Meet our Multi-disciplinary Team

Vivek Bhalla, MD, FASN, FAHA

Director, Hypertension Center

Dr. Vivek Bhalla is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Nephrology, and Hypertension. His clinical specialties include diagnosis and management of cases of resistant hypertension, in particular, due to secondary causes including primary hyperaldosteronism, renovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease. He also sees patients with fluid and electrolyte disorders of the kidney as well as patients afflicted with diabetes and hypertension.

Dr. Bhalla received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and his medical degree from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. He trained in internal medicine at Harbor-UCLA and subsequently completed clinical nephrology fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. During his fellowship, he studied molecular mechanisms of sodium transport in the laboratory of Dr. David Pearce. In 2008, Dr. Bhalla was recruited to Stanford University and currently directs a basic science research program on the molecular mechanisms of hypertension in the metabolic syndrome. He is the recipient of the Shaul G. Massry Young Investigator Grant Recipient from the National Kidney Foundation and the Carl W. Gottschalk Career Development Award from the American Society of Nephrology. He is the founding director of the Stanford Hypertension Center, a nexus for clinical care, and clinical and translational research to improve the care of patients with hypertension. Dr. Bhalla has a long-standing interest in encouraging nephrology and hypertension research in our trainees. He directs the renal physiology curriculum at the Stanford University School of Medicine and has served on the Biosciences Research Advisory Group for the American Society of Nephrology.

Tara Chang, MD, MS, FASN

Associate Professor of Medicine, Nephrology

Dr. Tara Chang is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Nephrology and Hypertension. In addition to seeing patients with all types of kidney diseases, Dr. Chang has a special interest in patients with difficult-to-treat high blood pressure. Dr. Chang runs several clinical research projects funded in part by the NIH that examine the relationships among high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease and heart disease. She is the Director of Clinical Research in the Division of Nephrology.

Glenn Chertow, MD, MPH  

Professor of Medicine, Nephrology

Dr. Chertow is the Norman S. Coplon / Satellite Healthcare Professor of Medicine- Nephrology, and is Chief of Nephrology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Chertow received his undergraduate degree from University of Pennsylvania, and his medical degree and master’s in public health from Harvard Medical School. He trained in Internal medicine and was Nephrology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He also has received certification of expertise in Clinical Hypertension from the American Society of Hypertension.

His research interests are focused on clinical epidemiology, health services research, and clinical trials in acute and chronic kidney disease. In addition to his own research program, he devotes considerable effort in collaborative research and in mentoring junior faculty, fellows and other trainees. He has served as Chairman of the Steering Committee of several multi-center studies including BEACON, EVOLVE, and the Frequency Hemodialysis Network. He is a Principal Investigator for SPRINT (Systolic Blood Pressure and Intervention Trial) and participates in several follow-up studies. Dr. Chertow holds numerous awards for his accomplishments in research, teaching, and clinical care including the Belding Scribner Award, The National Torchbearer Award from the American Kidney Fund, and election into the National Academy of Medicine.

Pedram Fatehi, MD, MPH

Clinic Associate Professor of Medicine, Nephrology and (by courtesy) Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine

After college and medical school at the University of Texas and graduate school in epidemiology/public health at Yale University, Dr. Fatehi trained in general internal medicine and nephrology at the Columbia University campus of New York Presbyterian Hospital. He went on to complete an additional fellowship in critical care medicine at the University of California San Francisco, where he was on faculty before moving to Stanford in 2014. Dr. Fatehi is ABIM board-certified in internal medicine, nephrology, and critical care medicine and ASH certified as a specialist in clinical hypertension. He is the medical director of inpatient/acute dialysis programs and associate program director of nephrology fellowship training at Stanford. He collaborates with other providers to care for patients in outpatient clinics, on hospital wards and in the intensive care unit with a wide array of blood pressure disorders and abnormalities in circulatory physiology.  

Robert Isom, MD

Clinical Associate Professor, Medicine, Nephrology

Dr. Isom is a co-director of clinical operations for the Stanford Hypertension Center. Dr. Isom received his undergraduate degree at New York University, his master’s degree from New York University in France (French Literature) and finally his medical degree at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Isom trained in Internal Medicine at NYU-Bellevue Medical Center in New York City, and thn did his Nephrology training at Columbia University. Dr. Isom’s clinical interests are in diagnosis and management of kidney disease and resistant hypertension.

Rebecca Boyle, PA-C

Physician Assistant

Rebecca Boyle is the Physician Assistant for the Stanford Hypertension Center and recognized by the American Society of Hypertension as an expert Certified Hypertension Clinician (ASH-CHC). She received her undergraduate degree at University of California, Los Angeles and her Masters of Physician Assistant Studies at Western University of Health Sciences. Prior to coming to Stanford, where she currently practices at the Hypertension Center and outpatient Nephrology Clinic, her areas of clinical experience have included Oncology, Hematology, Gastroenterology, and Hepatology.

Euan Ashley, MRCP, DPhil

Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular

Dr. Ashley is an Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular), Genetics, Biomedical Data Science, and by courtesy, Pathology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. After graduating with 1^st Class Honors in Physiology and Medicine from the University of Glasgow, he completed medical residency and a PhD in molecular physiology at the University of Oxford. In 2006, Dr. Ashley moved to Stanford University where he trained in cardiology and advanced heart failure, focusing on precision medicine. Currently the Co-Director of Clinical Genomics and Precision Medicine, a new combined clinical and laboratory service funded by Stanford Healthcare and Stanford Children’s Health, Dr. Ashley is also the founding Director of the Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. His research interests include the use of big data for improving health and developing genetic tools to understand and cure cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension. 

Francois Haddad, MD

Clinical Associate Professor, Cardiovascular

Dr. Francois Haddad, MD is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University and directs Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Biomarker and Phenotypic Core Laboratory. His practice focuses on heart failure and cardiovascular imaging. He received is MD from University of Montreal in 1998 followed by advanced fellowships in cardiology, cardiovascular imaging, heart failure and pulmonary vascular disease at Montreal Heart Institute and Stanford University. As part of the Hypertension Clinic, Dr. Haddad will evaluate patients with shortness of breath or symptoms suggesting heart failure. He will work with patients to find the best strategies for managing their heart failure symptoms.

David Lee, MD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular

Dr. David Lee is Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular) at the Stanford University School of Medicine. After gaining his undergraduate degree in Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he obtained his medical degree at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Lee completed his internal medicine residency, cardiology fellowship, and interventional cardiology fellowship here at Stanford. Dr. Lee has received numerous awards for his work, including for teaching, mentoring, and research. Dr. Lee served as a site Principal Investigator for SYMPLICITY 3 clinical trial for renal denervation as a therapy for resistant hypertension. He is also the Principal Investigator for SPYRAL-ON and SPYRAL-OFF trials in renal denervation, and has served on Data Safety Monitoring Boards for other renal denervation clinical trials.

David Maron, MD

Chief, Stanford Prevention Research Center

Director, Preventive Cardiology

Dr. Maron received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his medical degree from the University of Southern California. He trained in internal medicine at UCLA. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, a preventive cardiology fellow, and subsequently a cardiology fellow at Stanford University. After two years in private practice in Santa Monica he moved to Nashville in 1993 to join the faculty at Vanderbilt as Director of Preventive Cardiology. He returned to Stanford in 2014 where he serves as Clinical Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and Director of Preventive Cardiology.

His career has been dedicated to the prevention of coronary heart disease.  He was a member of the executive committee of the COURAGE trial, a landmark trial that found that stenting was not better than optimal medical therapy for preventing heart attacks and improving survival. He is currently the Co-Chair of the ISCHEMIA trial, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health comparing the effectiveness of an invasive (cardiac catheterization and stents or bypass surgery plus optimal medical therapy) versus conservative (optimal medical therapy alone) approach to treating patients with an abnormal stress test. He is also Co-Chair of the NIH-funded ISCHEMIA-CKD trial, a companion trial to ISCHEMIA testing the impact of an invasive strategy in patients with an abnormal stress test and advanced chronic kidney disease.

Eri Fukaya, MD PhD

Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery and Vascular Medicine specialist 

Eri Fukaya, MD PhD is a Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery and a Vascular Medicine specialist at Stanford University. She is the Program Director of the Vascular Medicine Fellowship and the Associate Medical Director of the Vascular Clinics and Non-Invasive Vascular Laboratory.  Dr. Fukaya collaborates with the Hypertension Clinic to evaluate patients with renal artery disease and hypertension. She also works closely with the Fibromuscular Dysplasia Society of America (FMDSA) to advocate for patients and advance the understanding of this uncommon disease and is the site investigator for the national Fibromuscular Dysplasia Registry. 

Justin P. Annes, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology 

Dr. Annes is a physician scientist with expertise in the area of hereditary endocrine disorders. In particular, he cares for patients and families with inherited disorders that frequently cause difficult to control high blood pressure- unfortunately the diagnosis of these genetic conditions is often delayed because they are rare and many doctors are not familiar with the early signs of disease. As part of the Hypertension Center, his role is to diagnose and manage these rare hereditary conditions that may come to attention because of elevated blood pressure. Dr. Annes' clinical training is in Internal Medicine (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston MA) and Clinical Genetics (Harvard-Wide Program: MGH, BWH, BCH & BID). His research interest is in the area of drug discovery for the treatment of endocrine disease. As junior faculty at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Annes established an Endocrine Genetics Clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute that focused on the diagnosis and management of hereditary endocrine tumor syndromes such as Neurofibromatosis (NF1), the Hereditary Paraganglioma and Pheochromocytoma Syndrome (hPPGL) and Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 and 2 (MEN1 and 2). Since moving to Stanford in 2012, Dr. Annes has run the Stanford Endocrine Genetics Clinic.  

Marina Basina, MD

Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine-Endocrinology, Gerontology and Metabolism 

Dr. Marina Basina is a Clinical Associate Professor, of Medicine-Endocrinology, Gerontology and Metabolism. Dr. Basina is a clinical endocrinologist and clinical researcher with a focus on diabetes management, thyroid, and adrenal condition. Her primary interests are in Type 1 Diabetes, Diabetes technology, Diabetes in pregnancy, and adrenal disorders. 

Dr. Basina earned her medical degree in Russia at Moscow Medical School, followed by residency training in internal medicine at the University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine/West LA Va Medical Center.

Dr. Basina has been awarded several teaching awards along with a Master Teacher award. She completed fellowship in Endocrinology at Stanford University, and recently returned to Stanford to join the faculty. Dr. Basina has been awarded several teaching awards. Her clinical interests are in the care of patients with diabetes mellitus, thyroid disorders, and adrenal disorders. She cares for patients with Primary Hyperaldosteronism, Cushing’s disease, and pheochromocytoma, each of which are secondary causes of resistant hypertension.

Fredric Kraemer, MD

Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrine, Gerontology and Metabolism

Fredric B. Kraemer, M.D. is Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Endocrinology, Gerontology and Metabolism. He received his medical and endocrinology training at New York University, State University of New York, Downstate and Stanford University and is board-certified in Internal Medicine and in Endocrinology and Metabolism. He has been on the Stanford faculty for over 35 years, during which time he has been involved in treating all aspects of endocrine disorders, including endocrine causes of hypertension.

Randall Stafford, MD, PhD 

Professor of Medicine (Stanford Center for Prevention Research)

Dr. Randall Stafford attended Reed College (BA in Sociology), Johns Hopkins University (MHS in Health Administration), UC Berkeley (PhD in Epidemiology) and UC San Francisco (MD). He trained in primary care internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Stafford has played a leading role in developing national guidelines and performance measures for blood pressure management. He was a local co-investigator for SPRINT and helped author the 2017 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Blood Pressure Guidelines. Dr. Stafford's research focuses on developing new strategies for disease prevention and self-management.  He is also a primary care physician in the Stanford Internal Medicine Clinic.

Sandra Tsai, MD

Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine, General Medical Disciplines and Cardiovascular

Dr. Tsai received her undergraduate degree from Rice University and her MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. She trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. She is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor in General Medical Disciplines and in Cardiovascular Medicine. She specializes in Preventive Cardiology including risk factor modification and pharmacologic treatment of hypertension.

Maarten Lansberg, MD, PhD

Associate Professor, Neurology

Dr. Lansberg is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences. He specializes in the treatment of stroke and other neurovascular disorders.

Hypertension is extremely common among patients who have suffered a stroke. It also is one of the most important modifiable risk factors for stroke. To minimize the risk of stroke recurrence among patients who have suffered a stroke, Dr. Lansberg collaborated with Dr. Bhalla, Director of the Stanford Hypertension Center, to develop a treatment protocol for the management of hypertension in stroke patients. This protocol has been implemented at Stanford Hospital and has been instrumental in standardizing and optimizing the treatment of hypertension on the stroke unit at Stanford Hospital.

Mitchell Miglis, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology

Dr. Miglis received his B.S. in Biology from the University of North Florida and his MD from the University of Florida. After serving as a medical intern at Washington Hospital Center/Georgetown University, he completed his neurology residency at Bellevue and NYU Hospital in New York City. He then completed two fellowships, the first in Autonomic Disorders at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of Harvard Medical school, and the second in Sleep Medicine at the Stanford Sleep Medicine Center. Dr Miglis is board certified in neurology and sleep medicine by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Miglis treats a wide variety of neurological diseases and has a special interest in Autonomic Disorders, Sleep Disorders, and the interaction between these conditions.

Neil Schwartz, MD, PhD

Stanford Stroke Service

Dr. Neil Schwartz is a stroke neurologist and Clinical Professor of Neurology & Neurological Sciences.  After receiving his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Northwestern University in Chicago in 2000, he completed a residency in Neurology and a fellowship in Vascular Neurology at Stanford in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Dr. Schwartz is currently the Vice Chair (Education) for the Department. He serves as the Associate Program Director for the Neurology Residency Program where he supervises the education and training of the next generation of neurologists. He is currently the Medical Director for inpatient neurosciences at Stanford Health Care (SHC), overseeing operations from the physician standpoint for our Neurology ward.

Dr. Schwartz is involved in multiple multi-center and Stanford-initiated research projects focused on stroke, including prevention, acute treatment, diagnosis/imaging, and stroke recovery. He has served on committees involved in the generation of U.S. guidelines for the care of stroke patients and has spoken at national and international meetings on stroke-related topics. He has a particular interest in cerebrovascular diseases in young patients, including non-atherosclerotic vasculopathies such as cervical artery dissection. As high blood pressure is the leading modifiable risk factor for stroke, Dr. Schwartz works with many of his patients on both the inpatient service and the outpatient clinic in an effort to manage their hypertension for secondary stroke prevention

Nirali Vora, MD

Clinical Associate Professor, Neurology

Dr. Nirali Vora is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University. She joined the faculty after completing her Vascular Neurology subspecialty fellowship at the Stanford Stroke Center. Her primary focus is providing comprehensive clinical care to patients with strokes or TIAs, and optimizing prevention in those at risk for stroke.

Additionally, Dr. Vora is the Director of Global Health Neurology, where she is focused on optimizing systems of healthcare delivery for neurology and stroke in resource-limited countries. Hypertension remains the leading global risk factor for stroke, and yet it is challenging to know what is the right blood pressure for a stroke or TIA patient. Dr. Vora works closely with her colleagues at the Stanford Hypertension Center to find the best blood pressure target for stroke prevention in each unique patient.

Abanti Chaudhuri, MD

Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatrics - Nephrology

Dr. Chaudhuri is a board certified pediatric nephrologist and Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Stanford University. She has received her medical degree from Calcutta University, India and further pediatric training at the Manchester University, England. Dr. Chaudhuri completed her Pediatric Nephrology fellowship at the Stanford University School of Medicine where she was also awarded a National Kidney Foundation research fellowship. She currently practices at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford and also serves as the Medical Director for Pediatric Nephrology at the California Pacific Medical Center. Dr. Chaudhuri has clinical expertise in pediatric hypertension and works with pediatric patients on both the inpatient service and the outpatient clinic in an effort to manage their hypertension and prevent long term sequelae. Dr. Chaudhuri also participates in clinical trials related to pediatric kidney disease.

Clete A. Kushida, MD, PhD, FAASM

Sleep Medicine

Clete A. Kushida, M.D., Ph.D. is a neurologist who is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Stanford University Medical Center, division chief and medical director of Stanford Sleep Medicine, and director of the Stanford Center for Human Sleep Research. He is founding president of the World Sleep Society, past president of the World Sleep Federation, past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and founding president of the California Sleep Society. He has conducted basic and clinical sleep research since 1977, has served as principal investigator for numerous federally and industry supported research studies, and has authored or edited over 250 publications, including six books. One of his major clinical and research interests is the effects of treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep-related breathing disorder, on hypertension and cardiovascular function.

Michelle Ignacio, RN, MSN, PHN

Clinic Manager

Michelle Ignacio is the Clinic Manager for Medical Specialties, of which includes Kidney Clinic, Kidney Transplant, Liver Transplant, HTN Center of Excellence, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Allergy, Asthma, and Immunodeficiency.  She received her Bachelor of Science in psychology and later pursued her Master Science Nursing from San Francisco State University.  Michelle has a long dedicated history in mental health, dialysis, nephrology, and management.

 Jennefer Kohler, MS, LCGC

Genetic Counselor, Cardiovascular

Jennefer is a genetic counselor at the Stanford Hypertension Center as well as the Stanford Centers for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease and Undiagnosed Diseases. Her clinical work involves helping individuals and families at risk for inherited disease to navigate, understand, and adapt to their health risks. In the research space, Jennefer works with the Center for Undiagnosed Diseases team in applying the newest genomic technologies and integrating diverse types of patient data in an effort to diagnose individuals with rare disease.

Jennefer received her undergraduate degree from the University of Washington and her masters in genetic counseling from Johns Hopkins University and the National Human Genome Research Institute. As Clinical Instructor (Affiliated) in Medical Genetics at Stanford University, she is involved in curriculum development and teaching in the medical school and genetic counseling program, implementing a genomics rotation for medical residents, and supervising genetic counseling trainees in both clinical rotations and research projects.