Pilot/Early Career Awards

FY 2024 Awards

Dorien Feyaerts, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Study Title: Menstrual Blood Liquid Biopsy for Non-Invasive Identification of Immune Biomarkers of Endometriosis

Bereketeab Haileselassie, MD, MHS
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics (Critical Care Medicine)
Study Title: Testing Novel Small Molecule Inhibitors of Mitochondrial Fission for the Prevention of Acute Graft Versus Host Disease

Michael Howitt, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pathology
Study Title: Investigating Intestinal Tuft Cell Regulation of Maternal Antibodies Secreted in Milk

Maya Kasowski, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pathology
Study Title: Machine Learning to Dissect Regulatory Syntax in Pediatric Leukemia

Kyle Loh, PhD
Assistant Professor, Developmental Biology
Study Title: Integrated Characterization of the Genomic and Methylomic Landscape of Pediatric High-Grade Gliomas to Identify Determinants of Treatment Response and Outcome

Matteo Molè, PhD
Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology (Reproductive, Stem Cell and Perinatal Biology)
Study Title: Exploring the Grey Box of Human Embryo Implantation

Moss Zhao, DPhil
Instructor, Neurosurgery
Study Title: Clinical Translation of a Non-Invasive Imaging Biomarker Predictive of Pediatric Cerebrovascular Diseases

Quan Zhou, PhD
Instructor, Neurosurgery
Study Title: Advancing Treatment Strategies for Pediatric High-Grade Glioma: Theranostic Imaging and Targeted Therapy

FY 2023 Awards

Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics - Endocrinology
Study Title: Insulin Receptor Antagonists for Treating Congenital Hyperinsulinism

Maya Kasowski, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Medicine (Pathology)
Study Title: The Role of Metabolism in Neonatal Brain Injury

Juliet Knowles, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Neurology
Study Title: Thalamocortical Myelin Plasticity in Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome

Kunj Seth, MD
Assistant Professor, Urology - Pediatric Urology
Study Title: Evaluation of Congenital Unilateral Hydronephrosis using Artificial Intelligence

Katrin Svensson, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pathology
Study Title: Investigating A Novel Peptide to Treat Hyperphagia in Children with Prader-Willi Syndrome

Quan Zhou, PhD
Instructor, Neurosurgery
Study Title: Advancing Treatment Strategies for Pediatric High-Grade Glioma: Theranostic Imaging and Targeted Therapy

FY2022 Awards

Iram Ahmad, MD, MME
Assistant Professor, Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery
Study Title: Radiographic Changes in the Auditory Pathway of Children with Hearing Loss

Ken Sutha, MD, PhD
Instructor, Pediatrics - Nephrology
Study Title: Immune characterization of patient-derived kidney organoids

Scott Owen, PhD
Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery - Research
Study Title: Investigating how autism risk genes alter homeostatic adaptation in juvenile human neurons

FY2021 Awards

Bereketeab Haileselassie, MD, MHS
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics (Critical Care)
Study Title: Understanding the role of altered mitochondrial dynamics and extracellular mitochondrial content in GVHD pathogenesis

Ioannis Karakikes, PhD
Assistant Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery
Study Title: Identification and Functional Validation of Pathogenic Noncoding Loci in Congenital Heart Disease

Anca Pasca, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics (Neonatal & Developmental Medicine)
Study Title: Understanding the Biology Underlying Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Trisomy 18

FY2020 Awards

Lay Teng Ang, PhD
Instructor, Institute for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Study Title: Developing Abundant Human Hepatocytes from Embryonic Stem Cells - A New Tool to Study Fatty Liver Disease

Agnieszka Czechowicz, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics (Stem Cell Transplantation & Regenerative Medicine)
Study Title: Characterization of Novel Human HSC-Cell Surface Receptors

Bereketeab Haileselassie, MD
Instructor, Pediatrics (Critical Care)
Study Title: Role of Cell-Free Mitochondrial Content in Sepsis-Induced Immune Paralysis

Michael Ma, MD
Assistant Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery (Pediatric Cardiac Surgery)
Study Title: Understanding Heart Valve Dysfunction in Patients with Single Ventricle Defects

Juno Obedin-Maliver, MD, MPH, MAS
Assistant Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology
Study Title: The Association Between Self-Reported Parental Structures on California Birth Certificates and Perinatal Health

Kunj Raju Sheth, MD
Assistant Professor, Urology
Study Title: Novel Prenatal Lower Urinary Tract Obstruction (LUTO) Vesicoamniotic Shunt

FY 2019 Awards

Helio Costa, PhD
Instructor, Pathology
Project Title: Epigenetic, Transcriptional, and Chromatin Conformation Signature Profiling of a Pediatric Sarcoma Clinical Cohort for Identification of Molecular Biomarkers to Inform Disease Prognosis and Aid in Therapy Selection

Elizabeth S. Egan, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases)
Project Title: Investigating Host Determinants of Malaria Anemia at Single-Cell Resolution

Lucian Custo Greig, MD, PhD
Instructor, Ophthalmology
Project Title: Regeneration of Retinal Ganglion Cells from Endogenous Progenitors

Maya Elise Kumar, PhD
Instructor, Medicine (Pulmonary & Critical Care)
Project Title: Defining Molecular Mechanisms Driving Neointima Growth in a Mouse Model of Pulmonary Hypertension

Suzanne A. Tharin, PhD, MD
Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery
Project Title: Chromatin State Controls Over a Neuron Subtype-Specific Microrna Cluster During Brain Development

FY 2018 Awards

Bereketeab Haileselassie, MD, MHS
Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care
Project Title: The Role of Altered Mitochondrial Dynamics in Sepsis-Induced Myocardial Dysfunction (SIMD)

Juliet Knowles, MD
Instructor, Department of Neurology & Neurological Sciences
Project Title: Cause and Functional Impact of Abnormal Myeline in Absence Epilepsy

Daniel Tawfik, MD, PhD
Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Critical Care
Project Title: Development of an adjusted nurse staffing metric in the neonatal intensive care unit

Xinming Tong, PhD
Instructor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery
Project Title: Biological Repair of Orofacial Clefts Using Stem Cells and Sliding Hydrogels

Daniel Abrams, Ph.D.
Instructor, Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Project: Longitudinal development of brain systems underlying voice processing in children with ASD

Sandra Andorf, Ph.D.
Instructor, Medicine, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
Project: Characterizing natural tolerance in milk and egg allergic children and their implications

Weidong Cai, Ph.D.
Instructor, Medicine, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Project: Linking behavioral variability, sustained attention and dynamic brain states in children with ADHD

Elizabeth Egan, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases
Project: Linking behavioral variability, sustained attention and dynamic brain states in children with ADHD

Tamar Green, M.D.
Instructor, Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Project: Brain and Behavior in Noonan Syndrome

Bereketeab Haileselassie, M.D.
Instructor, Pediatrics, Critical Care Medicine
Project: The Role and Regulation of Mitochondrial Redox Scavengers in Pediatric Sepsis

Ngan Huang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery
Project: Bilayered Nanofibrillar Vascular Graft for Treatment of Congenital Heart Defect

Prasanna Jagannathan, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine
Project: Impact of DHA-PQ chemoprevention in pregnancy on transfer of antimalarial antibodies to newborns

Sang Ging Ong, Ph.D.
Instructor, Cardiovascular Institute
Project:  iPSCs for studying transgenerational effects of maternal obesity on offspring cardiovascular health

Jiangbin Ye, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Radiation Oncology, Radiation Biology
Project:  Targeting one-carbon unit metabolism for neuroblastoma differentiatio

Alexander Butwick, MBBS, FRCA, MS
Assistant Professor, Anesthesia, Obstetric Anesthesia
Project: Does maternal obesity influence the risk of postpartum hemorrhage?

Maya E. Kumar, PhD
Instructor, Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Project: Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying airway remodeling in asthma

Stephen Montgomery, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pathology, Genetics and Computer Science
Project: Genomic effects of epigenome-modifying drugs to treat pediatric cancer

Eric Nelson, MD, PhD, MS
Instructor, Pediatrics Infectious Diseases
Project: Impact of community-acquired antibiotics on the microbiota of diarrheal disease patients in Bangladesh

Sergiu Pasca, MD
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Sleep Medicine
Project: Modeling Vanishing White Matter disease in patient-derived 3D neural spheroids

David Vu, MD
Instructor, Pediatrics Infectious Diseases
Project: Immunomodulation of acute dengue virus disease by concurrent malaria infection

Manish Butte, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Immunology
Project Title: Understanding and Treating the T-cell Immunodeficiency of Congenital Heart Disease

Vinicio Alberto de Jesus Perez, MD
Assistant Professor, Medicine Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
Project Title: Use of Tankyrase Inhibitors as a Novel Therapy for Tuberous Sclerosis

Rita Hamad, MD, MPH, MS
Instructor, General Medical Disciplines
Projec: Title: Media Framing and Childhood Obesity: A Novel Computational Method for Policy Research

Joseph D. Hernandez, MD, PhD
Instructor, Pediatrics Allergy and Immunology
Project Title: A novel CyTOF assay for allergic sensitization and desensitization

David Hong, MD
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research
Project Title: Neurodevelopment in children with gender dysphoria

Hadi Hosseini, PhD
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research
Project Title: Integrating NIRS Neurofeedback and Cognitive Rehabilitation for Improving Executive Function in ADHD

Audrey Lau, MD, PhD
Instructor, Surgery, Transplantation Surgery
Project Title: Development of tolerogenic miR-181a high bone marrow dendritic cells for therapeutic use

Wonjae Lee, PhD
Instructor, Neurosurgery
Project Title: Development of an in vitro blood-brain tumor barrier model for medulloblastoma

Irene Loe, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Neonatal and Developmental Medicine
Project Title: Brain Training in Children with or at-risk for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Benjamin Pinsky, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pathology & Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
Project Title: Detection of Emerging Vaccine-Related Polioviruses by Deep Sequencing

Justin Annes, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Medicine Endocrinology
Project Title: Exploiting the Hereditary Paraganglioma Syndrome to Develop Metabolically-Targeted Chemotherapies

Yoon-Jae Cho, MD
Assistant Professor, Neurology Child Neurology
Project Title: Super-enhancer regulated genes as high-value therapeutic targets in Hedgehog-driven cancers

Adam Frymoyer, MD
Instructor, Pediatrics General Pediatrics & Neonatal and Developmental Medicine
Project Title: Pharmacokinetics of Morphine in Neonates with Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy Receiving Hypothermia

Wen-Yuan Hsieh, MD
Instructor, Pediatrics Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology
Project Title: Pediatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus:  Understanding Disease Heterogeneity at the Single-Cell level

Clara Lo, BS, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology
Project Title: N-acetylcysteine as a Treatment for Pediatric Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia

Sepideh Modrek, PhD
Instructor, General Medicine Disciplines
Project Title: Hospital Breastfeeding Policies and Population Obesity

Anupama Narla, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology
Project Title: A pooled RNAi screen to identify novel therapeutic targets for Diamond Blackfan anemia

Jochen Profit, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Pediatrics Neonatology
Project Title: Risks and implications of the timing and characteristics of neonatal transport

Lisa Goldman Rosas, MPH, PhD
Instructor, Stanford Prevention Research Center
Project Title: Promoting Healthy Activity Levels among American Indian Alaskan Native Adolescents

Julien Sage, PhD
Professor, Pediatrics Cancer Biology and Genetics
Project Title: Development and characterization of a humanized mouse model for Alagille syndrome

Felice Su, MD
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatrics Critical Care Medicine
Project Title: Drug Disposition during Pediatric Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy

Cara Bohon, PhD
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry Child and Adolescent Division
Project Title: Taste Reward Processing in Pediatric Obesity

Michael Frank, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Psychology
Project Title: Social and Attentional Components of Early Word Learning

Charles Gawad, M.D.
Clinical Instructor, Pediatrics, Hematology/Oncology
Project Title: Pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia: defining the genetic landscape at single-cell resolution

Scott Hall, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research
Project Title: Neural Correlates of Self-Injurious Behavior in Children with Prader-Willi Syndrome

Henry Lee, MD
Assistant Professor (MCL), Pediatrics Neonatology
Project Title: Risks and implications of the timing and characteristics of neonatal transport

Catherine Blish, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Medicine Infectious Diseases
Project Title: Defining mechanisms of altered antiviral immunity during pregnancy

David Camarillo, PhD
Assistant Professor, Bioengineering Bioengineering Operations
Project Title: Validating Head Rotation Kinematics from an Instrumented Mouthguard in Football Concussions

Danton Char, MD
Instructor, Anesthesia Pediatric Cardiac Anesthesia
Project Title: B‐Type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) Levels before and after Pulmonary Artery Banding and the Arterial‐ Atrial Switch Operation for Congenitally Corrected Transposition of the GreatVessels

Kara Davis, D.O.
Instructor, Pediatrics Hematology, Oncology, Stem Cell & Cancer Biology
Project Title: Prediction of Relapse using Single Cell Deep Proteomic Profiling of Pediatric ALL at Diagnosis

Brian Feldman, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Endocrinology
Project Title: Investigating the Role of Vitamin D in Adipose Tissue

Magali Fontaine, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pathology Transfusion Medicine
Project Title: Preventing Allergic Transfusion Reactions

David Hong, MD
Instructor, Pediatrics Immunology and Allergy
Project Title: Mechanisms of Immune Evasion by Respiratory Syncytial Virus

Michael Hsieh, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Urology
Project Title: Defining the Roles of IL‐4 and Alternatively Activated Macrophages in Urinary Tract Co‐ Infection

Clara Lo, MD
Instructor, Pediatrics Hematology Oncology, SCT and Cancer Biology
Project Title: The Role of Vanin-1 and Oxidative Stress in Pediatric Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia

Stephen Montgomery, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pathology
Project Title: Rapid clinical genomics of children with undiagnosed diseases

Karen Parker, PhD
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Project Title: Double-blind, randomized,placebo-controlled cross-over trial of oxytocin treatment for social deficits in children with autism

Alejandro Sweet-Cordero, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Hematology Oncology
Project Title: The role of EWS as a regulator of IncRNAs involved in RNA splicing and editing

Seda Tierney, MD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics Cardiology
Project Title: Can we change Vascular Health & Exercise Performance of Overweight Children in 12 weeks using Skype?

Manuel Amieva, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases
Project Title: Does Helicobacter pylori colonize the gastric stem cell niche?

Scott Boyd, M.D., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Pathology
Project Title: Analysis of B cells in Peanut Allergy

Jan Carette, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor,Microbiology and Immunology
Project Title: Identifying human genes critical in influenza infection: fundamental insights and new therapeutic targets

Victoria Cosgrove, Ph.D.
Instructor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Project Title: Stress-induced inflammatory response and neuroprotection in pediatric bipolar disorder

Kara Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.
Instructor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Project Title: Advanced analysis of brain anatomy to predict response to therapy in Anorexia Nervosa

Hayley Gans, M.D.
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases
Project Title: Innate and Adaptive Immunity in HIV-infected children treated with highly active anti-retroviral therapy

Sandhya Kharbanda, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Stem Cell Transplantation
Project Title: A Pilot Study of Matched Unrelated Donor Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant for Patients with High Risk Sickle Cell Disease and Other Non-Malignant Cell Disorders Using a Reduced Intensity Preparative Regimen & Third Party (off-the-shelf) Mesenchymal Stromal Cells to Achieve Stable Mixed Chimerism

Clara Lo, M.D.
Instructor, Pediatrics, Hematology/Oncology
Project Title: The Role of Vanin-1 and oxidative stress in Pediatric Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia

Nihar Nayak, M.D.
Ob/Gyn, Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Project Title: Selective Leukocyte trafficking into the primate uterus during pregnancy: the spiral arteries and preeclampsia

Lisa Rosas, Ph.D., MPH
Instructor, Medicine, Stanford Prevention Research Center
Project Title: Reducing obesity among Latino adolescents through a family-based intervention: Vivamos Activos en Familia

Alexander Urban, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Project Title: Whole-genome sequencing of Velocardiofacial Syndrome - finding the genetic modifiers

Project Title: Background in pediatrics, and in medically analyzing the genomes of patients presenting with whole genomes.
PI: Atul Butte, MD, PhD
Co-PIs: Russ Altman, MD, PhD, Engineering/Bioengineering and Medicine/Genetics
Euan Ashley, MRCP DPhil, Medicine/Medicine
Carlos Bustamante, PhD, Humanities & Sciences/Biology and Medicine/Genetics
Hunter Fraser, PhD, Humanities & Sciences/Biology
Hank Greely, JD, Law and Medicine/Genetics
Louanne Hudgins, MD, Medicine/Pediatrics
Michael Snyder, PhD, Medicine/Genetics

Project Title: Deciphering the Overlap between Autism and Epilepsy
PI: Joachim Hallmayer, MD, Psychiatry
Co-PIs: Craig Garner, PhD, Psychiatry; Antonio Hardan, MD, Psychiatry; John Huguenard, PhD, Neurology and Neurological Sciences; Nicholas Melosh, PhD, Material Science and Engineering; Anthony Norcia, PhD, Psychology; Ruth O’Hara, PhD, Psychiatry; Josef Parvizi, MD, PhD, Neurology