Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI)


Showing 1-20 of 68 Results

  • Alexander D. Kaiser

    Alexander D. Kaiser

    Instructor, Cardiothoracic Surgery

    BioAlexander Kaiser, PhD, is an applied mathematician and computational scientist who researches modeling and simulation of heart valves, focused on congenital heart valve disease and its surgical treatment. His recent research explores simulation-guided design of aortic valve repair of complex congenital heart defects. He has developed novel, nearly first-principles modeling methods for heart valves called elasticity-based design. These methods produce robust and realistic flows in fluid-structure interaction simulations. Dr. Kaiser is an Instructor in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University working with Michael Ma and Alison Marsden. He completed his PhD in Mathematics with Charles Peskin at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, where he was awarded the Kurt O. Friedrichs Prize for Outstanding Dissertation in Mathematics.

  • Pooja Kakar

    Pooja Kakar

    Member, Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAs a breastfeeding medicine physician, I am passionate about advocating for mother-infant dyads and supporting their breastfeeding journeys. Additionally, I am interested studying and addressing disparities in initiation and duration of breastfeeding, particularly in lower-resourced populations, by building and advancing community partnerships.

    I am also interested in the use of digital health tools to advance upstream determinants of health in community-based settings. My current funded research projects include: 1) Providing a telehealth-based, weight control program to children with obesity from lower-income, racial and ethnic minority families (Gardner GOALS) and 2) Assessing and addressing disparities in healthy behaviors in families from under-resourced settings through the use of a secure, multilingual mobile neighborhood app (Our Voice: Beyond Clinic Walls).

  • Julia Kaltschmidt

    Julia Kaltschmidt

    Professor of Neurosurgery

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe lab’s primary research interest is to understand how specific neuronal circuits are established. We use mouse genetics, combinatorial immunochemical labeling and high-resolution laser scanning microscopy to identify, manipulate, and quantitatively analyze synaptic contacts within the complex neuronal milieu of the spinal cord and the enteric nervous system.

  • Matthew Kanan

    Matthew Kanan

    Professor of Chemistry and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy

    BioMatt Kanan is a Professor of Chemistry and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford. Matt’s research group works across multiple fields of chemistry and engineering with applications for sustainable plastics, critical mineral recovery, and carbon management. Their work has led to several inventions in these areas, including new performance-advantaged bioplastics, electrochemical systems to recycle acid and base, metal-free catalysts for C1 transformations, and thermal mineral conversion processes. Matt is the co-founder of ReSource Chemical Corp., an Oakland-based start-up commercializing manufacturing technology developed in his lab, and Mafix, Inc., a spin-out developing mineral fertilizers that remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty in 2009, Matt did his Ph.D. studies in organic chemistry at Harvard and postdoctoral research at MIT in inorganic chemistry. He earned his B.A. in chemistry from Rice University in 2000.

  • Cynthia Kapphahn

    Cynthia Kapphahn

    Clinical Professor, Pediatrics - Adolescent Medicine

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAccess to health care services for adolescents.
    Confidentiality.
    Mental Health Financing.
    Eating disorders.

  • Ioannis Karakikes

    Ioannis Karakikes

    Associate Professor (Research) of Cardiothoracic Surgery

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Karakikes Lab aims to uncover fundamental new insights into the molecular mechanisms and functional consequences of pathogenic mutations associated with familial cardiovascular diseases.

  • Siva Kasinathan

    Siva Kasinathan

    Instructor, Pediatrics - Rheumatology

    BioSiva Kasinathan, MD, PhD is a physician-scientist and Instructor of Pediatric Rheumatology at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. In addition to caring for children and young adults with rheumatic diseases in his clinical practice, Siva conducts research to advance the understanding of mechanisms of autoimmunity and autoinflammation.

    Siva holds an MD and PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Washington, where he developed several high-throughput methods for epigenome profiling and contributed new insights in chromatin biology and gene regulation. During his clinical training in pediatrics and rheumatology at Stanford, Siva pioneered approaches for single-molecule analysis of genetic variation, DNA methylation, and chromatin structure, and established a longitudinal rheumatic disease cohort and biorepository.

    Siva’s current research bridges genomics and immunology with a focus on developing and applying sensitive technologies to unravel the genetic and molecular underpinnings of lupus, arthritis, and other immune-mediated diseases. As a physician-scientist, Siva is committed to translating fundamental discoveries into precision therapies and biomarkers to improve outcomes for patients with rheumatic diseases.

  • Maya M. Kasowski

    Maya M. Kasowski

    Assistant Professor of Pathology, of Medicine (Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine) and, by courtesy, of Genetics

    BioI am a clinical pathologist and assistant professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pathology, and Genetics (by courtesy) at Stanford. I completed my MD-PhD training at Yale University and my residency training and a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University. My experiences as a clinical pathologist and genome scientist have made me passionate about applying cutting-edge technologies to primary patient specimens in order to characterize disease pathologies at the molecular level. The core focus of my lab is to study the mechanisms by which genetic variants influence the risk of disease through effects on intermediate molecular phenotypes.

  • Makoto Kawai

    Makoto Kawai

    Clinical Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Sleep Medicine

    BioI am a physician scientist in the field of sleep medicine in aging and brain function. Using combined polysomnogram and novel neuroimaging technology, I aim to identify potential sleep biomarkers to investigate the mechanism of progression from normal aging to Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or dementia. I also investigate the impact of sleep on cognitive/affective function or behavior abnormality in various neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.

  • Mark A. Kay, M.D., Ph.D.

    Mark A. Kay, M.D., Ph.D.

    Dennis Farrey Family Professor of Pediatrics, and Professor of Genetics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMark A. Kay, M.D., Ph.D. Director of the Program in Human Gene Therapy and Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Genetics. Respected worldwide for his work in gene therapy for hemophilia, Dr. Kay and his laboratory focus on establishing the scientific principles and developing the technologies needed for achieving persistent and therapeutic levels of gene expression in vivo. The major disease models are hemophilia, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B viral infections.

  • Debra Lee Kaysen

    Debra Lee Kaysen

    Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Public Mental Health and Population Sciences)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMuch of my current research focus is on the development of testing of accessible, scaleable, and effective treatments for trauma-related disorders and related comorbidities (e.g. substance use disorders, HIV, mood disorders). This work has focused on addressing trauma-related disorders especially in underserved populations and settings. This includes research in rural communities, with Native American communities, and with sexual minorities. My research has had a strong impact on building an evidence base on adaptations of psychotherapies for PTSD and substance use disorders for diverse populations both within and outside the United States. Our findings demonstrate that complex cognitive behavioral psychotherapies like Cognitive Processing Therapy can be culturally adapted and delivered in challenging settings (conflict settings, high poverty environments) with significant and lasting change in PTSD, depression, and functioning. This has led to work adapting CPT for diverse populations within the United States (rural Native Americans, urban Latinos) and outside of it (Iraq, DRC). Other research has focused on treatment for PTSD/SUD. My research has also found support for the use of brief telehealth interventions to build treatment engagement and to reduce drinking among trauma-exposed populations. In addition, my work has been critical in testing the feasibility of novel trauma-focused interventions for use by those with PTSD and SUD, thus paving the road for more rigorous research studies.

    Current PI'ed research studies include: 1) developing and evaluating a brief motivational interviewing intervention designed to increase treatment-seeking among military personnel with untreated PTSD; a two-arm randomized comparative effectiveness trial to evaluate prevention of HIV/STI sexual risk behavior by addressing PTSD through Narrative Exposure Therapy or substance use through Motivational Interviewing among Native American men and women with PTSD; and 3) a comparison of outcomes among patients randomized to initially receive pharmacotherapy or Written Exposure Therapy delivered in primary care as well as comparing outcomes among patients randomized to treatment sequences (i.e., switching and augmenting) for patients who do not respond to the initial treatment.