Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI)
Showing 51-60 of 211 Results
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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.
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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.
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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 television 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, 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.
