Women Faculty Networking: Research Leadership

Ruth O'Hara, PhD

Senior Associate Dean for Research, Director of Stanford Spectrum, and the Lowell W. and Josephine Q. Berry Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 

Dr. O’Hara is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Translational Research Core of the Veterans Affairs Sierra-Pacific Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), and Co-Director of Stanford/VA California Alzhemer's Disease Center. 

Her research focuses on longitudinal investigations of the relationship between neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms in normal and pathological aging.  In particular, she aims to identify genetic, neuroimaging and sleep biomarkers that predict the onset of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders in late life. Her current research has a primary emphasis on the impact of sleep disordered breathing, sleep apnea and associated hypoxia on psychiatric symptoms and cognitive function in older adults. She has extensive experience conducting full ambulatory polysomnography in a broad range of late life disorders, with hundreds of such studies conducted in her laboratory to date.  

With respect to career development education and mentorship, she serves as national Director of the 26-site, VA Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Health Research and Treatment which has graduated over 250 MD and PhD Fellows into independent academic clinical research career positions. She also serves as core faculty on the NIMH-funded Career Development Institute in Psychiatry and the Summer Research Institute in Geriatric Psychiatry, and most recently served as faculty at the American Association of Sleep Medicine Young Investigators meeting. As such she is particularly well suited to providing key mentorship in the career development, including ethical conduct in clinical research, grant writing proficiency, and professional collaboration skills key for developing an independent research program and long-term independent academic career.

David Struddert

Vice Provost and Dean of Research, Professor of Health Policy (School of Medicine, and of Law (School of Law)

David Studdert is an expert in the fields of health law, health policy, and torts.  His research explores how the legal system influences the health and well-being of populations.  He has a special interest in injury, and has studied causes of medical error, suicide, road accidents, and firearm violence. Among other honors, Professor Studdert has received Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award from Academy Health and Federation, Laureate Fellowships from the Australian Research Council, and been elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2024. He received B.A. and LL.B. (Law) degrees from the University of Melbourne, Australia, as well as a masters degree in public health and a doctoral degree in health policy from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.