Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance


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  • Michaëlle Ntala Mayalu

    Michaëlle Ntala Mayalu

    Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering

    BioDr. Michaëlle N. Mayalu is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. She received her Ph.D., M.S., and B.S., degrees in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department. She was a 2017 California Alliance Postdoctoral Fellowship Program recipient and a 2019 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program award recipient. She is also a 2023 Hypothesis Fund Grantee.

    Dr. Michaëlle N. Mayalu's area of expertise is in mathematical modeling and control theory of synthetic biological and biomedical systems. She is interested in the development of control theoretic tools for understanding, controlling, and predicting biological function at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels to optimize therapeutic intervention.

    She is the director of the Mayalu Lab whose research objective is to investigate how to optimize biomedical therapeutic designs using theoretical and computational approaches coupled with experiments. Initial project concepts include: i) theoretical and experimental design of bacterial "microrobots" for preemptive and targeted therapeutic intervention, ii) system-level multi-scale modeling of gut associated skin disorders for virtual evaluation and optimization of therapy, iii) theoretical and experimental design of "microrobotic" swarms of engineered bacteria with sophisticated centralized and decentralized control schemes to explore possible mechanisms of pattern formation. The experimental projects in the Mayalu Lab utilize established techniques borrowed from the field of synthetic biology to develop synthetic genetic circuits in E. coli to make bacterial "microrobots". Ultimately the Mayalu Lab aims to develop accurate and efficient modeling frameworks that incorporate computation, dynamical systems, and control theory that will become more widespread and impactful in the design of electro-mechanical and biological therapeutic machines.

  • Jay McClelland

    Jay McClelland

    Lucie Stern Professor in the Social Sciences, Professor of Psychology and, by courtesy, of Linguistics and of Computer Science

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research addresses topics in perception and decision making; learning and memory; language and reading; semantic cognition; and cognitive development. I view cognition as emerging from distributed processing activity of neural populations, with learning occurring through the adaptation of connections among neurons. A new focus of research in the laboratory is mathematical cognition and reasoning in humans and contemporary AI systems based on neural networks.

  • Tracey McLaughlin

    Tracey McLaughlin

    Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. McLaughlin conducts clinical research related to obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Current studies include: 1) the impact of macronutrient composition on metabolism, DM2 and CVD; 2) comparison of different weight loss diets on metabolism and CVD risk reduction ; 3) role of adipocytes and adipose tissue immune cells in modulating insulin resistance; 4) use of continuous glucose monitoring and multi-omics to define metabolic phenotype and precision diets

  • Jennifer A McNab

    Jennifer A McNab

    Associate Professor (Research) of Radiology (Radiological Sciences Laboratory)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research is focused on developing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods that probe brain tissue microstructure. This requires new MRI contrast mechanisms, strategic encoding and reconstruction schemes, physiological monitoring, brain tissue modeling and validation. Applications of these methods include neuronavigation, neurosurgical planning and the development of improved biomarkers for brain development, degeneration, disease and injury.

  • Vinod Menon

    Vinod Menon

    Rachael L. and Walter F. Nichols, MD, Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Education and of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEXPERIMENTAL, CLINICAL AND THEORETICAL SYSTEMS NEUROSCIENCE

    Cognitive neuroscience; Systems neuroscience; Cognitive development; Psychiatric neuroscience; Functional brain imaging; Dynamical basis of brain function; Nonlinear dynamics of neural systems.

  • Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD

    Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD

    Craig Reynolds Professor of Sleep Medicine and Professor, by courtesy, of Genetics and of Neurology and Neurological Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe research focus of the laboratory is the study of sleep and sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and Kleine Levin syndrome. We also study the neurobiological and genetic basis of the EEG and develop new tools to study sleep using nocturnal polysomnography. Approaches mostly involve human genetic studies (GWAS, sequencing), EEG signal analysis (deep learning), and immunology (narcolepsy is an autoimmune disease of the brain). We also work on autoimmune encephalitis.

  • Carlos Milla

    Carlos Milla

    Professor of Pediatrics (Pulmonary Medicine) and, by courtesy, of Medicine (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAt Stanford University I developed and currently direct the CF Translational Research Center. The overarching goal of the center is to provide the groundwork to streamline, accelerate, and promote the translation of basic discoveries into effective therapies and interventions to benefit patients affected by cystic fibrosis. My laboratory group currently has three main lines of investigation: respiratory cell biology in CF; remote biochemical monitoring; and lung physiology in young children.

  • John Mitchell

    John Mitchell

    Mary and Gordon Crary Family Professor in the School of Engineering, and Professor, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering and of Education

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProgramming languages, computer security and privacy, blockchain, machine learning, and technology for education

  • Subhasish Mitra

    Subhasish Mitra

    William E. Ayer Professor of Electrical Engineering and Professor of Computer Science

    BioSubhasish Mitra holds the William E. Ayer Endowed Chair Professorship in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Stanford University. He directs the Stanford Robust Systems Group, serves on the leadership team of the Microelectronics Commons AI Hardware Hub funded by the US CHIPS and Science Act, leads the Computation Focus Area of the Stanford SystemX Alliance, and is the Associate Chair (Faculty Affairs) of Computer Science. His research ranges across Robust Computing, NanoSystems, Electronic Design Automation (EDA), and Neurosciences. Results from his research group have influenced almost every contemporary electronic system and have inspired significant government and research initiatives in multiple countries. He has held several international academic appointments — the Carnot Chair of Excellence in NanoSystems at CEA-LETI in France, Invited Professor at EPFL in Switzerland, and Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo in Japan. Prof. Mitra also has consulted for major technology companies including AMD (XIlinx), Cisco, Google, Intel, Merck (EMD Electronics), and Samsung.

    In the field of Robust Computing, he has created many key approaches for circuit failure prediction, on-line diagnostics, QED system validation, soft error resilience, and X-Compact test compression. Their adoption by industry is growing rapidly, in markets ranging from cloud computing to automotive systems, under various names (System Lifecycle Management, Predictive Health Monitoring, In-System Test Architecture, In-field Scan, In-fleet Scan). His X-Compact approach has proven essential to cost-effective manufacturing and high-quality testing of almost all 21st century systems. X-Compact and its derivatives enabled billions of dollars of cost savings across the industry.

    In the field of NanoSystems, with his students and collaborators, he demonstrated several firsts: the first NanoSystems hardware among all beyond-silicon nanotechnologies for energy-efficient computing (the carbon nanotube computer), the first 3D NanoSystem with computation immersed in data storage, the first published end-to-end computing systems using resistive memories (Resistive RAM-based non-volatile computing systems delivering 10-fold energy efficiency versus embedded flash), and the first monolithic 3D integration combining heterogeneous logic and memory technologies in a silicon foundry. These received wide recognition: cover of NATURE, several Highlights to the US Congress, and highlight as "important scientific breakthrough" by news organizations worldwide.

    Prof. Mitra's honors include the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award (by IEEE Computer Society for outstanding contributions in the information processing field), Newton Technical Impact Award in EDA (test-of-time honor by ACM SIGDA and IEEE CEDA), the University Researcher Award (by Semiconductor Industry Association and Semiconductor Research Corporation to recognize lifetime research contributions), the EDAA Achievement Award (by European Design and Automation Association, given to individuals who made outstanding contributions to electronic design, automation and testing in their life), the Intel Achievement Award (Intel’s highest honor), and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He and his students have published over 15 award-winning papers across 5 topic areas (technology, circuits, EDA, test, verification) at major venues including the Design Automation Conference, International Electron Devices Meeting, International Solid-State Circuits Conference, International Test Conference, Symposia on VLSI Technology/VLSI Circuits, and Formal Methods in Computer-Aided Design. Stanford undergraduates have honored him several times "for being important to them." He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a Foreign Member of Academia Europaea.

  • Stephen B. Montgomery

    Stephen B. Montgomery

    Stanford Medicine Professor of Pathology, Professor of Genetics and of Biomedical Data Science
    On Partial Leave from 07/01/2025 To 10/31/2025

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe focus on understanding the effects of genome variation on cellular phenotypes and cellular modeling of disease through genomic approaches such as next generation RNA sequencing in combination with developing and utilizing state-of-the-art bioinformatics and statistical genetics approaches. See our website at http://montgomerylab.stanford.edu/

  • Kelli Moran-Miller, PhD

    Kelli Moran-Miller, PhD

    Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDr. Kelli Moran-Miller joined Stanford in Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences in 2015. She is a licensed psychologist specializing in athlete mental health and sport and performance psychology. She also is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant with the Association of Applied Sport Psychology and a member of the US Olympic Committee registry. In her current role with Stanford Athletics (DAPER), she provides clinical and performance psychology services for varsity student-athletes, coaches, staff, and varsity sport teams. Prior to Stanford, she was the Director of Counseling and Sport Psychology - Athletics at the University of Iowa.

  • Antoine Falisse

    Antoine Falisse

    Research Engineer, Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance
    Affiliate, Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance

    BioDr. Falisse is a postdoctoral fellow in Bioengineering working on computational approaches to study human movement disorders. He primarily uses optimization methods, biomechanical modeling, and data from various sources (wearables, videos, medical images) to get insights into movement abnormalities and design innovative treatments and rehabilitation protocols.

    Dr. Falisse received his PhD from KU Leuven (Belgium) where he worked on modeling and simulating the locomotion of children with cerebral palsy. His research was supported by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) through a personal fellowship. Dr. Falisse received several awards for his PhD work, including the David Winter Young Investigator Award, the Andrzej J. Komor Young Investigator Award, the VPHi Thesis Award in In Silico Medicine, and the KU Leuven Research Council Award in Biomedical Sciences.

  • Paula M. L. Moya

    Paula M. L. Moya

    Danily C. and Laura Louise Bell Professor of the Humanities and Professor, by courtesy, of African and African American Studies and of Iberian and Latin American Cultures

    BioMoya is the Faculty Director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE).

    She is the author of The Social Imperative: Race, Close Reading, and Contemporary Literary Criticism (Stanford UP 2016) and Learning From Experience: Minority Identities, Multicultural Struggles (UC Press 2002). She has co-edited three collections of original essays including Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century (W.W. Norton, Inc. 2010), Identity Politics Reconsidered (Palgrave 2006) and Reclaiming Identity: Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism (UC Press 2000). 

    Her teaching and research focus on twentieth-century and early twenty-first century literary studies, feminist theory, critical theory, narrative theory, speculative fiction, interdisciplinary approaches to race and ethnicity, and Chicano/a and U.S. Latina/o studies.

    At Stanford, Moya has served as the Director of the Research Institute of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), Director of the Program of Modern Thought and Literature (MTL), Vice Chair of the Department of English, and the Director of the Undergraduate Program of CCSRE. She has been the faculty coordinator of several faculty-graduate student research networks sponsored by the Stanford Humanities Center, the Research Institute for the Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, and Modern Thought and Literature. They include The Interdisciplinary Working Group in Critical Theory (2015-2016, 2012-2014), Feminist Theory (2007-08, 2002-03), Americanity / Coloniality / Modernity (2006-07), and How Do Identities Matter? (2003-06).

    Moya was a co-PI of the Stanford Catalyst Motivating Mobility project, and team leader of the Perfecto Project, a fitness tracking app that combines narrative theory, social psychology, and UI/UX research to leverage culturally-specific narratives and artwork to encourage positive behavior change and healthier living in middle-aged and elderly Latinx populations. She was also a founding organizer and coordinating team member of The Future of Minority Studies research project (FMS), an inter-institutional, interdisciplinary, and multigenerational research project facilitating focused and productive discussions about the democratizing role of minority identity and participation in a multicultural society.

    Moya has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, a Clayman Institute Fellow, a CCSRE Faculty Research Fellow, and a Ford Foundation posdoctoral fellow. She has also been the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and an Outstanding Chicana/o Faculty Member award.

  • Julie Muccini, MS, OTR/L

    Julie Muccini, MS, OTR/L

    Research Engineer, Rad/Musculoskeletal Imaging

    BioJulie Muccini is an occupational therapist who has spent most of her clinical career working with individuals with neurological diagnoses. She is registered and licensed in California and is a member of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and the Occupational Therapy Association of California (OTAC). She is actively involved in research working with individuals post-stroke, neuromuscular diseases, and osteoarthritis; additional work includes assessing shoulder movements, sprinting, and balancing tasks; she works in the Human Performance Lab with an interdisciplinary team integrating biomechanics, biomedical engineering, physiology, psychology, and rehabilitation. Ms. Muccini received her bachelor of science in industrial engineering and operations research from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and her master of science in occupational therapy from Boston University. She started working at the hospital at Stanford in 1997 and transitioned to the Outpatient Neuro Rehab Clinic at the Stanford Neurosciences Health Center in 2014. In March 2021, Julie moved to the Stanford University School of Medicine to work in the Human Performance Lab at the Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation, ACSR, as a Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance member.

  • Jonathan N. Myers

    Jonathan N. Myers

    Clinical Professor (Affiliated), Medicine - Med/Cardiovascular Medicine

    BioDr. Myers is a Health Research Scientist at the Palo Alto VA Health Care System; a Clinical Professor at Stanford University (Affiliated), and a Senior Research Career Scientist Award recipient through the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Program. His research has focused on primary and secondary prevention, and the clinical applications of exercise testing and rehabilitation in patients with cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions. He has a lengthy history of studying the epidemiology of cardiopulmonary exercise test responses, physical activity patterns, and other lifestyle factors and their relation to health outcomes. He manages the Veterans Exercise Testing Study (VETS), an ongoing, prospective evaluation of Veteran subjects referred for exercise testing for clinical reasons, designed to address exercise test, clinical, and lifestyle factors and their association with health outcomes.

    He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, his master's degree from San Diego State University, and his doctorate from the University of Southern California. He has been a board member for many organizations including the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR), and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and serves on the editorial board for 9 journals. He is a recipient of the Michael Pollock Established Investigator Award through the AACVPR, a recipient of the Steven N Blair Award for excellence in physical activity research from the AHA Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and is the 2022 recipient of the American College of Sports Medicine Citation Award. He is a fellow of the AACVPR, ACSM, American College of Cardiology, and the AHA, and has authored and co-authored guidelines on exercise testing and rehabilitation for each of these organizations, including the 2021 editions of the ACSM and AACVPR guidelines.

  • Hiromitsu (Hiro) Nakauchi

    Hiromitsu (Hiro) Nakauchi

    Professor of Genetics (Stem Cell)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsTranslation of discoveries in basic research into practical medical applications

  • Hae Young Noh

    Hae Young Noh

    Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    BioHae Young Noh is an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research introduced the new concept of “structures as sensors” to enable physical structures (e.g., buildings and vehicle frames) to be user- and environment-aware. In particular, these structures indirectly sense humans and surrounding environments through their structural responses (i.e., vibrations) by inferring the desired information (e.g., human behaviors, environmental conditions, heating and cooling system performance), instead of directly measuring the sensing targets with additional dedicated sensors (e.g., cameras, motion sensors). This concept brought a paradigm shift in how we view these structures and how the structures interact with us.
    Traditionally, structures that we inhabit (such as buildings or vehicles) are considered as passive and unchanging objects that we need to monitor and control, utilizing a dense set of sensors to collect information. This has often been complicated by “noise” caused by the occupants and environments. For example, building vibrations induced by indoor and outdoor environmental and operational conditions (e.g., people walking around, traffic outside, heating system running, etc.), have been often seen as noise that needs to be removed in traditional building science and structural engineering; however, they are a rich source of information about structure, users, environment, and resources. Similarly, in vehicle engineering, researchers and engineers have been investigating control and dynamics to reduce vehicle vibration for safety and comfort. However, vibrations measured inside vehicles contain information about transportation infrastructure, vehicle itself, and driver.
    Noh's work utilizes this “noise” to empower the structures with the ability to perceive and understand the information about users and surroundings using their own responses, and actively adopt and/or interact to enhance their sustainability and the occupants’ quality of life. Since she utilizes the structure itself as a sensing medium, information collection involves a simpler set of hardware that can be easily maintained throughout the structural lifetime. However, the analysis of data to separate the desired information becomes more challenging. This challenge is addressed through high-rate dynamic sensing and multi-source inferencing. Ultimately, her work aims to allow structural systems to become general sensing platforms that are easier and more practical to deploy and maintain in a long-term.
    At Stanford University, Noh received her PhD and MS degrees in the CEE department and her second MS degree in Electrical Engineering. Noh earned her BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University.

  • Garry Nolan

    Garry Nolan

    Rachford and Carlota Harris Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Nolan's group uses high throughput single cell analysis technology cellular biochemistry to study autoimmunity, cancer, virology (influenza & Ebola), as well as understanding normal immune system function. Using advanced flow cytometric techniques such as Mass Cytometry, MIBI (ion beam imaging), CODEX and computational biology approaches, we focus on understanding disease processes at the single cell level. We have a strong interest in cancer immunotherapy and pathogen-host interactions.

  • Douglas Noordsy

    Douglas Noordsy

    Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDouglas L. Noordsy, MD, is Clinical Professor, Director of Lifestyle Psychiatry and co-founder of the Sports Psychology & Psychiatry clinic in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Noordsy was previously Professor of Psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. His research interests include effects of physical exercise on neurotrophic factors, brain volume and function and mental health and wellbeing. He is particularly interested in the role of physical exercise for prevention of progression of early psychosis and interactions between social and physical aspects of team sports. Dr. Noordsy is a member of the American College of Psychiatry, American College of Lifestyle Medicine and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. He is a member of the editorial boards for Community Mental Health Journal and Mental Health & Physical Activity. Dr. Noordsy was recognized with the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness in 2001, and the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford in 2018. He launched the Stanford Lifestyle & Sports Psychiatry Special Initiative of the Department of Psychiatry in 2024 and is seeking philanthropic partners.

    https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/special-initiatives/lifestyle.html

    https://med.stanford.edu/psychiatry/patient_care/lifestyle.html

  • Anthony Norcia

    Anthony Norcia

    Professor (Research) of Psychology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsVision, development, functional imaging, systems analysis

  • Paul Nuyujukian

    Paul Nuyujukian

    Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and of Neurosurgery and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur group explores neuroengineering and its application to both basic and clinical neuroscience. Our goal is to develop brain-machine interfaces as a platform technology for a variety of brain-related medical conditions including stroke and epilepsy.

  • Johanna O'Day

    Johanna O'Day

    Scientific Program Manager - Education and Communications

    BioI believe in using human-centered design and bioengineering to improve health. I have developed open-source tools that use wearables to better understand and improve mobility. I am passionate about building empathetic communities equipped with the skills and knowledge to make our world healthier, smarter, and more collaborative.

  • Jelena Obradović

    Jelena Obradović

    Professor of Education

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAdaptation, resilience, and developmental psychopathology of disadvantaged children populations; Stress reactivity and biological sensitivity to contextual influences; Executive function and self-regulatory abilities; Effects of risk, adversity, and social status on children’s development.

  • Michelle Odden

    Michelle Odden

    Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMultilevel - from cells to society - epidemiologic study of healthy aging

  • Allison Okamura

    Allison Okamura

    Richard W. Weiland Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research focuses on developing the principles and tools needed to realize advanced robotic and human-machine systems capable of physical interaction. Application areas include surgery, simulation and training, rehabilitation, prosthetics, neuromechanics, exploration of hazardous and remote environments (e.g. space), design, and education.

  • Marily Oppezzo

    Marily Oppezzo

    Instructor, Medicine - Stanford Prevention Research Center

    BioDr. Oppezzo is an Instructor of Medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and head of the nutrition pillar at Stanford Lifestyle Medicine. She is a behavioral and learning scientist, dietitian, and exercise science interventionist. She earned her PhD in Educational Psychology from Stanford University, and holds a Master’s degree in Nutritional Science, and is board certified Lifestyle Medicine Professional.

    Dr. Oppezzo's work combines her extensive training in nutrition, exercise science, and behavioral science to develop innovative interventions that empower individuals to adopt sustainable, healthy habits - integrating them into their already busy lives. With a focus on "minimal dose, maximal gains" she explores the best ways for people to adopt small, actionable changes for significant improvements in health and well-being. She is particularly interested in the impact of "exercise snacks"—short, accessible bouts of physical activity—on productivity, mood, and overall health. One of her key interventions, "Stronger," is designed to provide peri- and post-menopausal women with effective strength training that maximizes benefits while minimizing time commitment.

  • Lars Osterberg, MD, MPH

    Lars Osterberg, MD, MPH

    Professor (Teaching) of Medicine (Primary Care and Population Health)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsBarriers to Humanism

    Collaborative Faculty Development in Improving Humanism and Professionalism

    Using Radiofrequency Identificaton technology to improve medication adherence

    Impact of Learning Communities on Medical Education

  • Sergiu P. Pasca

    Sergiu P. Pasca

    Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsA critical challenge in understanding the intricate programs underlying development, assembly and dysfunction of the human brain is the lack of direct access to intact, functioning human brain tissue for detailed investigation by imaging, recording, and stimulation.
    To address this, we are developing bottom-up approaches to generate and assemble, from multi-cellular components, human neural circuits in vitro and in vivo.
    We introduced the use of instructive signals for deriving from human pluripotent stem cells self-organizing 3D cellular structures named brain region-specific spheroids/organoids. We demonstrated that these cultures, such as the ones resembling the cerebral cortex, can be reliably derived across many lines and experiments, contain synaptically connected neurons and non-reactive astrocytes, and can be used to gain mechanistic insights into genetic and environmental brain disorders. Moreover, when maintained as long-term cultures, they recapitulate an intrinsic program of maturation that progresses towards postnatal stages.
    We also pioneered a modular system to integrate 3D brain region-specific organoids and study human neuronal migration and neural circuit formation in functional preparations that we named assembloids. We have actively applied these models in combination with studies in long-term ex vivo brain preparations to acquire a deeper understanding of human physiology, evolution and disease mechanisms.
    We have carved a unique research program that combines rigorous in vivo and in vitro neuroscience, stem cell and molecular biology approaches to construct and deconstruct previously inaccessible stages of human brain development and function in health and disease.
    We believe science is a community effort, and accordingly, we have been advancing the field by broadly and openly sharing our technologies with numerous laboratories around the world and organizing the primary research conference and the training courses in the area of cellular models of the human brain.

  • Michele Lanpher Patel

    Michele Lanpher Patel

    Instructor, Medicine - Stanford Prevention Research Center

    BioMichele L. Patel, PhD is an Instructor in the Stanford Prevention Research Center at Stanford University School of Medicine. Trained as a clinical health psychologist, Dr. Patel leads clinical trials that optimize digital health interventions for obesity treatment and prevention. These trials test innovative strategies to address the critical challenge of suboptimal engagement that limits the effectiveness of scalable digital interventions.

    Dr. Patel's research is supported by an NIH career development award (K23; 2022-2027). Her trial investigates the most potent combination of self-monitoring strategies in a behavioral weight loss intervention among 176 adults with overweight or obesity. She leverages the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST), which is an engineering-inspired framework to systematically identify intervention strategies that maximize effectiveness while minimizing patient burden.

    Dr. Patel received her PhD in clinical psychology from Duke University. She completed her clinical internship at the VA Palo Alto with a specialization in behavioral medicine, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship (T32) at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.

    Primary Research Interests:
    -- Optimizing digital interventions for obesity treatment and prevention
    -- Leveraging behavioral science to create lower-burden self-monitoring strategies to improve engagement
    -- Identifying psychosocial factors (including health literacy and stress) that influence treatment success

    Methodological Expertise:
    -- Randomized clinical trials, including factorial designs and embedded trials
    -- Systematic reviews
    -- Signal detection analysis

  • Marco Perez

    Marco Perez

    Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)
    On Leave from 07/01/2025 To 09/01/2025

    BioDr. Marco Perez's research goal is to better understand the fundamental causes of cardiovascular disease through the study of genetics and epidemiology. His group studies the genetic variations and environmental exposures that are associated with conditions such as atrial fibrillation and heart failure. He has led the studies of atrial fibrillation in Women's Health Initiative, one of the largest nation-wide population-based cohorts. He is currently conducting a large study monitoring for silent or asymptomatic atrial fibrillation in women from the WHI randomized to exercise intervention, and was co-PI of the Apple Heart Study, a clinical trial that validated the ability of a smartwatch to detect atrial fibrillation. He is now PI of the Clinical Coordinating Center at Stanford for the REACT-AF which is a clinical trial to evaluate efficacy and safety of a "pill-in-the pocket" approach to anticoagulation for AF using a smartwatch. He is interested in understanding the paradox that atrial fibrillation is less common in African Americans and Hispanics, despite a greater burden of risk factors such as hypertension. As director of the Stanford Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic, he evaluates families with rare inherited arrhythmias associated with sudden death such as Long QT and Brugada Syndromes and explores their links with novel genes. He also studies the genetic causes of very early onset atrial fibrillation. He also studies how best to use the electrocardiogram and imaging modalities using Machine Learning techniques to identify patients at risk for cardiovascular disease. Dr. Perez receives funding from the NIH/NHLBI, Apple Inc., Janssen and the Colson Foundation.

  • Kenneth Perrone

    Kenneth Perrone

    Instructor, Surgery - General Surgery

    BioKenneth Perrone is a fellowship trained colon and rectal surgeon. His clinical practice covers a wide range of problems related to the colon, rectum, and anus. In addition to his clinical practice, conducts research in Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement center focused on quantifying physician performance using sensors.

  • Suzanne Pfeffer

    Suzanne Pfeffer

    Emma Pfeiffer Merner Professor of Medical Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe major focus of our research is to understand the molecular basis of inherited Parkinson's Disease (PD). We focus on the LRRK2 kinase that is inappropriately activated in PD and how it phosphorylates Rab GTPases, blocking the formation of primary cilia in specific regions of the brain. The absence of primary cilia renders cells unable to carry out Hedgehog signaling that is critical for neuroprotective pathways that sustain dopamine neurons.

  • Jennifer Pien MD

    Jennifer Pien MD

    Clinical Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioJennifer H. Pien is a Clinical Associate Professor through the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University. She is the Director of The Pegasus Physician Writers, Founder of The Pegasus Review, and is a founding faculty editor for the Oxford Review of Books x Stanford collaboration. She also serves on the Advisory Board for The Bellevue Literary Press and the Stanford School of Medicine Medical Humanities Fellowship. Jennifer is represented by Amy Collins of Talcott Notch. She is the author of Healing the Healers, Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming 2025 and is the Co-Founder of Hesperides Literary Agency.

    In addition to her work in Medical Humanities, her interests include advocacy for adults with developmental disabilities where she cofounded Puente Clinic through the San Mateo County Medical System, an innovative dev. disabilities subspecialty clinic. She serves on the Regional Advisory Committee to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Currently, her clinical focus is on physician well-being through the WellConnect team.

  • Russell Poldrack

    Russell Poldrack

    Albert Ray Lang Professor of Psychology and, by courtesy, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab uses the tools of cognitive neuroscience to understand how decision making, executive control, and learning and memory are implemented in the human brain. We also develop neuroinformatics tools and resources to help researchers make better sense of data.

  • Ada Poon

    Ada Poon

    Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research focuses on providing theoretical foundations and engineering platforms for realizing electronics that seamlessly integrate with the body. Such systems will allow precise recording or modulation of physiological activity, for advancing basic scientific discovery and for restoring or augmenting biological functions for clinical applications.

  • Lisa Post

    Lisa Post

    Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    BioDr. Lisa Post, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of anxiety, depression and adjustment disorders in adults. She has been a practicing clinician at Stanford Hospital and Clinics since 1993. Since 2000, she has been Director of a clinical program for Stanford Varsity Athletes and for nine years has been the Team Clinician for the San Francisco 49ers. Her primary interest are in the treatment of high performing individuals and in stress management.

  • Manu Prakash

    Manu Prakash

    Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and Associate Professor, by courtesy, of Oceans and of Biology

    BioWe use interdisciplinary approaches including theory and experiments to understand how computation is embodied in biological matter. Examples include cognition in single cell protists and morphological computing in animals with no neurons and origins of complex behavior in multi-cellular systems. Broadly, we invent new tools for studying non-model organisms with significant focus on life in the ocean - addressing fundamental questions such as how do cells sense pressure or gravity? Finally, we are dedicated towards inventing and distributing “frugal science” tools to democratize access to science (previous inventions used worldwide: Foldscope, Abuzz), diagnostics of deadly diseases like malaria and convening global citizen science communities to tackle planetary scale environmental challenges such as mosquito surveillance or plankton surveillance by citizen sailors mapping the ocean in the age of Anthropocene.

  • Carla Pugh, MD, PhD

    Carla Pugh, MD, PhD

    Thomas Krummel Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Technology Enabled Clinical Improvement (T.E.C.I.) Center is a multidisciplinary team of researchers dedicated to the design and implementation of advanced engineering technologies that facilitate data acquisition relating to clinical performance.

  • Stephen Quake

    Stephen Quake

    Lee Otterson Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering, of Applied Physics and, by courtesy, of Physics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSingle molecule biophysics, precision force measurement, micro and nano fabrication with soft materials, integrated microfluidics and large scale biological automation.

  • Jayakumar Rajadas

    Jayakumar Rajadas

    Senior Research Scientist - Basic Life, Cardiovascular Institute Operations

    BioWith over 30 years of dedicated service in therapeutic innovation, I am passionate about making high-quality, science-supported products accessible to people worldwide. Fueled by this mission, I have founded three laboratories, including the ADDReB Center at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, focusing on developing age-reversing regenerative technologies.

    My collaborative efforts have led to the creation of therapeutic molecules aimed at treating chronic conditions such as Lyme disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. I am proud to have clinically tested several of these products, with two now utilized globally.

    My research focuses on amyloid chemistry and its related diseases, and I am driven to develop anti-ageing, apelin-based therapeutic interventions.

    For a comprehensive overview of my publications, please visit Stanford Profile. https://profiles.stanford.edu/jayakumar-rajadas
    Details of my patents are here: https://patents.justia.com/inventor/jayakumar-rajadas

  • Nilam Ram

    Nilam Ram

    Professor of Communication and of Psychology

    BioNilam Ram studies the dynamic interplay of psychological and media processes and how they change from moment-to-moment and across the life span.

    Nilam’s research grows out of a history of studying change. After completing his undergraduate study of economics, he worked as a currency trader, frantically tracking and trying to predict the movement of world markets as they jerked up, down and sideways. Later, he moved on to the study of human movement, kinesiology, and eventually psychological processes - with a specialization in longitudinal research methodology. Generally, Nilam studies how short-term changes (e.g., processes such as learning, information processing, emotion regulation, etc.) develop across the life span, and how longitudinal study designs contribute to generation of new knowledge. Current projects include examinations of age-related change in children’s self- and emotion-regulation; patterns in minute-to-minute and day-to-day progression of adolescents’ and adults’ emotions; and change in contextual influences on well-being during old age. He is developing a variety of study paradigms that use recent developments in data science and the intensive data streams arriving from social media, mobile sensors, and smartphones to study change at multiple time scales.

  • Ashwin Ramayya, MD, PhD

    Ashwin Ramayya, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

    BioDr. Ramayya is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurosurgery. He specializes in the treatment of patients with chronic pain, movement disorders, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury. His research program will focus on understanding brain mechanisms underlying pain experience and how to alleviate pain using brain stimulation.

    Dr. Ramayya specializes in neuromodulation, including deep brain stimulation (DBS), spinal cord stimulation, MRI-guided laser therapy, and focused ultrasound. Dr. Ramayya obtained his MD and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, where he also completed his neurosurgery residency and a fellowship in stereotactic and functional neurosurgery.

    His research efforts have identified neural substrates underlying learning, memory, and decision-making using computational behavioral modeling, neurophysiology, and neuroimaging.

    Dr. Ramayya has published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Neuroscience, NeuroImage, and Cerebral Cortex. He has also presented his work at national and international meetings, including those for the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and the Pan Philadelphia Neurosurgery Conference.

  • Babak Razavi, MD, PhD

    Babak Razavi, MD, PhD

    Clinical Associate Professor, Adult Neurology

    BioDr. Razavi's clinical interests are in medically refractory epilepsies and using high density EEG (electroencephalogram) for better localization of seizure foci. His research areas include using advanced digital signal processing and engineering techniques for analyzing EEG and using seizures as a model for understanding consciousness.

    Dr. Razavi is the Founder and Director of DEL - Distributed EEG Lab. DEL's vision is to make EEG easy as 1, 2, 3. We turn complexity into simplicity. We are distributed in time and space. DEL was founded in the spirit of cloud computing, networking, and the notion that research in collaboration is more exciting and fruitful than in isolation. Everyone contributes - no matter how small; everyone wins - no matter how big. It was inspired by the mentorship of Dr. Kimford Meador and Dr. Robert Fisher. All you need is access to a computer and the internet.

    DEL is the ideal collaborative environment for students (undergraduate and graduate) and faculty who would like to: (1) apply ready-to-use advanced analytical techniques to test specific hypotheses in cognition, neuroscience and epilepsy, and (2) develop and test new algorithms for analyzing EEG and other biological signals.

  • Byron Reeves

    Byron Reeves

    Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication and Professor, by courtesy, of Education

    BioByron Reeves, PhD, is the Paul C. Edwards Professor of Communication at Stanford and
    Professor (by courtesy) in the Stanford School of Education. Byron has a long history of
    experimental research on the psychological processing of media, and resulting responses and
    effects. He has studied how media influence attention, memory and emotional responses and has
    applied the research in the areas of speech dialogue systems, interactive games, advanced
    displays, social robots, and autonomous cars. Byron has recently launched (with Stanford
    colleagues Nilam Ram and Thomas Robinson) the Human Screenome Project (Nature, 2020),
    designed to collect moment-by-moment changes in technology use across applications, platforms
    and screens.

    At Stanford, Byron has been Director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information,
    and Co-Director of the H-STAR Institute (Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced
    Research), and he was the founding Director of mediaX at Stanford, a university-industry
    program launched in 2001 to facilitate discussion and research at the intersection of academic
    and applied interests. Byron has worked at Microsoft Research and with several technology
    startups, and has been involved with media policy at the FTC, FCC, US Congress and White
    House. He is an elected Fellow of the International Communication Association, and recipient of ICA Fellows book award for The Media Equation (with Prof. Clifford Nass), and the Novim Foundation Epiphany Science and Society Award. Byron’s PhD in Communication is from Michigan State University.