Executive Placements
Joe Gayk
Executive Director of Medical Education Innovation
Joe brings over 10 years of success leading strategic planning lifecycles, implementing continuous quality improvements, and ensuring operational excellence at the intersection of higher education and healthcare. As a trusted executive advisor and consultant, he prides himself on his ability to champion strategic initiatives and culture changes to bring organizational visions, missions, and values to life.
In this role, Joe will work alongside the Office of the Senior Associate Dean and with colleagues across Stanford Medicine and the University, including Educational Programs and Services (EPS), to explore how AI and emerging technologies can drive innovation in medical education and healthcare. Together, they'll develop a new medical education strategic plan, grow collaborations within and beyond Stanford, and support the next generation of leaders shaping the future of medicine.
Elsie Wang
Director of Finance & Administration, Structural Biology
Elsie brings a wealth of experience from her time at the School of Medicine, where she has served since 2014 in increasingly responsible roles in finance, operations, and administration.
Most recently, she served as the Administrative Division Director in Hospital Medicine. Since joining the Department of Medicine in 2015, Elsie has led staff administration, Read More finance, and operations for research and clinical divisions. She has also partnered effectively with leadership in the Stanford Prevention Research Center and the Division of Primary Care & Population Health to strengthen their communities and advance their missions.
While not at Stanford, Elsie enjoys being outdoors, traveling, and spending time with family.
Charlotte Pera
Executive Director, Sustainability Accelerator, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
With decades of experience in nonprofits and large philanthropies focused on climate solutions, Pera is well-positioned to co-lead the Accelerator’s efforts to speed the translation of Stanford research into technology and policies that help improve the quality of human life on our planet. Pera comes to Stanford from the Bezos Earth Fund, where she served as vice president and deputy CEO. Read More
In that role, Pera and colleagues worked closely with the fund’s founders, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, to disburse the fund’s entire $10 billion endowment by the year 2030 with a focus on fighting the climate crisis and protecting and restoring nature, with attention to global equity.
Before her time at the Bezos Earth Fund, Pera served for nearly a decade as president and CEO of ClimateWorks Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit working globally to maximize philanthropy’s impact on climate change through strategic advisory services, convening, and grantmaking. In 2023, she was named one of the 50 most powerful women in U.S. philanthropy.
Pera holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Stanford. She serves on the advisory board of the 100x Impact Accelerator at the London School of Economics, the governing board of the International Council for Clean Transportation, and the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of Philanthropy for Climate and Nature. She is a senior fellow with the Bezos Earth Fund and with the Mission Possible Partnership.
John Dalton
Associate Dean of Student Affairs, Stanford Law School
As the Associate Dean of Student Affairs, John supervises the Registrar’s Office and the Office of Student Affairs (OSA), oversees the programming put on by OSA, and engages in support and advising for students navigating a range of personal, academic, and health challenges. Prior to his appointment as Associate Dean, John served as the inaugural Director of Academic Success at Stanford Law School, where he helped to provide academic and bar Read More advising, as well as academic support programming and counseling.
Before returning to Stanford Law, he spent over ten years working as an attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), where he worked primarily as a capital litigator and on EJI’s racial justice and education projects. Before working at EJI, he spent 15 months working as a corporate transactional associate at Davis Polk in their Menlo Park office. Prior to practicing, he clerked for Judge Pamela Ann Rymer, JD ‘64, of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California.
Victoria Leyton
Assistant Dean for Research Operations
Victoria joins us from Baylor College of Medicine, where she served as the Director of Research Administration in the Office of Sponsored Programs. She has deep expertise in research administration after serving in multiple roles overseeing research at both the departmental and institutional levels. She is also working on a dissertation in research administration, which she expects to complete in 2026. Read More
In this new role as Assistant Dean for Research Operations, Victoria will provide strategic and operational oversight of the School of Medicine’s research operations and lead the Research Management Group (RMG). She will be a key point of contact for research teams throughout the School of Medicine and our health systems and will be a primary liaison with research leaders across the university. Victoria will also play a key role in an initiative to optimize our research proposal development and study activation processes to support the continued growth of the medical school’s research portfolio.
Lynn Miles
Senior Associate Dean, External Relations
Lynn is a strategic development and external relations executive with more than 30 years of experience, including senior leadership positions at Wellesley College, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and, most recently, the University of Southern California. At USC, Lynn managed all programmatic and personnel efforts to secure philanthropic support and industry engagement for the Iovine and Young Academy (IYA). Lynn has successfully implemented Read More
development and external relations programs that led to IYA achieving its vision to nurture critical thinking and creativity at the intersection of human-centered design, technology, and entrepreneurship.
As the Senior Associate Dean for Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Lynn will oversee teams managing communications; development; alumni, community relations; volunteer engagement; and events.
Michael Rothman
Executive Director, Process Excellence
Michael is a seasoned healthcare leader with more than 15 years of experience in spearheading strategic programs that drive significant change, foster cultures of continuous improvement, and enhance organizational capability. His expertise lies in successfully implementing Lean management systems, resulting in sustained revenue growth, the delivery of high-value care and services, and substantial cost reductions. Read More
In his role as the Executive Director of Process Excellence, Michael will play a pivotal role in leading the School of Medicine's process improvement and change management program. Collaborating closely with the School, department leaders, and the Office of Chief Operating Officer leadership team, he will ensure the alignment of process and operational excellence initiatives with the School's mission, goals, and overarching strategies.
Clariecia Groves
Director of Workforce Analytics
Clariecia has over 13 years of analytics and insights experience, including in visualizations, statistics, and predictive analytics. She loves to bridge the gap between business, analytics, and strategy and has a strong passion for teaching and helping others to use data to make better Read More
decisions. Most recently, she led the workforce analytics function at Tenneco, an auto manufacturing company, where she focused on developing roadmaps, creating a data governance structure, and building a team. Prior to that, Clariecia worked at Ascension Healthcare, serving in various leadership and analytical roles focused on business intelligence, data analytics, and research.
As a lifelong learner, Clariecia has a B.S. in Mathematics, a M.S. in Statistics and Operations Research, and a doctorate in Engineering Management.