Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI)


Showing 251-260 of 996 Results

  • Neir Eshel, MD, PhD

    Neir Eshel, MD, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Major Laboratories & Clinical Translational Neurosciences Incubator)

    BioDr. Eshel (he/him/his) is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine.

    His clinical focus is the full-spectrum mental health care of sexual and gender minorities, with particular interest in depression, anxiety, and the complex effects of trauma in this population. He works in collaboration with other primary care and mental health providers at the Stanford LGBTQ+ program.

    His research interests (www.staarlab.com) include the use of optogenetic, electrophysiological, neuroimaging, and behavioral approaches to probe the neural circuits of reward processing, decision making, and social behavior. He has won multi-year grants from the National Institutes of Health, Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, One Mind Foundation, Sergey Brin Family Foundation, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, and Simons Foundation to further his research.

    Dr. Eshel has published articles on the behavioral roles for dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine; the neuroscience of irritability, depression, and addiction; LGBTQ health; and the mechanism of transcranial magnetic stimulation. His work has appeared in Nature, Science, Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, Annual Review of Neuroscience, JAMA, JAMA Psychiatry, Neuropsychopharmacology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the Journal of Neuroscience, among other leading journals. He is a co-inventor on a patent for a new class of drugs for addiction, and also the author of the book Learning: The Science Inside, a publication of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

    He has delivered presentations on the neural circuits of motivated behavior, anger expression in patients with PTSD, how dopamine facilitates learning, and LGBTQ-related topics at keynotes and invited seminars in >10 countries. He is also an associate editor of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, and an ad-hoc reviewer for numerous publications including Nature, Science, Neuron, Nature Communications, JAMA Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, and Current Biology.

    Dr. Eshel has won honors for his scholarship and advocacy, including the Marshall Scholarship, the One Mind Rising Star Award, the Outstanding Resident Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Science and SciLifeLab Grand Prize for Young Scientists, the Freedman Award (honorable mention) from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Polymath Award from Stanford's psychiatry department, and the National LGBT Health Achievement Award.

    He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, Association of Gay & Lesbian Psychiatrists, Society for Neuroscience, and other professional associations. He is also an advocate for LGBTQ rights, recently serving as the chair of Stanford's LGBTQ+ Benefits Advocacy Committee.

    Prior to Stanford, Dr. Eshel trained and conducted research at the National Institutes of Health, Princeton University, the World Health Organization, University College London, and Harvard University.

  • Carlos O. Esquivel, M.D., Ph.D.,FACS

    Carlos O. Esquivel, M.D., Ph.D.,FACS

    Arnold and Barbara Silverman Professor in Pediatric Transplantation and Professor of Surgery (Abdominal Transplantation) and of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition)

    Current Research and Scholarly Interests1) Induction of immunotolerance
    2) Rejection of liver and intestinal transplantation.
    3) Clinical outcomes of children with unresectable liver tumors.

  • Titilola Falasinnu

    Titilola Falasinnu

    Assistant Professor of Medicine (Immunology and Rheumatology) and, by courtesy, of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (Adult Pain)

    BioI am primarily a lupus researcher and identify as a pain scientist and methodologist in this field. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disproportionately affects women and racial minorities and is the fifth most common cause of death among 15- to 24-year-old Black and Hispanic women in the U.S., highlighting its significant public health impact. More than half of patients with SLE experience chronic pain, often secondary to SLE itself or overlapping conditions (e.g., migraines, low back pain, fibromyalgia), contributing significantly to disability and impaired quality of life. Chronic pain is not merely a symptom but a disease in its own right—one that deserves the same rigorous study and clinical attention as comorbidities like kidney disease and cardiovascular disease in rheumatology. The enormous global burden of chronic pain underscores the urgent need for a clear, standardized definition of pain as a disease, particularly in autoimmune rheumatic diseases where pain can arise from inflammatory, nociplastic, and biopsychosocial mechanisms. Without recognizing pain as a distinct disease entity, its mechanisms remain poorly understood, and effective treatment strategies remain underdeveloped.

    I am a co-Principal Investigator of the Pain Intelligence Lab, where our mission is to advance the study of pain as a disease in rheumatology through two primary objectives. First, we develop and validate computational methods that enable clinicians and researchers to leverage electronic health records, administrative claims, and disease registries to study chronic pain as a distinct disease entity in rheumatology. By applying machine learning, natural language processing, and real-world data analysis, we seek to enhance pain phenotyping, classify distinct pain subtypes, and develop predictive models for treatment response. Second, we use a biopsychosocial framework to examine the predictive power of biomarkers and psychosocial measures in rheumatologic pain. By integrating biological, psychological, and social determinants of pain, we aim to conduct rigorous, patient-oriented research that translates targeted assessments into mechanistically informed, personalized treatment approaches for optimized clinical care. Ultimately, my long term career goal is to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice, ensuring that pain management in autoimmune rheumatic diseases is precise, equitable, and optimized for improved patient outcomes.

  • Ryann Fame, PhD

    Ryann Fame, PhD

    Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEarly neural progenitors respond to extrinsic cues that maintain and support their potency. These stem/ progenitor cells are in direct contact with the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which acts as part of their niche. Our research program encompasses the early neural stem cell niche, neural tube closure, CSF, metabolism, and cortical neuronal development. We are dedicated to broad collaboration focused on translating an understanding of neurodevelopment and CSF biology into regenerative strategies.

  • Rongxin Fang

    Rongxin Fang

    Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and, by courtesy, of Genetics

    BioRongxin Fang received his Ph.D. in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology from the University of California, San Diego, under the mentorship of Bing Ren (2015–2019). During his doctoral training, he developed high-throughput genomic technologies and computational tools to map the structure and activity of the mammalian genome at large scale and single-cell resolution. He then applied these approaches to investigate how cis-regulatory elements - such as enhancers - control gene expression and drive the diverse transcriptional programs underlying cellular diversity in the mammalian brain. As an HHMI–Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University (2019–2024), he worked with Xiaowei Zhuang. Rongxin developed and applied genome-scale, volumetric 3D transcriptome imaging methods to map the molecular and cellular architecture of the mammalian brain across evolution and aging. He also contributed to the collaboration with Adam Cohen and Catherine Dulac to integrate transcriptome imaging with functional neuronal imaging, identifying neuronal populations in the animal brain that underlie specific brain functions.

  • Jeffrey A. Feinstein, MD, MPH

    Jeffrey A. Feinstein, MD, MPH

    Dunlevie Family Professor of Pulmonary Vascular Disease and Professor, by courtesy, of Bioengineering

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch interests include (1) computer simulation and modeling of cardiovascular physiology with specific attention paid to congenital heart disease and its treatment, (2) the evaluation and treatment of pulmonary hypertension/pulmonary vascular diseases, and (3) development and testing of medical devices/therapies for the treatment of congenital heart disease and pulmonary vascular diseases.

  • Heidi M. Feldman

    Heidi M. Feldman

    Ballinger-Swindells Endowed Professor of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy current research program focuses on infants born preterm, before 32 weeks gestation from two language environments: English and Spanish. The study considers how neurobiological factors, specifically properties of the white matter circuits in the brain, interact with social, psychological, and economic factors to predict language processing efficiency at 18 months of age.

  • Dean W. Felsher

    Dean W. Felsher

    Professor of Medicine (Oncology) and of Pathology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy laboratory studies the molecular basis of cancer with a focus on understanding when cancer can be reversed through targeted oncogene inactivation.