Leadership
Marcia Stefanick, PhD
Director and Co-Founder, Stanford WHSDM Center (Women's Health & Sex Differences in Medicine)
Marcia Stefanick, renowned women’s health researcher who chaired both the executive and steering committees of the Women’s Health Initiative (the largest study of women ever done in the United States), has been involved in the Women’s Health at Stanford program since its inception, in 2001.
Dr. Stefanick’s research, which has been widely disseminated nationally and internationally, has emphasized the role of lifestyle — especially exercise, diet, weight control, and menopausal hormone therapy — on chronic disease prevention, particularly heart disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and more recently, dementia. Her primary academic interests include sex/gender differences and the influence of sex hormones on human physiology and disease, menopause, and health promotion over the life course, including healthy aging.
In addition, she is an experienced and active mentor of junior faculty, and teaches courses to both medical students and undergraduates on the role of sex differences in physiology and disease, and current topics in women’s health.
Terri Oppelt ("TO") Preising, JD, MaEd
Assistant Director, Operations - Stanford WHSDM Center (Women's Health & Sex Differences in Medicine)
TO’s career has included teaching at the secondary education level and practicing law as a litigation attorney with a focus on labor and employment discrimination matters.
She has served in organizational leadership roles in multiple community support groups, including the board of the Irvine chapter of the National Charity League, several PTA boards and the Girl Scouts of America.
TO began her career at Stanford in the Residential Education Department engaging Resident Fellows and their student Resident Advisors to develop and deliver a variety of programs to the dormitory residents. More recently, she supported several faculty members in the Mechanical Engineering Department’s Design Group and managed the Design Group’s course database of more than 200 active classes.
A graduate of Stanford with a BA in Political Science and a MA in Education, she holds a secondary teaching credential. TO received her JD from UCLA, where she was on the UCLA Law Review, and is a member of the California Bar.
Amy Lang
Administrative Associate, Stanford WHSDM Center (Women's Health & Sex Differences in Medicine)
Amy supports Dr. Stefanick’s WHSDM courses and helps host events for the WHSDM Center. In addition to her work with WHSDM, Amy supports Dr. Stefanick’s research studies: WHISH – Women’s Health Initiative Strong and Healthy, WHI – Women’s Health Initiative, and MrOS – Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study.
Amy earned her BA in Psychology from University of Portland, Portland, OR. Prior to her work at Stanford, Amy focused her work at bay area software start-ups.