliated), Medicine - Med/cardiovascular Medicine
mentoring on prevention and rehabilitation, inherited cardiovascular diseases, sports cardiology, epidemiology
Mark Mercola, PhD
Sanford and Joan Weill Scholar and Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular)
Sanjiv Narayan, MD
Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine
cardiac arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation, computational modeling, machine learning, bioengineering
Patricia Nguyen, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
atherosclerosis, cardioimmunology, imaging
Mark R. Nicolls, MD
Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
vascular disease, immune response, lung transplantation, pulmonary hypertension, lymphedema
Koen Nieman, MD, PhD
Associate Professor Medicine (Cardiology) and of Radiology (CV Imaging)
cardiac CT, clinical research, coronary artery disease, ischemic heart disease, bypass graft imaging
Latha Palaniappan, MD, MS
Professor of Medicine (General Medical Disciplines)
John Pauly, PhD
Reid Weaver Dennis Professor of Electrical Engineering
4D flow MRI, quantitative MRI, dynamic contrast MRI, real-time MRI, machine learning for image processing and reconstruction
Marlene Rabinovitch, MD
Dwight and Vera Dunlevie Professor in Pediatric Cardiology
Kristy Red-Horse, PhD
Associate Professor of Biology
developmental biology, cardiovascular development, heart regeneration, coronary arteries
Sushma Reddy, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
congenital heart disease, heart failure, microRNA, microvascular dysfunction, mitochondria
Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
health disparities, Hispanic/Latino, lipids, cardiovascular prevention, cardiovascular risk prediction
Elsie Ross, MD
Assistant Professor of Surgery (Vascular Surgery) and of Medicine (BMIR)
peripheral artery disease, vascular surgery, big data, machine learning, clinical outcomes
Nazish Sayed, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor (Research) of Surgery (Vascular Surgery)
iPSCs, endothelial biology, vascular disease modeling, cardio-oncology, immune-mediated cardiovascular regeneration
Yasuhiro Shudo, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery (Adult Cardiac Surgery)
thoracic organ transplant, heart failure, bio-engineering, angiogenesis, biostatistics, robotics
Edda Spiekerkoetter, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine)
Marcia Stefanick, PhD
Professor (Research) of Medicine (Stanford Prevention Research Center) and OBGYN
women's health, physical activity and CV prevention (and risk factors)
Philip Tsao, PhD
Professor (Research) of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
vascular disease, atherosclerosis, endothelial function, genetic epidemiology
Mintu Turakhia, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine) at the Palo Alto VAHCS
outcomes research, data science, clinical trials, digital health, arrhythmia, electrophysiology
Cornelia Weyand, MD
Professor of Medicine (Immunology and Rheumatology)
immunometabolism, T-cell immune responses in vascular inflammation, macrophages in vascular inflammation, vasculitis, immune aging
Ron Witteles, MD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
amyloidosis, cardio-oncology, sarcoidosis, heart failure
Paul Wang, MD
Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine) and, by Courtesy, of Bioengineering
medical technology innovation, arrhythmias, clinical trials
Joseph Woo, MD
Chairman & Norman E. Shumway Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery
cardiovascular surgery, biomechanical engineering, molecular and cellular biology, clinical translational therapies, device development
Joseph Wu, MD, PhD
Director, Stanford CVI
Simon H. Stertzer, MD, Professor and Professor of Radiology
iPSC disease modeling, drug discovery, precision medicine, genomics, cardio-oncology, molecular imaging
Sean Wu, MD, PhD
Sanford and Joan Weill Scholar and Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
cardiovascular disease mechanisms, drug discovery, precision medicine, genomics, stem cells, molecular imaging
Phillip Yang, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
myocardial restoration, iPSC-derived secretomes and biologics, molecular and cardiac MRI, cellular bioenergetics, precision medicine