People

Shipra Arya, MD SM FACS is an Associate Professor of Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine and section chief of vascular surgery at VA Palo Alto Healthcare System. She has a Master’s degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health with focus on research methodology and cardiovascular epidemiology. She completed her General Surgery Residency at Creighton University Medical Center followed by a Vascular Surgery Fellowship at University of Michigan. She has been funded by American Heart Association (AHA), NIH/NIA GEMSSTAR grant, VA Palo Alto Center for Innovation and Implementation (Ci2i) and is currently funded by VA HSR&D. The accumulated evidence from her research all points to the fact that frailty is a versatile tool that can be utilized to guide surgical decision making, inform patient consent and design quality improvement initiatives at the patient and hospital level. The field of frailty research in surgical population is still relatively nascent and her current work focuses on streamlining frailty evaluation, and implementation of patient and system level interventions to improve surgical outcomes and enhance patient centered care.

Dr. Carolyn Dacey Seib is a board certified general surgeon and fellowship-trained endocrine surgeon. Her practice is focused on surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands. Dr. Seib has clinical and research expertise in the surgical management of endocrine disorders in older adults, including primary hyperparathyroidism, thyroid cancer, and hyperthyroidism. Dr. Seib completed her undergraduate education at Princeton University, graduating summa cum laude in 2004. She received her M.D. at the New York University School of Medicine and then attended residency in General Surgery at UCSF. Dr. Seib also completed a fellowship in Endocrine Surgery at UCSF, during which she cared for patients with complex disorders of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands. Dr. Seib focuses on providing individualized care for patients with thyroid malignancy, hyperthyroidism, primary hyperparathyroidism, and adrenal disorders. She has received funding from the National Institute on Aging and the American Thyroid Association to study the surgical management of endocrine disorders in older adults and has a number of peer-reviewed journal publications on this topic that have received national attention, including being featured in the New York Times.

Dr. Dawes is a board-certified, fellowship-trained colon and rectal surgeon. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Dawes treats a wide variety of conditions involving the colon, rectum, and anus, always leveraging the latest evidence and technologies. He is fully trained in minimally invasive surgical techniques--including laparoscopic, robotic, and trans-anal minimally invasive surgery--and strives to employ them, whenever possible, in an effort to reduce pain and shorten recovery. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Dawes is a health services researcher, receiving his Ph.D. in Health Policy and Management from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. His research focuses on policy development, measurement, and evaluation for patients with colorectal conditions. He is particularly interested in using data to drive policy interventions aimed at reducing disparities in quality, access, and value. Prior to joining Stanford, Dr. Dawes completed a residency in General Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles followed by a fellowship in Colon and Rectal Surgery at the University of Minnesota. He has authored articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Cancer, Diseases of the Colon and Rectum, Health Services Research, and JAMA Surgery. His work has also been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Daily Press, and HealthDay News. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Dawes received his A.B. in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University and his M.D. from Vanderbilt University.

Laura is a health services researcher with a wide variety of experience in data management and analysis, including large multi-center health services and outcomes research studies, provider survey studies, and laboratory-oriented research. Her research interest include surgical outcomes research, informatics, and implementation science to translate evidence into practice. The bulk of her research experience is centered around the use and analysis of large administrative datasets collected by the Veterans Health Administration. She has been involved in a multitude of Health Services Research & Development funded and unfunded studies using these administrative data to assess surgical outcomes.

I am a fellowship-trained minimally invasive and bariatric surgeon, who is involved in national surgical and specialty societies. My area of clinical and research interest is in outcomes of metabolic and bariatric surgery in special populations. As a surgeon at the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, I am specifically interested in the outcomes of weight loss surgery in obese Veterans, who represent a population with a significant burden of co-morbidity, as well as challenging social, economic, and geographic circumstances. In addition, I am currently studying Veterans with spinal cord injury, with a goal to identify gaps in assessment and management of obesity in this special population.

Dr. Govindarajan is a health services researcher with expertise in emergency medical services and healthcare systems. The goals of her research are to improve access to specialized centers for acute stroke care (thrombolysis-capable and thrombectomy-capable centers) through early detection of stroke in the prehospital setting. Following her widely-cited (initial work on stroke detection by emergency medical services, she received a career development award (K08 HS17965) from the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality to study the impact of a stroke destination protocol for emergency service provides that increased access to primary stroke centers in two California counties. The findings from this work has led to a national study on the effectiveness of a stroke destination protocol for emergency medical service providers and is funded by the Agency of Health Care Research and Quality (R01 HS026207). Her collaborators are scientists at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention) and Stanford-Surgery Policy Improvement Research and Education.

Dr. Mary T. Hawn is the Stanford Medicine Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery at Stanford University. Dr. Hawn, a native of Michigan, received her education and surgical training at the University of Michigan. Her clinical area of specialty is minimally invasive foregut surgery. Dr. Hawn is a funded health services researcher and her projects focus on quality measurement and policy in surgical populations. She is a Director for the American Board of Surgery and serves on the editorial board of Annals of Surgery, Journal of the American College of Surgeons, Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery and the American Journal of Surgery. Dr. Hawn has several additional leadership roles in American Surgery including Chair of the American College of Surgeons Scientific Forum Committee and as a Trustee and Treasurer for the Surgical Society of the Alimentary Tract. She is the co-Editor of a new surgical textbook Operative Techniques in Surgery.

Dr. Kristan Staudenmayer received her medical degree at the University of Texas at Southwestern Medical School in 1999, and completed her residency in General Surgery at Parkland Hospital in 2006. During her post-graduate training, she conducted NIH T32-funded research at Harborview Hospital evaluating the effects of innate immunity on trauma. She obtained further training in Trauma and Surgical Critical at San Francisco General Hospital, completing her training in 2008. She was subsequently double-boarded in General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care. Dr. Staudenmayer joined Stanford in 2008. She has developed a robust research program and active clinical practice. Her clinical and research interests have contributed to Stanford’s multi-disciplinary approach to the management of surgical trauma. Dr. Staudenmayer’s clinical focus is on trauma, emergency general surgery, and surgical critical care, and her research interests encompass trauma systems of care and vulnerable patient populations such as the elderly. Her efforts have been noteworthy and recognized in her 2013 K08 grant from the National Institute on Aging to study trauma in the elderly population. In 2016, Dr. Staudenmayer was honored by becoming the inaugural Gordon and Betty Moore Endowed Faculty Scholar, which helps to support her ongoing research efforts. Additional research accomplishments include being a co-principal investigator on an NIH CTSA award evaluating trauma systems. Dr. Staudenmayer has published over 50 articles and book chapters and has served on the editorial review board of several academic journals. She contributes nationally towards the academic mission by serving on committees for both the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. Dr. Staudenmayer was promoted to Associate Professor of Surgery in 2016, and continues her research, policy and advocacy work to improve the care and outcomes for patients with traumatic injuries and critical surgical illnesses.

Dr. Thomas Weiser is a general and trauma surgeon, and surgical intensivist. He treats and cares for injured patients and those with acute surgical emergencies as well as manages critically ill surgical patients in the Intensive Care Unit. His research is focused on evaluating the role surgical care plays in the delivery of health services in resource poor settings, in particular low and middle income countries. He is interested in barriers to access and provision of surgical care, the quality of surgical services, and outcomes research as well as the science of implementation, how improvements can be made, and how to strengthen compliance with best practices and change behaviors for the better. He also has an interest in domestic policy as it relates to trauma outcomes, trauma systems, insurance coverage and costs of care, and firearm violence. Dr. Weiser's current projects focus on the quality of surgical care and strategies for improving the safety and reliability of surgical delivery in resource poor settings. He is the Consulting Medical Officer for Lifebox, a nonprofit focused on improving surgical and anesthetic safety worldwide. Lifebox delivers programs throughout the world in combination with local partners including individual professionals, professional societies, hospitals, other NGOs, and ministries of health. Lifebox works with hospitals in Ethiopia, Liberia, Madagasgar, India, Honduras, and Nicaragua, amongst others, to improve care and evaluate the impact of our work. A few programs of particular impact are the distribution of low cost devices to improve the safety of care (including pulse oximeters for the routine monitoring of patients undergoing anesthesia and a new surgical headlight program) and Clean Cut, a surgical infection prevention and control program now being introduced in several countries. He has been involved in surgical program assessment projects in numerous countries. From 2006-2009, he was part of the World Health Organization’s Safe Surgery Saves Lives program where he quantified the global volume of surgery and created, implemented, evaluated, and promoted the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. He has worked with the WHO and the World Bank, and is currently the recipient of a Gates Grand Challenge grant to improve the safety of cesarean section in Ethiopia.

Dr. Wren is a board certified general surgeon who specializes in the surgical treatment of gastrointestinal cancer: including stomach, pancreas, intestinal, and colon and rectal cancers. She completed fellowship training in advanced hepatobiliary surgery and performs open, laparoscopic, and robotic approaches to these cancers. Dr. Wren is also very involved in humanitarian surgery and global surgery. She works and manages educational partnerships in Sub Saharan Africa. She is faculty fellow of the Stanford Center for Innovation and Global Health.

Dr. Rebecca A. Aslakson is an Associate Professor at Stanford University with appointments in both the Department of Primary Care & Population Health in the Palliative Care Section and the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine where she serves as Division Chief of Critical Care Anesthesia. With a Summa Cum Laude B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, an MD from Harvard Medical School–MIT, and an MSci degree with Distinction from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, Dr. Aslakson completed anesthesia residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and surgical critical care fellowship at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she was on faculty from 2008-2017. In 2013, Dr. Aslakson obtained her PhD in Clinical Investigations from The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with her dissertation concerning integration of palliative care in intensive care units. Triple boarded in anesthesia, surgical critical care, and palliative medicine, Dr. Aslakson is an active researcher and clinician; her goal is to improve delivery of effective and equitable palliative care, particularly to perioperative and critically ill populations. She has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers, invited editorials, and book chapters and received competitive funding from funders such as AHRQ, PCORI, the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research, and the National Palliative Care Research Society. Dr. Aslakson serves on national committees for professional societies including the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM). Dr. Aslakson has received national awards including the 2015 AAHPM Early Career Investigator Award and the 2014 ASA Presidential Scholar Award. Dr. Aslakson clinically attends at the Stanford University Medical Center in the M4 and E2 Intensive Care Units and on the inpatient palliative care clinical service. She lives in Palo Alto, CA with her husband and two sons.

After completing both a Patient Safety Fellowship and a Masters in Health Services Research at Stanford, Dr. Mudumbai joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine in 2014. Dr. Mudumbai is an outcomes and health services researcher who works to integrate his clinical, administrative, and research roles. Dr. Mudumbai's main research interests are in translational research: 1) optimizing therapeutic strategies and reducing adverse outcomes related to medication management, particularly opioids; and 2) measuring and improving the quality of perioperative and pain management.

Amber W. Trickey, PhD, MS, CPH, is Senior Biostatistician of the S-SPIRE Center. She supports multidisciplinary teams in research design, implementation, and analysis. In over 15 years of health services research, with 10 years focused in surgery and emergency medicine, Dr. Trickey has collaborated with diverse investigators, including attending physicians, residents, nurses, psychologists, and engineers. Dr. Trickey obtained degrees in epidemiology and biostatistics, and certifications in public health and SAS data analysis. She has evaluated data quality in surgical and trauma care, supported multiple clinical trials, and led data validation studies using the ACS-NSQIP surgical registry and administrative claims. Dr. Trickey has contributed to public and private grants on surgical safety, healthcare quality metrics, simulation-based training, team communication, error disclosure, and emergency services.

Kate is a biostatistician with the Stanford-Surgery Policy Improvement Research & Education Center (S-SPIRE). She has a degree in epidemiology and has worked in both academic and public health settings. She has particular experience working with Medicaid claims data and analyzing patient reported health outcomes. Kate collaborates with Department of Surgery researchers on study design, data analysis, and reporting.

Nicolas Barreto, PhD, MPH, is a Biostatistician of the S-SPIRE Center. He works with and supports multidisciplinary teams in research design, analysis, and reporting. Nicolas obtained a masters of public health degree in biostatistics and epidemiology, and his doctorate in Basic and Applied Social Psychology. He has served as a data consultant, statistician, and research consultant while working with a variety of investigators; including doctors, residents, psychologists, and professors. Nicolas has contributed academic research and grant work on a variety of projects; motivation and education, effects of cancer treatment on cognitive outcomes, social support impact on cancer treatment, medical mistrust and organ donation, and others.

Tong Meng works as a biostatistician at the Stanford Surgery Policy Improvement Research & Education (S-SPIRE) center. She received her Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Chicago with statistics concentration and is experienced in implementing quasi-experimental research designs using large database, especially the Medicare claims data. She is passionate about understanding the mechanisms and determinants of health care quality and access to care, and is enthusiastic about applying her knowledge/expertise to improve patient-centered outcomes.

Kristen Davis, MPH is a Social Science Research Coordinator who has been working at Stanford since 2013, she joined S-SPIRE in March of 2018. She has a background in biology as well as public health. Her interests include health disparities as well as outcomes research. She supports multiple Principal Investigators with their current research as well as assists with the management of federal grant submissions.

Marzena Sasnal, PhD, MA, is a qualitative & mixed methods-oriented social scientist, experienced in health services, medical education, and migration research with publication record, grant support, and extensive administrative experience. Dr. Sasnal currently works as Social Science Researcher at the S-SPIRE Center and is thrilled to contribute to research aiming to improve public health. Before joining Stanford, she studied the adaptation processes of highly skilled migrants in Silicon Valley. Dr. Sasnal collaborates with multidisciplinary teams and assists principal investigators with designing, conducting, and managing qualitative and mixed methods research projects. Additionally, she provides guidance to less experienced colleagues, including oversight and instruction on techniques, as well as consultation on research methods. Dr. Sasnal has contributed to academic and grant research projects on various topics: medical education, implementation & evaluation science, innovations in care, patient-provider communication, patient-centered care, palliative care, among others.

After a decade at Stanford University, Ana Mezynski is happier than ever as a Cardinal At Work. As a Research Administrator 3 for S-SPIRE, she currently assists with the daily tasks of running the office including the onboarding of faculty and postdoctoral researchers, managing finances and facilities, and planning educational workshops. Through her experiences, she has become proficient with a myriad of administrative applications including Epic, Oracle, Qualtrics, and Microsoft Office. As a website developer, she has been trained in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Software. She also supports Center Director Dr. Arden Morris and is actively increasing her skill set to include web and print design. In addition to her office management duties, Ana recently became a published author for her contributions to the research project "Lost in translation: informed consent in the medical mission setting", which was accepted by the journal Surgery. As a certified transcriber, Ana assisted with the transcription of interviews in addition to translation from Spanish to English and data preparation. In 2017, Ana received the Anne G. Crowe Spirit Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the mission and vision of the School of Medicine. She holds a certificate in research administration from Stanford University, a diploma in Medical Administration from Bryman College, and is currently pursuing a degree in business.