Crystal Wang, MD

Dr. Crystal Wang obtained her Bachelor's degree in General Biology with a double minor in French and International Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and received her medical degree at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Wang completed her pediatrics residency at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, and she came to Stanford in 2020 to complete her training in pediatric hematology/oncology. She is now pursuing research with Dr. Melanie Gephart and Dr. Kara Davis, where she is studying the pathogenesis of central nervous system leukemia.

Research Mentor: Kara Davis, DO, Melanie Hayden Gephart, MD
Fellowship: Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, Stem Cell Transplantation & Regenerative Medicine
Residency: St. Christopher's Hospital for Children

Neha Joshi, MD, MS

Neha Joshi, MD completed her medical education at the University of California, San Francisco prior to residency in pediatrics at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital / Stanford University. She additionally completed fellowship in Pediatric Hospital Medicine at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital / Stanford University. She works clinically as a pediatric and neonatal hospitalist. Dr. Joshi’s research aims to identify and develop high value care practices that prioritize late preterm and term infants receiving care within a mother-infant dyad whenever safely possible. She was previously involved in the implementation of a clinical examination based approach to identify well-appearing infants at risk for early onset sepsis; this approach has greatly reduced the number of infants undergoing empiric antibiotic treatment and NICU admission, and allowed them to remain safely with their mothers in couplet care. Dr. Joshi’s current work seeks to identify evidence-based criteria for late preterm admission to well newborn care. 

Research Mentor: Henry Lee, MD
Career Development Award: NIH K23 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Residency: Stanford Children's Health / Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Adrienne Long, MD, PhD

Dr. Adrienne Long is a pediatric oncologist dedicated to developing novel cancer immunotherapies for children with cancer. She completed her Bachelors’ degree in biomedical engineering at Northwestern University, prior to matriculating to their medical school through the Honors Program in Medical Education. During medical school, she also obtained a PhD in cancer immunology through an NIH-Northwestern partnership, where she worked with Dr. Crystal Mackall studying CAR T cell therapies. Dr. Long went on to complete her pediatrics residency at Boston Children’s Hospital. There, she participated in their Integrated Research Pathway, where she worked with Dr. Nicholas Haining on cancer antigen presentation. She arrived at Stanford in 2019 to complete her training in pediatric hematology/oncology, and is now pursuing her post-doctoral research with Dr. Mark Davis, where she is studying how thymic selection, designed to prevent autoimmunity, may contribute to poor antitumor immunity in children.

Research Mentor: Mark Davis, PhD
Career Development Award: Hyundai Hope on Wheels Scholar Hope Grants & Alex's Lemonade Stand Young Investigator Grants
Fellowship: Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Residency: Boston Children's Hospital

Jonathan Reiss, MD

Jonathan Reiss is interested in the intersection of metabolomics, multi-omics, machine learning and precision medicine as applied to 1) fetuses  susceptible to maternal conditions that impact that intrauterine environment, and 2) neonates vulnerable to acquired disease of prematurity. I work closely with various mentors including Gary Shaw, David K. Stevenson, Nima Aghaeepour, Karl Sylvester and Michael Snyder who each have expertise in these areas. Dr. Reiss’s ultimate goal is to develop novel screening, diagnostic and therapeutic measures for the care of premature newborns.

Research Mentor: Gary Shaw, DrPH
Fellowship: Neonatal & Developmental Medicine
Residency: University of California San Diego

Rebecca Dang, MD

Rebecca Dang is an MD/MSCE who received her bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University and medical degree from Georgetown School of Medicine. She first became interested in clinical research during her residency training at Kaiser Oakland, but it was not until Pediatric Hospital Medicine fellowship that her passion for research truly flourished. With the support of her fellowship directors Drs. Srinivas, Rassbach, and Wang as well as her primary research mentors Drs. Schroeder, Patel, and Wang, Rebecca has learned how to code in STATA, use large databases, and explore contemporary pediatric temperature values and the frequency and impact of temperature measurement at well-child visits. This work was supported by the Maternal Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) Clinical Trainee (MD) Award and The Gerber Foundation Novice Researcher Award. Rebecca was also awarded the MCHRI Master’s Tuition Program, which funded her Master’s of Science degree in Epidemiology and Clinical Research at Stanford. Combining her long-term goal of promoting value-based health care, particularly surrounding temperature measurement and temperature values, with her clinical specialty of hospital medicine, Rebecca has pivoted to the newborn nursery to describe normal newborn temperature percentiles and evaluate patient characteristics and clinical outcomes of neonatal hypothermia in late preterm and term infants. For this research, Rebecca is supported by the Physician Scientist Bridge to K program and The Gerber Foundation.

Research Mentor: Alan Schroeder, MD, Anisha Patel, MD, MSPH, MSHS, Adam Frymoyer, MD
Career Development Award: PedSnet Scholars Program
Fellowship: Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Residency: Kaiser Permanente Oakland

David Staudt, MD

Dr. David Staudt completed his MD/PhD training at the University of California, San Francisco, where he worked with Dr. Didier Stainier where he used 3D video microscopy of zebrafish embryos to study ventricular trabeculation, an early step in cardiac morphogenesis. He then moved down the Peninsula to Stanford for his Pediatric residency and Pediatric Cardiology fellowship. At Stanford he works in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Mercola using human induced pluripotent stem cell models and high-throughput, high-speed imaging of cardiomyocyte physiology to understand how inherited mutations lead to cardiomyopathy. He is particularly interested in understanding the pathogenesis of and identifying therapeutic targets for diastolic heart failure, where stiff ventricular walls lead to impaired filling of the heart.

Research Mentor: Mark Mercola, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Cardiology
Residency: Stanford Children's Health / Lucile Packard Children's Hospital

Lea Steffes, MD

Dr. Lea Steffes completed medical school and pediatric residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She then moved to the Bay Area and completed her clinical fellowship in pediatric pulmonary medicine at Stanford University in 2020.  Dr. Steffes received further post-doctoral training in the laboratories of Dr. Maya Kumar and Dr. David Cornfield, studying the cellular and molecular mechanism driving pulmonary vascular disease. In addition to her role as an Instructor in Pediatrics in the division of Pulmonary Medicine, Dr. Steffes is also completing an advanced clinical fellowship in Pediatric Pulmonary Hypertension at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. Her research is focused on the vascular changes seen in pulmonary hypertension, more specifically understanding the cellular characteristics of occlusive neointimal lesions, the abnormal cells that block pulmonary blood flow in pulmonary hypertension. In her most recent work, Dr. Steffes identified a subset of healthy vascular smooth muscle cells that are the cell of origin for the pathologic neointimal cells and a specific signaling pathway, that when blocked, inhibits the formation of neointimal lesions.

Dr. Steffes is currently employing advanced single cell sequencing technologies to further understand neointimal cells with the ultimate goal identifying new therapies for pulmonary hypertension, a fatal disease with no known cure.

Research Mentor: David Cornfield, MD & Maya Kumar, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Pulmonary
Residency: Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

Ananta Addala, DO, MPH

I am an early career physician scientist committed to becoming an independent investigator addressing disparities in type 1 diabetes management and outcomes.  My longstanding research and clinical interests are to promote equitable care for youth with type 1 diabetes informed by the biological, social, psychological, and systemic determinants of health.  As a physician with a background in pediatric endocrinology, epidemiology, and behavioral health, I am uniquely qualified to understand and address the medical, social, and economic inequities of diverse youth with type 1 diabetes. I am supported by the division of endocrinology’s K12 grant which provides me with the additional mentor supported time required to further my statistical, communication, and leadership skills foundational to my early career grant application and my future as an independent physician scientist.

Research Mentor: Korey Hood, PhD
Career Development Award: Institutional K12 Career Development Program & & NIH K23 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Endocrinology
Residency: University of Southern California-Los Angeles County Hospital

Sarah Dubner, MD

Dr. Sarah Dubner is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician. The goal of her research is to design interventions that promote healthy development in children at risk for developmental disorders, based on an understanding about how early-life biological and social experiences affect the developing brain.

Dr. Dubner completed her undergraduate degree at Tufts University, where she majored in Physics, her medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania, and pediatric residency at the University of Washington. Following residency, Dr. Dubner practiced as a general pediatrician in the Stanford Divisions of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine and Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, before completing subspecialty training in Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at Stanford in 2020. During fellowship, she conducted clinical research focused on diffusion MRI tractography measures of brain white matter microstructure and language and cognitive outcomes in children born preterm, under the mentorship of Dr. Heidi Feldman.

She applies a multimodal approach to understanding modifiable social and biological influences on early human development in at-risk children in order to design and implement innovative, scalable, and effective interventions to promote child development. Her two main lines of inquiry supported by the Bridge to K program are 1) Integrating advanced neuroimaging with modern social network analysis to adapt existing evidence-based language health interventions for network-level intervention; and 2) Applying neuroimaging modalities to elucidate relations between neonatal conditions and treatments associated with systemic inflammation, brain, and cognitive and language development.

Research Mentor: Heidi Feldman, MD, PhD
Fellowship: Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics
Residency: Seattle Children's/University of Washington, Pediatrics

Gregory Goldstein, MD

Gregory Goldstein’s research interest is in prematurity prevention and improving outcomes from complications related to prematurity. As a trained epidemiologist, he is specifically interested in studying between-hospital variability in preterm birth to better understand the causes of preterm birth.  He is also interested in the epidemiology of necrotizing enterocolitis, with the long-term goal of improving prevention, diagnosis and developing new therapies for this devastating disease.

Research Mentor: Gary Shaw, DrPH
Fellowship: Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Residency: Hasbro Children's/Brown University, Pediatrics

William Goodyer, MD, PhD

William Goodyer is an MD/PhD who graduated from McGill University with a BS with Honors in Biology prior to completing his medical and graduate studies at Stanford University in the Medical Scientist Training Program. His undergraduate research focused on the molecular regulators involved in C. elegans meiosis, while his PhD centered on the molecular mechanisms governing pancreatic beta-cell maturation and proliferation in vertebrates. He next pursued accelerated research tracks for both Pediatric Residency (Boston Children’s Hospital) and Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship (Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital), where he developed a passion for Electrophysiology. As such, he pursued a postdoctoral fellowship in the Sean Wu laboratory at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, focusing on the discovery of novel regulators underlying the development of the cardiac conduction system (CCS). To overcome the inherent hurdles of studying the CCS (small cell numbers, cell type heterogeneity, etc), he developed a comprehensive transcriptional profile of the entire CCS at single-cell resolution, providing a gene atlas for facilitating future efforts in conduction cell identification, isolation, and characterization in the context of development and disease. He has recently completed his Pediatric Electrophysiology Fellowship and is staying on at LPCH as an Instructor, pursuing both clinical Pediatric Electrophysiology and basic science research focused on CCS development and disease in order to stimulate future translational opportunities aimed at the prevention and treatment of rhythm disorders.

Research Mentor: Sean Wu, MD, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Cardiology & Pediatric Advanced Cardiology - Electrophysiology
Residency: Boston Children's/Harvard University, Pediatrics (Accelerated Research Pathway)

Jen Iklé, MD, PhD

Dr. Jen Iklé completed her undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of New Mexico, prior to earning her MD and PhD through the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical campus. While earning her PhD, she worked in the lab of Dr. David Clouthier studying genetics and transcriptional regulatory networks, with an emphasis on craniofacial development in the embryo. After completion of her MD, Jen completed both Pediatrics Residency and Fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. During her fellowship, Jen worked in the lab of Dr. Colin Nichols where she developed a passion for regulation of insulin secretion from the beta cells of the pancreas. She has a specific interest in the role of ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels. Genetic disruption of these channels leads to neonatal diabetes (in KATP gain of function mutations) or congenital hyperinsulinism (in KATP loss of function mutations). Jen also has a clinical interest in diabetes and hyperinsulinism.

Jen is interested in the genetic factors that lead to abnormal beta-cell function and insulin secretion, causing disorders such as hyperinsulinism and neonatal diabetes. Jen’s current research focus is the use of zebrafish models, combined with genetics and genomics, to understand cellular and molecular mechanisms of glucose metabolism and elucidate previously unknown players involved in the regulation of insulin secretion.

Research Mentor: Anna Gloyn, DPhil
Career Development Award: Institutional K12 Career Development Program & & NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes, Washington University in St. Louis/St. Louis Children’s Hospital
Residency: Washington University in St. Louis/St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Pediatrics

Yair Bannett, MD

Yair Bannett is interested in improving health care delivery in community-based primary care for children with developmental-behavioral disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder. As an instructor in the Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP), he is engaged in innovative health services research that leverages recent advances in machine learning and natural language processing technology to mine electronic health record data. Dr. Bannett's ultimate goal is to develop novel quality measures that can be used to implement clinician- and systems-level interventions in primary care aimed at improving health care delivery for children with developmental-behavioral disorders.

Research Mentor: Heidi Feldman, MD, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K23 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics
Residency: Kogan Pediatrics Hospital/Assaf Harofe Medical Center, Pediatrics

Sharon Paige, MD, PhD

Sharon L. Paige, MD, PhD completed her undergraduate training at the University of Rochester, earning bachelor's degrees in both Cell/Developmental Biology and Political Science. She then completed her combined MD and PhD training at the University of Washington. There, she completed her graduate thesis in the laboratory of Dr. Charles E. Murry with a focus on the role of Wnt signaling and chromatin dynamics during cardiac differentiation from human embryonic stem cells. Dr. Paige came to Stanford in 2013 as a Pediatrics resident and continued as a Pediatric Cardiology Fellow through the Accelerated Research Pathway.

As a clinical fellow, she became motivated by the overall lack of understanding of the underlying mechanisms behind congenital heart disease. Funded by the Training in Myocardial Biology T32, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Sean M. Wu, where she began using patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells to explore cardiac developmental perturbations associated with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This research led to the discovery of cardiomyocyte-intrinsic impaired contractility associated with mitochondrial dysfunction in HLHS, representing a novel therapeutic target for disease prevention. Co-mentored by Dr. Wu and Dr. Euan Ashley, Dr. Paige received an NHLBI K08 career development award and will expand her research to include other forms of single ventricle heart disease. In July 2019, she was appointed as an Instructor in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, at Stanford as part of the Bridge to K Program. Clinically, Dr. Paige is an attending with the Cardiovascular Connective Tissue Disorders and Cardiogenomics programs

Research Mentor: Sean Wu, MD, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Cardiology
Residency: Lucile Packard Children's Hospital/Stanford, Pediatrics (Accelerated Research Pathway)

Ken Sutha, MD, PhD

Ken Sutha obtained his MD and PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology before completing pediatrics residency at University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital and pediatric nephrology fellowship at Stanford University/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. He is now pursuing postdoctoral training in the lab of Calvin Kuo, MD, PhD. Dr. Sutha’s research is focused on developing new ways of growing and studying kidney tissue from patients as kidney organoids, to better understand processes in the kidney, kidney diseases, and potential treatments. In addition to the Stanford Department of Pediatrics Bridge to K Instructor Program, Dr. Sutha is currently supported by KidneyCure – American Society of Nephrology Research Foundation through their Ben J. Lipps Research Fellowship Program as a Jared J. Grantham Research Fellow.

Research Mentor: Calvin Kuo, MD, PhD; Vivek Bhalla, MD
Career Development Award: NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Nephrology
Residency: Seattle Children's/University of Washington, Pediatrics

Elizabeth Burgener, MD

Dr. Burgener completed her undergraduate at Stanford in 2005 followed by graduation from medical school at University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio in 2011. She then returned to Stanford University for internship and residency in pediatrics, chief resident year in pediatrics and clinical fellowship in pediatric pulmonary medicine, which she completed in 2018.  Additionally, Dr. Burgener has obtained further post-doctoral training in the laboratories of Dr. Paul Bollyky and Dr. Carlos Milla.  During her fellowship she participated in the Translational Research and Applied Medicine program at Stanford and also received support from an MCHRI Trainee Award and the Program in Pulmonary Biology T32 grant.  As a physician-scientist her clinical work consists of taking care of patients with pediatric pulmonary disease such as cystic fibrosis, asthma, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and other systemic illnesses that affect pulmonary health.  In her research she has identified that Pf bacteriophage, a virus which infects Pseudomonas, has effect on clinical outcomes in patients with cystic fibrosis. Patients who have this virus, which makes biofilms more adherent and viscous, in their sputum are more likely to have chronic Pseudomonas infection and have higher levels of antibiotic resistance.  Dr. Burgener is currently supported by the Parker B Francis Fellowship, and Harry Swhachman Clinical Investigator Award through the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and has received the Cystic Fibrosis Research Innovation Award through Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Dr. Burgener is currently growing her research program with a focus on infection and inflammation with the goal of bringing new therapies and improving the lives of patients with cystic fibrosis. 

Research Mentor: Paul Bollyky, MD, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K23 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Pulmonary
Residency: Lucile Packard Children's Hospital/Stanford University, Pediatrics

Zachary Sellers, MD, PhD

As a pediatric gastroenterologist and ion channel physiologist, Dr. Sellers' work in academia and pharma over the last 20 years has focused on improving the lives of individuals with complex and rare diseases through providing cutting-edge clinical care and advancing research and drug development. Dr. Sellers researches epithelial ion transport and acid-base regulation using a variety of human and animal models. He is a firm believer in the exponential impact of team science and is adept at working in multi-disciplinary and cross-functional teams. 

Research Mentor: Calvin Kuo, MD, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Gastroenterology
Residency: Lucile Packard Children's Hospital/Stanford University, Pediatrics (Integrated Research Pathway)

Bereketeab Haileselassie, MD

Dr. Haileselassie’s research focuses on understanding the cellular mechanisms that mediate end-organ failure in various inflammatory disorders. In particular, Dr. Haileselassie is determining how alterations in mitochondrial dynamics impact cellular metabolism and function during critical illness. Dr. Haileselassie currently runs an NIH-funded translational research program aimed at understanding the role of alterations in mitochondrial dynamics in sepsis induced multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Other research projects are defining the mechanisms that conditioning regiments, which are necessary for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT), mediate impairments in mitochondrial dynamics resulting in accumulation and release of dysfunctional mitochondria and  exacerbation of graft-versus-host disease post transplantation.

Research Mentor: Daria Mochley-Rosen, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K99 Pathway to Independence Award
Fellowship: Johns Hopkins, Pedatric Critical Care Medicine
Residency: Seattle Children's/University of Washington, Pediatrics

Natalia Gomez-Ospina, MD, PhD

During Dr. Gomez-Ospina’s post-doctoral research with Dr. Matthew Porteus in Pediatric Stem Cell transplantation, was where she began to develop genome editing-based strategies in stem cells as a therapies for metabolic diseases. For her clinical practice she sees patients with suspected genetic disorders, and is also in charge of the enzyme replacement service for lysosomal storage disorders at Lucile Packard Children’s hospital. She has been the lead author in research studies in The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, Nature Communications, and American Journal of Medical Genetics.

Research Mentor: Matthew Porteus, MD, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Residency: Medical Genetics & Genomics

Trung Pham, MD, PhD

Dr. Pham completed M.D./Ph.D. training in the Medical Scientist Training Program at UCSF.  He developed a broad background in immunology with a focus on cellular immunity, leukocyte trafficking, and lymphoid tissue cellular dynamics.  Subsequently Dr. Pham completed clinical training in pediatric infectious diseases at Stanford University and developed expertise in bacterial pathogenesis through postdoctoral research with Dr. Denise Monack.  Dr. Pham is fascinated with the complex interplays between host immune responses and pathogens that impact infection outcomes.  Leveraging clinical experience to identify knowledge gaps and unmet medical needs, Dr. Pham’s research focuses on understanding mechanisms of persistent intracellular bacterial infection and regulations of macrophage diversity and biological functions.  Using persistent Salmonella infection in 129x1/SvJ mice, Dr. Pham developed a novel intracellular bacterial granuloma model and innovative approaches to dissect the mechanisms of macrophage heterogeneity, tissue immune responses, and pathogen persistence in intracellular bacteria-infected tissues. 

Research Mentor: Denise Monack, PhD
Career Development Award: NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Residency: Lucile Packard Children's Hospital/Stanford University, Pediatrics

Daniel Tawfik, MD

Dr. Tawfik studies the use of electronic health record metadata in identifying structures and processes that promote high quality healthcare. Dr Tawfik has a particular interest in leveraging existing data and novel data sources to develop low-cost, objective measurements of the functioning of the health care environment — and the well-being of health care providers — in order to facilitate targeted improvements of provider well-being and quality of care. Projects apply advanced analytical methods to large databases of primarily structured electronic health record data and EHR usage metadata.

Research Mentor: Jochen Profit, MD, MPH
Career Development Award: AHRQ K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Award
Fellowship: Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
Residency: Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital/University of Utah, Pediatrics