MCHRI Scholar Stories
DRIVE in Research Pilot Program: offering research opportunities to underrepresented minority and first-generation and/or low-income students
By Laura Hedli
In the summer of 2021, 10 Stanford undergraduates were the first to participate in the DRIVE (Diversity, Respect, and Inclusion are Vital for Excellence) in Research Pipeline Program. The program offers research opportunities to underrepresented minority and first-generation and/or low-income students.
Faster, safer pediatric MRI scans: MCHRI Faculty Scholar transforms diagnostic imaging for children
By Roxanna Van Norman
Shreyas Vasanawala, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology, received the Tashia and John Morgridge Faculty Scholar award from MCHRI to transform a commonly performed MRI scan into a faster and anesthesia-free procedure for children.
MCHRI Faculty Scholar leads multi-disciplinary program in placental disorders
By Roxanna Van Norman
Deirdre Lyell, MD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Arline and Pete Harman Faculty Scholar, builds a multi-disciplinary patient care program for women with placenta disorders and leads a research team to investigate why placenta accreta occurs in pregnancy.
Confronting racism head-on: MCHRI launches research grants aimed at reducing health disparities
By Laura Hedli
Longstanding, underlying health disparities in America became glaringly apparent once the COVID-19 pandemic began last March of 2020. MCHRI has launched new research grants to fund year-long projects that focus on the drivers of health disparities and propose action-oriented solutions to promote equity.
Accelerating research, improving care: Additional Ventures funds high-impact grants in single ventricle heart defects through MCHRI
By Roxanna Van Norman
MCHRI’s Additional Ventures Innovation Fund Single Ventricle Disease Research Awards Program provides seed grants to Stanford investigators for innovative, high-impact studies to treat and develop functional cures for single ventricle (SV) heart defects. To address the gaps and challenges in treating SV defects, Stanford scientists have banded together in several multi-disciplinary collaborations.
MCHRI prioritizes the lifecourse of human development: That starts with moms and babies
By Laura Hedli
MCHRI supports research in the Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine aimed at improving the health of mothers and babies. This feature highlights research projects from the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at Stanford and neonatology investigators and MCHRI awardees, Valerie Chock, MD, MS Epi, and Adam Frymoyer, MD
MCHRI member leads coronavirus response, drawing on lessons from Taiwan
By Laura Hedli
C. Jason Wang, MD, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and of medicine, is leading efforts in response to the coronavirus by developing research projects related to reopening the U.S. economy, improving the safety of air travel during the pandemic, and getting kids back into classrooms.
MCHRI awardee assembles transdisciplinary team and combines data sources to track children’s activity
By Laura Hedli
Manisha Desai, PhD, Professor of Medicine and of Biomedical Data Science, assembled a community of researchers from the Schools of Medicine and Engineering to find the most effective methodologies for measuring children’s physical activity and sleep.
How exercise training delivered via video conferencing helps kids improve their cardiovascular health
By Laura Hedli
Seda Tierney, MD, associate professor of pediatric cardiology and the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute Faculty Scholar, shows how telehealth exercise interventions are feasible and effective for pediatric cardiac patients.
MCHRI supports health innovation opportunities in maternal and child health through Biodesign Faculty Fellowships
By Roxanna Van Norman
MCHRI’s partnership with the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign offers advanced training and mentoring in health technology innovation for faculty to address critical maternal and child healthcare needs and deliver valuable innovations to patients.
MCHRI fuels diverse research through partnership with Stanford Diabetes Research Center
By Laura Hedli
Since 2016, MCHRI has partnered with the Stanford Diabetes Research Center (SDRC) to fund projects related to maternal and child health. By establishing an institutional commitment early on, SDRC has dramatically expanded by obtaining impactful federal funding and is supporting a wide array of projects in maternal and child health.
Transdisciplinary approach to modeling heart mechanics
By Laura Hedli
Led by Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Bioengineering Alison Marsden, PhD, MCHRI TIP awardees combine mechanical and computational modeling with clinical data, leading to insights about pulmonary valve dysfunction.
5 Questions with Stanford's Preeclampsia Research Team
By Roxanna Van Norman
Lead by Co-PIs Drs. Virginia Winn, MD, PhD & Mark Hlatky, MD along with members from 12 Stanford Departments, this team recently received a $6 million grant from the NHLBI to study the connections between preeclampsia in pregnant women and heart diseases in later life.
Broad range of MCHRI awards support Faculty Scholar to understand and combat arboviral disease
By Laura Hedli
MCHRI Faculty Scholar A. Desiree LaBeaud, MD, MS, associate professor of pediatrics, is looking at the risk factors and long-term health consequences of arboviral infections affecting children and pregnant women.
How MCHRI supports research for clinician educator to improve the quality of care for patients and their families
By Roxanna Van Norman
MCHRI awarded Annette Nasr, RN, PhD, the Clinician Educator Grant to support her study in living donation and the long-term emotional and relationship impact for both the donor and the recipient.
How MCHRI is investing in research to reduce and prevent youth tobacco use
By Laura Hedli
Teen vaping is on the rise and researchers are searching for solutions to reduce and prevent tobacco use. MCHRI is supporting investigators to research the effects of e-cigarettes on the brain and body and to provide resources aimed at preventing the use of tobacco and nicotine among youth.
MCHRI provides support and ‘second set of eyes’ for investigator to make an impact in maternal health research
By Roxanna Van Norman
MCHRI awarded Stephanie Leonard, PhD, a postdoctoral fellowship and provided critical feedback during the review process to study the rise of pre-pregnancy health and cesarean delivery and the rise of life-threatening pregnancy complications.
Faculty Scholars explore impact of community-based intervention in the Tenderloin
By Laura Hedli
Can teaching growth mindset to parents help alter their children's behavior and learning? Irene Loe, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics, and Claudia Mueller, MD, associate professor of pediatric surgery, aim to find out in their collaborative research project based at a Bay Area elementary school.
Faculty Scholar shares experience in the Eureka program for translational medicine
By Roxanna Van Norman
The CHRI sponsored several Stanford faculty, including hematologist/oncologist Anupama Narla, MD, to attend a seven-day course in translational medicine at the Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine in Siracusa, Italy.
Faculty Scholars lead the way in advancing pediatric cancer cellular therapy program
By Laura Hedli
Pediatric hematologist/oncologists and CHRI Faculty Scholars, Kara Davis, DO, and Norman Lacayo, MD, are leading the way in developing cancer cellular therapy programs at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford to help patients, like Jesus Sanchez-Romero, receive life-saving treatments.
Neuroimaging studies linked to neurological developmental challenges of extremely preterm infants
By Roxanna Van Norman
Results from the Neuroimaging and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes (NEURO) School Age Follow-Up Study were recently published in Pediatrics. Neonatologist and CHRI Faculty Scholar, Susan Hintz, MD, MS Epi, is the lead author on the paper.
CHRI awardees Ricardo Dolmetsch and Sergiu Pasca venture into the emerging field of molecular psychiatry
By Laura Hedli
Neuroscientists Ricardo Dolmetsch, PhD, and Sergiu Pasca, MD, each received funding from the CHRI early on to help support their collaborative and innovative work in understanding the development of human brain disorders.
The long-term vision in science: Faculty Scholar finds her Eureka moment as a translational scientist
By Roxanna Van Norman
Psychiatrist and behavioral scientist Manpreet Singh, MD, MS, shares her journey as translational researcher and the impact of the multiple awards she has received from the CHRI in her work, including the most recent opportunity to attend an intensive course at the Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine in Siracusa, Italy.
CHRI Faculty Scholars team up to transform the science and treatment of concussion
By Laura Hedli
David Camarillo, PhD and Gerald Grant, MD are among the nation’s foremost concussion experts and teaming up to transform the science and treatment of head injuries. They are CHRI Faculty Scholars and have received several grants towards concussion-specific research efforts.
Transformative Science Requires Risk
By Laura Hedli
Michelle Monje, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Endowed Faculty Scholar and recipient of several Child Health Research Institute grants, takes a dynamic approach to studying brain tumor growth and potential treatments.
Building successful futures: CHRI Transdisciplinary Initiatives Program awardee investigates the health of immigrant families and children
By Laura Hedli
Fernando Mendoza, a professor of pediatrics and the primary investigator on a CHRI Transdisciplinary Initiatives Program (TIP) grant, explores the health and well-being of children in immigrant families in California, as well as the impact of federal, state, and local policies on health outcomes.