Administration

External Advisory Committee
Daniel Feldman, Professor of Neurobiology, UC Berkeley
KC Huang, Professor of Bioengineering and of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University
Kimberley McAllister, Professor of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, UC Davis

Program Committee
Andrea Goldstein-Piekarski, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Thomas Clandinin, Department of Neurobiology
Justin Gardner, Department of Psychology
Paul George, Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences
William Giardino, Department of Psychiatry
Lisa Giocomo, Department of Neurobiology
John Huguenard, Department of Neurology
Julie Kauer, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Corey Keller, Department of Psychiatry
Merritt Maduke, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Anthony Ricci, Department of Otolaryngology/Head & Neck Surgery

Student Program Committee

The Student Program Committee (SPC) advocates for student needs and fosters a culture of trust and transparency within the Neurosciences Ph.D. program. Composed of student representatives from each cohort, the SPC facilitates communication between students and program leadership. The committee plays a key role in decisions related to curriculum, DEI efforts, and overall program development, helping ensure that student voices are heard. Through regular town halls, policy discussions, and collaboration with other committees, the SPC works to enhance student experience and strengthen the Neurosciences community.

Yohan Auguste
Shawn Dhillon
Sabrina Jones
Jack Marciano
Benyamin Meschede-Krasa
Delaney Wood

Admissions Committee

Our mission is to identify and recruit those applicants with the greatest potential to develop independent, creative and impactful neuroscience research. We target the next generation of leaders who will benefit from and contribute to our broad interdisciplinary immersive training program.

John Huguenard (Co-Chair of Admissions), Department of Neurology
Tony Ricci (Co-Chair of Admissions), Department of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery
Suzanne Tharin (Co-Chair of Admissions), Department of Neurosurgery
Will Allen, Department of Developmental Biology
Jun Ding, Department of Neurosurgery
Ryann Fame, Department of Neurosurgery
Paul George, Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences
William Giardino, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Sarah Izabel, Student
Sabrina Jones, Student
Corey Keller, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Irene Lorenzo Llorente, Department of Neurosurgery
Kyrus Mama, Student
Elizabeth Mormino, Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences
Manish Saggar, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Yang Sun, Department of Ophthalmology
Sui Wang, Department of Ophthalmology

Curriculum Committee

Our mission is to develop and maintain a core curriculum that equips neuroscience graduate students with foundational knowledge across a breadth of neuroscience topics. Core courses should prepare students to take an advanced course or attend a seminar on a given topic, collaborate with neuroscientists from other disciplines, empower students to learn independently about a given neuroscience topic, build student's critical reading and thinking skills on a given topic and build student's skills in identifying important questions and designing experiments to address them for multiple neuroscience disciplines: Continuously evaluate and refine the curriculum to reflect advancements in neuroscience; Encourage innovation by exploring new course offerings and incorporating feedback to core courses; and Serve as a bridge between students, faculty, and administration to address concerns, questions or feedback regarding the curriculum.

Thomas Clandinin (Co-Chair), Department of Neurobiology
Lisa Giocomo (Co-Chair), Department of Neurobiology
Jacqueline Bendrick, Student
Shaul Druckmann, Department of Neurobiology
Lucas Encarnacion-Rivera, Student
Olivia Gautier, Student
Julia Kaltschmidt, Department of Neurosurgery
Ashley Moses, Student
Sergiu Pasca, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emma Theisen, Student
Brad Zuchero, Department of Neurosurgery

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (DEIB) Committee

The goal of the DEIB committee is to develop, support and implement efforts and initiatives that cause sustained improvements in DEIB within our Neurosciences Program. This includes student recruitment and retention; facilitating student and faculty seminars; professional events; events to build community; and advocating for and connecting students with essential resources. Learn more about our approach and initiatives here.

William Giardino (Chair), Department of Psychiatry
Gabriella Blanchard, Student Services Officer, Neurosciences IDP
David Au, Postdoc, Department of Neurobiology
Youssef Faragalla, Student
Karen Malacon, Student
Paula Munoz Rodriguez, Student
Kamsi Nwangwu, Student
Matthew Pomrenze, Postdoc, Department of Psychiatry
Longzhi Tan, Department of Neurobiology
Nour Omar, Student
          

Mental Health Committee

Our mission is to facilitate efficient, equitable, and low-cost graduate student access to mental health and mental wellness resources at Stanford; support mental wellness, de-stigmatize mental illness, and embrace neurodiversity in our community with panel discussions, enhanced peer and faculty mentorship, and crisis intervention training; and collate and adapt to student feedback about mental health challenges through regular surveys and liaising with other program committees.

Corey Keller (Chair) Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Faith Aloboudi, Student
Kalai Diamond, Educational Program Director, Neurosciences IDP
Gabriella Blanchard, Student Services Officer, Neurosciences IDP
Charlotte Herber, Student
Nour Omar, Student
Shreya Malhotra, Student
Merritt Maduke, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Paula Munoz Rodriguez, Student

Mentoring and Advising Committee

The Mentoring and Advising committee has the following goals: To connect each first year student with a First Year Adviser who will meet with the student to facilitate adjustment and provide advice; To provide resources to the First Year Advisers regarding mentorship and mentoring advice; To coordinate, arrange and teach faculty mentorship workshops to create and foster a culture of continuous improvement in mentoring; and To liase with student representatives to identify ways the committee can help to improve mentorship at Stanford. To learn more about the committee and its goals, click here.

Andrea Goldstein-Piekarski (Co-Chair), Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Julie Kauer (Co-Chair), Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Jacqueline Bendrick, Student
Elizabeth Jun, Student
Lavonna Mark, Student

First Year Advisors
Lu Chen, Department of Neurosurgery
Brian Knutson, Department of Psychology
Dan Madison, Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
Jennifer Raymond, Department of Neurobiology
Ivan Soltesz, Department of Neurosurgery
Sui Wang, Department of Ophthalmology