Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI)
Showing 41-60 of 211 Results
-
Patricia Dionicio
Postdoctoral Scholar, Pediatric Anesthesia
BioPatricia Dionicio, PhD, MPH is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine in the School of Medicine at Stanford University. Her research aims to reduce health disparities in pain among underserved populations through human-centered design and digital interventions. She has expertise in integrating mixed methods with longitudinal assessment tools to understand systemic and momentary factors impacting health behavior.
-
Chunyang Dong
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioChunyang Dong completed his Ph.D. studies from University of California, Davis with Dr. Lin Tian, where he specialized in protein engineering to develop genetically encoded biosensors to enable real-time imaging of neuromodulator dynamics. As part of his postdoctoral pursuits with Dr. Sergiu Pasca at Stanford University, he hopes to combine disciplines between biosensors and modeling human neurological disease using brain region-specific organoids. Despite this shift, his unwavering goal is to deepen the understanding of brain development, disease processes, and translate research to potential treatments for neurological disorders.
-
Ifeanyichukwu Emmanuel Eke
Postdoctoral Scholar, Pathology
BioI am a chemical biologist with a broad interest in defining the mechanisms-of-action of novel compounds that can be used as potential drugs or diagnostic probes for different bacterial and viral infections. In addition to my flair for research, I am passionate about teaching, mentorship, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
-
Emily Ferguson, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioEmily Ferguson, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral academic researcher and clinician within Stanford University’s Autism and Developmental Disorders Research Program (https://med.stanford.edu/autism.html) within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She earned her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara and completed her clinical internship at the University of California Los Angeles. Dr. Ferguson's research focuses on advancing understanding of mechanisms of challenging behaviors in autistic youth and adults to inform treatment development. Her work takes a comprehensive perspective, integrating methods from implementation science to improve the accessibility and quality of clinical care for underserved autistic populations, especially those with higher support needs (or "profound autism"). She is also interested in developing methods to improve self-regulation in individuals with profound autism to effectively manage self-injurious behaviors and aggression. Dr. Ferguson is currently supporting research in the Preschool Autism Lab (https://med.stanford.edu/autismcenter/pre-school-autism-lab-program.html), and exploring profiles of challenging behaviors with the Program for Psychometrics and Measurement-Based Care (https://med.stanford.edu/sppmc.html) in a diverse range of autistic and non-autistic youth to inform treatment approaches.
-
Lorenzo Ferrari
Postdoctoral Scholar, Cardiothoracic Surgery
BioLorenzo Ferrari, PhD, is a biomedical engineer interested in cardiovascular flows and in developing benchtop systems for in vitro evaluation of cardiac devices. His current postdoctoral research in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University focuses on simulating and testing transcatheter valves implanted in the right ventricular outflow tract using 4D Flow MRI, working with Doff B. McElhinney, Daniel B. Ennis, and Alison L. Marsden. He obtained his PhD summa cum laude in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Bern, where he investigated the influence of heart valve design and size under different hemodynamic conditions using particle velocimetry techniques. During his PhD, he completed a secondment at the University of Twente in the Physics of Fluids group at the Max Planck Center for Complex Fluid Dynamics, collaborating with Michel Versluis and Guillaume Lajoinie to assess the stability of flow fields past valve prostheses.
-
Dorien Feyaerts
Instructor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsBiomedical scientist and immunologist with a strong background in fetal-maternal immunology that aims to conduct impactful translational research in women’s health to improve the health of mothers and their children.
-
Adina S. Fischer, MD, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
BioDr. Fischer’s research focuses on characterizing risk and resilience factors in depression. She has been awarded an NIH Career Development Award (K23) and Klingenstein Foundation Fellowship in Adolescent Depression to build her program of clinical and translational research at Stanford. Dr. Fischer's program of clinical care focused on the delivery and teaching of evidence-based clinical interventions that enhance resilience, with a focus on addressing the unique stressors encountered in academia and academic medicine that may contribute to risk and resilience in mood and anxiety disorders.
Dr. Fischer’s translational program of research focuses on:
(1) Improving our understanding of protective biomarkers of resilience to depression
(2) Characterizing the effects of cannabis on neurobiological function and depressive symptoms
(3) Developing neurobiologically-guided interventions for depressive disorders, particularly those that co-occur with cannabis and other substance use
Dr. Fischer earned her BSc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, where she conducted research in the Early Childhood Cognition Laboratory. She then completed the MD/PhD Program at Dartmouth, where she obtained her PhD in in Neuroscience. Dr. Fischer’s doctoral research focused on characterizing the acute effects of cannabis in patients with schizophrenia and co-occurring cannabis use disorder. She then completed the Stanford Psychiatry Residency Training Program as a member of the Research Track, and an NIH funded T-32 postdoctoral research fellowship within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. -
Daiana Fornes
Postdoctoral Scholar, Pulmonary
BioDaiana Fornes is a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, supported by a Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her research centers on reproductive biology and pregnancy disorders, with a particular focus on uterine contractility, preterm labor, and uterine atony. She investigates calcium signaling pathways, including the role of TRPV4 ion channels, to identify novel therapeutic strategies aimed at improving maternal health outcomes.
Daiana earned her PhD from the University of Buenos Aires, where she studied metabolic alterations during pregnancy and their effects on fetal development. Her training has provided her with a strong foundation in translational research, with extensive experience in experimental design, molecular biology, and the analysis of signaling pathways. -
Jenna Forsyth
Director, Project Unleaded, Human and Planetary Health
BioJenna Forsyth, PhD, is an interdisciplinary environmental health scientist. She has focused on lead exposure research for 10 years and currently oversees the research portfolio for Project Unleaded - an initiative to identify and mitigate priority sources of lead poisoning globally, with an emphasis in South Asia. Based on her team’s discovery and effort to address lead poisoning from turmeric in Bangladesh, she was named one of the 100 most influential people in Global Health by Time Magazine in 2024. Prior to studying lead contamination and poisoning, she spent nearly 10 years addressing global and environmental health problems from contaminants in the air, water, soil, and food. Her work has been featured in The Economist, The Washington Post, Vox, The Scientist, Undark, Think Global Health, Environmental Health News, Stanford Medicine, Effective Altruism and other outlets. She holds a PhD in Environment and Resources from Stanford University and a Master’s of Science in Engineering and Certificate in Global Health from the University of Washington.
-
Elias Roth Gerrick
Member, Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI)
BioEli received his B.S. in Microbiology and Immunology from U.C. Irvine in 2013, where he worked in the lab of Dr. Celia Goulding. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2018 in the lab of Dr. Sarah Fortune, where he studied post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Eli joined the Howitt lab at Stanford in the summer of 2018, where he is studying the influence of protozoan members of the microbiome on intestinal immunity.
-
Ruth Margaret Gibson
Visiting Scholar, Medicine - Primary Care and Population Health
Affiliate, Pediatrics - NeonatologyBioDr. Ruth Gibson, PhD, is a scholar at Stanford University. She holds appointments at the Center for Innovation and Global Health (CIGH) and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). Dr. Gibson’s research focuses on war, blockades, and sanctions and their impacts on maternal and child health. Her expertise is in geopolitically complex regions of the world, crises, and what all of this means for human health.
Dr. Gibson’s research is published in internationally renowned outlets such as The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health. She publishes research on issues such as foreign aid withdrawal and impacts on mothers and children, humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and sanctions against Iran. Her insights have been highlighted by The New York Times, The New Yorker, and TIME. Dr. Gibson responds quickly to producers, journalists, and media outlets seeking expert analysis of critical issues in war, peace, and human lives.
She is currently co-leading a Lancet Series on Global Health and Foreign Engagement with Professor Gary Darmstadt. She leads worldwide international panels on critical issues in global health – geopolitical crisis and their impacts on health – through the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) and Stanford’s CIGH. Dr. Gibson collaborates with the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights to develop a universal monitoring system to assess the impact of sanctions on human rights. Her research has been cited in UN General Assembly meetings. She also worked on war crimes investigations with the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab and on the International Criminal Court's prosecution of war crimes.
Dr. Gibson spent a decade working internationally, engaging in humanitarian and global health initiatives across eight countries on five continents – including conflict zones. Dr. Gibson is fluent in English and proficient in Mandarin Chinese (如詩 吉布森), French, and Spanish. She holds a postdoctoral fellowship from Stanford University, a PhD from the University of British Columbia, an Honors Bachelor of Science, and a Master of Science from the University of Toronto.
Dr. Gibson can be reached at rmgibson@stanford.edu
https://drruthgibson.com/ -
Jen Haensel
Basic Life Research Scientist, Ophthalmology Research/Clinical Trials
BioI am a Research Scientist in the Roberts Vision Development & Oculomotor Lab at Stanford University’s Department of Ophthalmology, working at the intersection of vision science, neuroscience, and experimental psychology. My current research uses eye-tracking, photorefraction, and psychophysics to study oculomotor development and visual function in amblyopia, strabismus, and concussion. I also work on developing methodology to record accommodative measurements and gaze behaviour in dynamic, naturalistic settings.
I completed my PhD in Experimental Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London (UK), where I used advanced eye-tracking techniques to study the influence of postnatal experience on social gaze behaviour. Prior to joining Stanford, I also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bath (UK), developing empirical human-robot interaction studies to inform the ethical design of humanoid robots.
