School of Medicine
Showing 11-20 of 36 Results
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Christin S Kuo
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Pulmonary Medicine)
BioDr. Kuo is a physician-scientist with expertise in single-cell genomics and pulmonary medicine. She has made pioneering contributions to pulmonary neuroendocrine cell (PNEC) biology by developing innovative strategies that established the first comprehensive framework for understanding the molecular and cellular diversity of normal PNECs and their roles in health and disease. Her discoveries have laid the foundation for this emerging field and her contributions are recognized internationally.
PNECs are exceedingly rare lung epithelial cells with specialized airway sensory, secretory, and stem cell functions. These neurosensory cells are thought to monitor airway oxygen, chemicals, mechanical deformation, infection, and injury, and serve as sentinels that signal this sensory information locally in the lung, to the brain through synapses with pulmonary sensory neurons and potentially globally throughout the body via secretion of myriad local signals and hormones. PNECs are also known to play critical roles in the control of breathing, cough, and respiratory physiology. Among their diverse physiologic functions, their response to injury has been most intensively studied in murine models and they are a cell of origin for high grade lung neuroendocrine tumors.
Dr. Kuo performed the first comprehensive anatomical mapping and lineage tracing studies of PNECs in mice which generated a foundational understanding of PNEC development (Kuo and Krasnow, Cell 2015). She also led single cell transcriptomic profiling studies that revealed a surprising diversity in PNEC sensors and signals (Kuo et al, eLife 2022). PNECs express over 25 different sensory receptor genes ("sensors") and over 40 different neuropeptide and peptide hormone genes ("signals"). Her scRNA-seq analysis of PNECs revealed a remarkable number and diversity of PNEC neuropeptide signals and their predicted cellular targets both within the lung and to innervating sensory neurons (Kuo et al., 2022, eLife).
In contrast to the advanced understanding of PNEC development, stem cell, and signaling function in mouse, little is known about human PNECs. To compare the findings of PNEC development, diversity, and function in mouse models to human diseases, her lab recently established a platform to systematically construct a human PNEC atlas. This foundational work created a molecular and anatomic framework for the entire human pulmonary neuroendocrine system and the diseases that are predicted to originate from distinct PNECs. Her lab has recently used this new PNEC atlas combined with single cell transcriptomic approaches to identify the molecular diversity of anatomically and functionally distinct human PNECs.
Dr. Kuo's studies with human models extends her lab’s current research aims to define the diverse neuroendocrine sensory and signaling interactions and the molecules that mediate them to their roles in lung cancer, neuroendocrine proliferative disorders such as diffuse idiopathic neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia (DIPNECH), neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia of infancy (NEHI) and major inflammatory and obstructive pulmonary diseases. Dr. Kuo’s lab engages a network of collaborators to develop and implement clinical protocols and strategically apply cutting-edge technologies to studying minor, but physiologically diverse airway sentinels.
Please visit the research website for additional information and current research areas (https://kuo.stanford.edu). -
John D. Mark
Clinical Professor, Pediatrics - Pulmonary Medicine
BioDr. Mark received his medical degree from the University of Kansas and completed his residency in pediatrics at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. He then completed a fellowship in pediatric pulmonary medicine at the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. In 1984, Dr. Mark completed the first fellowship in Pediatric Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona om 2001. He practices at Packard Children’s Hospital where he utilizes non-pharmaceutical approaches with patients with chronic pulmonary disorders such asthma and cystic fibrosis. He is interested in nutrition, lifestyle changes, exercise and mind/body approaches to healing in an effort to decrease dependence on medication and improve overall lung health.
Dr. Mark is the past Program Director for the Pediatric Pulmonary fellowship program, Co-Director for the Pediatric Integrative Medicine fellowship program and the Medical Director for the Coordinating and Optimizing Resources Effectively (CORE) Program at Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford University. This innovative program assists with care coordination and communication with all health care providers for children with complex medical needs. Dr. Mark is also the Chair of the Credentials Committee at Packard Children's Hospital. -
Carlos Milla
Professor of Pediatrics (Pulmonary Medicine) and, by courtesy, of Medicine (Pulmonary, Allergy 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.
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Esmeralda Morales
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatrics - Pulmonary Medicine
BioEsmeralda Morales, MD is a Board-Certified Pediatric Pulmonologist who earned her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. She completed her subspecialty training in Pediatric Pulmonology at the University of Arizona/Arizona Respiratory Center known for its excellence in asthma care and research. She practiced in the southwestern United States for 7 years including a year as Interim Chief of the Pediatric Pulmonary Division at the University of New Mexico and was a former University of New Mexico Cystic Fibrosis Center Director, as well as co-chair of the New Mexico Council on Asthma. She has been a member of the Pediatric Pulmonary Division through the Stanford University School of Medicine for the past 7 years and is leading asthma clinical efforts in the division. Her main areas of interest are childhood asthma, aerodigestive disorders in children, respiratory disorders in children with complex healthcare needs and the care of historically marginalized patient populations.
