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 recently completed an American Heart Association (AHA) grant on risk prediction of cardiovascular outcomes and limb loss in Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) patients. She is currently funded by the NIH/NIA GEMSSTAR grant studying the impact of frailty on quality of surgical care in PAD and aortic aneurysm patients. 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 Seib is a board-certified general surgeon with subspecialty training in endocrine surgery and advanced training in biostatistics and clinical research. 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 came to San Francisco to complete her residency in General Surgery at UCSF. Dr. Seib received a Masters of Advanced Study (MAS) in Clinical Research from UCSF during her training. After finishing her residency, Dr. Seib completed a fellowship in Endocrine Surgery at UCSF, during which she cared for patients with complex disorders of the thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands. She worked as a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Surgery at UCSF until February 2019. In April 2019, Dr. Seib joined the faculty at Stanford University as an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Surgery. Dr. Seib’s independent research program focuses on the management of endocrine disorders in older adults. In August 2018, she was awarded an R03 grant, funded by the National Institute on Aging, to study long-term outcomes in older adults with primary hypeparathyroidism treated with medical and surgical therapy. She has 18 peer-reviewed journal publications in high impact journals and her research on the surgical management of older adults has received national attention, including being featured in the New York Times.

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 using a paramedic protocol that increased access to primary stroke centers in two California counties. The findings from this work has led to research on the effectiveness of two different stroke systems of care (single-tier and two-tier), using CMMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) database. This research is currently proceeding in collaboration with the S-SPIRE (Stanford -Surgery Policy Improvement Research and Education Center) and Center for Population Health Sciences (PHS). As part of this research, she is also collaborating with Stanford's Vision Lab and Clinical Excellence Research Center (CERC) to develop a stroke tool using artificial intelligence technology.

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.

I am a general and trauma surgeon, and surgical intensivist. I treat and care for injured patients and those with acute surgical emergencies, and manage critically ill surgical patients in the Intensive Care Unit. My research is focused on evaluating the role of surgical care in the delivery of health services in resource poor settings, particularly low and middle income countries. I am interested in barriers to access and provision of surgical care, the quality of surgical services, and outcomes research. My current projects focus on quality and cost effectiveness of care, and strategies for improving the safety and reliability of surgical delivery in resource poor settings. I have been involved in surgical program assessment projects in Cambodia, India, the UK, and the United States. From 2006-2009 I was part of the World Health Organization’s Safe Surgery Saves Lives program where we quantified the global volume of surgery and created, implemented, evaluated, and promoted the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist. I am a trustee of Lifebox, a charity devoted to saving lives through safer surgery. We are currently engaged in a program to improve compliance with surgical safety standards in low resource settings, particularly as they pertain to infection prevention and control.

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 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 8 years focused in surgery, Dr. Trickey has collaborated with diverse investigators, including attending physicians, residents, nurses, psychologists, and engineers. Dr. Trickey obtained degrees in epidemiology and biostatistics, evaluated data quality in trauma care, and led data validation studies using a surgical registry (NSQIP) and administrative claims. Dr. Trickey has contributed to public and private grants on surgical safety, simulation-based training, team communication, error disclosure, and quality metrics.

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, 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 degree in biostatistics and epidemiology, and is currently working towards 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.

Rui Chen, MS is Biostatistician of the S-SPIRE center. She has 9 years of statistics design and analyses experience in phase III and phase IV clinical trials in both oncology and epidemiology research fields. Her previous research focused on pharmacovigilance and comparative effectiveness research by using Medicare Data. Her research interests include applied statistics, data mining, regression analysis, statistical matching and crossover study. Rui is dedicated to rigorous data analysis intended to improve public health in our community, nation, and world.

Qian works as a Biastatistician at Stanford Surgery Policy Improvement Research & Education (S-SPIRE) Center. She is experienced in analyzing patient outcomes and national surgery-related data sets such as NSQIP, SEER. She participates in consultations with investigators to refine research questions, define hypotheses, design studies and devise analysis plans. Her expertise is implementing data analysis through statistical programming, summarizing findings using tables and figures, and assisting in preparation and submission of abstracts and manuscripts. She is thrilled to be able to contribute to researches that aim to improve public health.

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.

Sylvia Bereknyei Merrell, DrPH, MS is a Research Scholar of the S-SPIRE Center. She has over 14 years experience in high-level support of research projects at Stanford, including research design, implementation and dissemination, specifically, qualitative and mixed methods research. She has significant content expertise in the following research areas: patient-physician communication, intraoperative team communication, and language barriers. Dr. Merrell also works closely with educators to design and implement medical education curricula and research across the learning spectrum. Additional interests include capacity building in research methodology for medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty.

Marion Aouad holds a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley with a focus in Health Economics. Her work aims to understand and analyze the factors relevant to consumers' decisions for healthcare consumption. She is also interested in how health insurance reforms affect both the supply and demand side of healthcare markets and has worked with policies focused on surgical procedures.

Serena Bidwell, MPH is a social science researcher at the Stanford Surgery Policy Improvement Research & Education (S-SPIRE) center. She completes a range of activities from project coordination to data analysis and results reporting. Her interests include long-term management of childhood chronic diseases, quality of life in cancer patients, and healthcare infrastructure in developing countries. She completed a master's degree in global health epidemiology and has coupled her academic training with experience as an editorial assistant for a scientific journal and as a child health outcomes analyst. She is committed to community service and implemented a medical outreach program, with a focus in surgery, to local low-income and minority high school students.

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.

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.

Marzena Sasnal is an experienced researcher and administrator. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences with a focus in Sociology. In her PhD project, she conducted qualitative research on international high-tech professionals in Silicon Valley. She is interested in education, public health, and migration research. She joined S-SPIRE Center as a Social Science Researcher in January 2020.

After a decade at Stanford University, Ana Mezynski is happier than ever as a Cardinal At Work. As an Administrative Associate 3 for S-SPIRE, she currently assists with the daily tasks of running the office including the onboarding of faculty and postdoctoral researchers, managing 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. 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 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.