Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI)


Showing 41-60 of 68 Results

  • Seung K. Kim  M.D., Ph.D.

    Seung K. Kim M.D., Ph.D.

    KM Mulberry Professor, Professor of Developmental Biology, of Medicine (Endocrinology) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics (Endocrinology)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe study the development of pancreatic islet cells using molecular, embryologic and genetic methods in several model systems, including mice, pigs, human pancreas, embryonic stem cells, and Drosophila. Our work suggests that critical factors required for islet development are also needed to maintain essential functions of the mature islet. These approaches have informed efforts to generate replacement islets from renewable sources for diabetes.

  • Yong Yean Kim

    Yong Yean Kim

    Assistant Professor of Pediatrics ( Hematology & Oncology)

    BioOur lab is interested in translational science to bring new therapies to clinical trials. In particular, we are interested in pediatric sarcomas which have not had advancement in clinical treatment for decades. Current projects in the lab focus on understanding of the biology of fusion transcription factor PAX3::FOXO1 which is the driver mutation in fusion positive rhabdomyosarcoma. PAX3::FOXO1 is a powerful oncogenic transcription factor which rewires the transcriptional organization to lock the cancer cell in the proliferative state. Since transcription factors including PAX3::FOXO1 are difficult to target using small molecules, we aim to understand how PAX3::FOXO1 is regulated and targeting the regulators of PAX3::FOXO1. By understanding and targeting the regulation of PAX3::FOXO1, we hope to bring new therapies for fusion positive rhabdomyosarcoma. Additionally, these regulatory mechanisms may also be active in other transcription driven cancers such as the EWSR1::FLI1 driven Ewings Sarcoma.

    Our lab is also interested in exploring the epigenetic landscape of pediatric solid tumors and trying to understand how dysregulation in the epigenome drives oncogenesis. We utilize various CRISPR mediated genetic techniques to interrogate the regulators of epigenome focusing on the histone lysine demethylases (KDMs). KDMs are an understudied group of epigenetic regulators which can be targeted for therapeutic effect. We explore the role of KDMs in pediatric solid tumors and hope to identify potential targets for drug development.

  • Alaina Kipps

    Alaina Kipps

    Clinical Professor, Pediatrics - Cardiology

    BioDr. Kipps grew up in Santa Cruz, California and completed her medical degree at Harvard Medical School in 2003. After general pediatrics residency at Stanford, she completed pediatric cardiology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital from 2006 to 2009. After three years on faculty with University of California, San Francisco she was recruited back to Stanford in 2012 to become the medical director for acute care cardiology (2013-2021). Since 2021 she has focused on QI for the ACCU and heart center, and has served as the ACCU local improvement team medical director since 2013. In 2014 she co-founded the Pediatric Acute Care Cardiology Collaborative (PAC³) with Nicolas Madsen and co-directed this since inception to spring 2026. PAC³ has 50 participating centers, a registry since 2019 with >150,000 encounters, and is the academic society for the ACCU subspecialty. Her academic focus is in clinical effectiveness and quality improvement science, and she completed her Masters of Science in Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in 2016. Her other significant interest is in teaching, mentorship, and coaching. She is the co-director of the Pediatric residency program scholarly concentration in Quality Improvement, co-leads the Pediatric department peer scholar community (in QI), and has served as a residency coach since 2020.

  • Varvara A. Kirchner

    Varvara A. Kirchner

    Associate Professor of Surgery (Abdominal Transplantation) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics

    BioDr. Kirchner completed her medical school, surgical residency and multi-organ transplant fellowship in adult and pediatric liver, pancreas, kidney transplantation and total pancreatectomy with islet auto-transplantation at the University of Minnesota. She underwent further training in living donor liver transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery at the Asan Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea. Her clinical practice involves living and deceased donor liver and kidney transplantation in adult and pediatric patients as well as total pancreatectomy with islet auto-transplantation for patients with chronic and acute recurrent pancreatitis. She currently serves as Surgical Director of the Islet Cell Auto-Transplant at Stanford Children’s and Associate Director of the Living Donor Liver Transplant Program at the Division of Abdominal Transplantation. Dr. Kirchner’s research focuses on the biology of aging, cellular and solid organ transplantation. Her specific interests are in auto-islet transplantation, iPSC-derived hepatocyte therapies and liver regeneration. Dr. Kirchner's research on the impact of donor age on generation of iPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cells is supported by the NIA K08 Faculty Development Award. She is an active member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the International Liver Transplantation Society.

  • Jonathan D Klein

    Jonathan D Klein

    Marron and Mary Elizabeth Kendrick Professor of Pediatrics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy studies address:
    1. Confidentiality and Access to Care studies of confidential time during well-visits and policy analyses addressing quality of care and health systems capacity for adolescents and young adults in the US and globally; and,
    2, Tobacco, nicotine, and second-hand smoke studies of primary care counseling to reduce nicotine addiction in adolescents and programs to engage medical specialty groups in secondhand smoke clinical and policy interventions.

  • Teri Klein

    Teri Klein

    Professor (Research) of Biomedical Data Science, of Medicine (BMIR) and, by courtesy, of Genetics
    On Partial Leave from 01/16/2026 To 12/18/2026

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCo-founder, Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing
    NIEHS, Site Visit Reviewer
    NIH, Study Section Reviewer

  • Joshua W. Knowles

    Joshua W. Knowles

    Associate Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsGenetic basis of coronary disease
    Genetic basis of insulin resistance
    Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH)

  • Juliet Klasing Knowles

    Juliet Klasing Knowles

    Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences (Pediatric Neurology) and of Pediatrics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Knowles lab studies how white matter structure changes in different forms of epilepsy, and how aberrant white matter structure, in turn, shapes neuronal network function. In mouse models, we use a variety of innovative tools including neurophysiology, quantitative EEG, behavior, histological measures of white matter structure and MR imaging. We also conduct clinical research to study white matter abnormalities in children with epilepsy.

  • Justin M Ko, MD, MBA

    Justin M Ko, MD, MBA

    Clinical Professor, Dermatology

    BioJustin Ko joined Stanford Medicine in 2012. He is a Clinical Professor and Associate Chair of Clinical Affairs in the Department of Dermatology and Chief of Dermatology at Stanford Healthcare where he spearheads the dermatology department's clinical enterprise including efforts around digital health, network development, quality and value-based care. He also holds health system leadership roles within Stanford Medicine including as Associate Chief Quality Officer and physician lead of Patient Experience and Ambulatory Access. Justin is a clinical expert in skin cancer and melanoma as well as alopecia areata and hair loss disorders, and is a leader and researcher in the areas of care delivery innovation and Artificial/Augmented Intelligence.

    His passion for melanoma, early cancer detection, and improving care delivery drives his efforts and research around leveraging advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence to increase the breadth of populations that can be reached. He developed and runs a digital care delivery program at SHC, providing virtual visits for patients and remote consultations for referring clinicians. He conducts research on and engages in collaborations around interventions that layer advances in machine learning on digital health capabilities to enhance access, quality and value of dermatologic care and is a co-founder and co-leader of the Stanford Translational AI in Dermatology (TRAIND) group. He co-founded and chaired the American Academy of Dermatology's (AAD) Committee on Augmented Intelligence and has served as chair of the AAD's Health Information Technology Committee.

    Dr. Ko has also been driven to find new treatments for alopecia areata, an immune-mediated condition that can progress to total hair loss through various clinical trials and translational research efforts. He sits on the clinical research advisory board of the National Alopecia Areata Foundation and is a co-founder of the Skin Innovation and Interventional Research Group (SIIRG) which conducts clinical and translational research on skin disease.

    He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and worked in investment banking; mergers and acquisitions at JP Morgan before going on to earn a combined medical and business degree at Tufts University. During medical school, he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. Dr. Ko then performed his residency at the Harvard Dermatology Residency Training Program where he served as chief resident.

  • Brian Kobilka

    Brian Kobilka

    Hélène Irwin Fagan Chair of Cardiology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsStructure, function and physiology of adrenergic receptors.

  • Eric Kool

    Eric Kool

    George A. and Hilda M. Daubert Professor of Chemistry

    Current Research and Scholarly Interests• Design of cell-permeable reagents for profiling, modifying, and controlling RNAs
    • Developing fluorescent probes of DNA repair pathways, with applications in cancer, aging, and neurodegenerative disease
    • Discovery and development of small-molecule modulators of DNA repair enzymes, with focus on cancer and inflammation

  • Ron Kopito

    Ron Kopito

    Professor of Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur laboratory use state-of-the-art cell biological, genetic and systems-level approaches to understand how proteins are correctly synthesized, folded and assembled in the mammalian secretory pathway, how errors in this process are detected and how abnormal proteins are destroyed by the ubiquitin-proteasome system.

  • Izabela Kowalczyk

    Izabela Kowalczyk

    Postdoctoral Scholar, Developmental Biology

    BioDr. Izabela Kowalczyk is a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Sarah Bowling, Department of Developmental Biology. She is studying embryonic development, with a focus on heart valve formation and the influence of the maternal environment on this process. Dr. Kowalczyk completed her Ph.D. at the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, under the supervision of Dr. Annette Hammes, where she investigated cell and tissue morphogenesis during early forebrain development. Her work identified novel components of Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling and primary cilia biology, providing new insights into the variable penetrance of holoprosencephaly in mouse models.

  • Sheri Krams

    Sheri Krams

    Senior Associate Dean, Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs and Professor of Surgery (Abdominal Transplantation)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsResearch Interests: 1) NK Cell Responses to EBV, 2) Exosomes in Immune Responses, 3) Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell-Mediated Graft Prolongation, 4)Transplant Immunology

  • Elliot J. Krane

    Elliot J. Krane

    Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine (Pediatric Anesthesia) at the Stanford University Medical Center, Emeritus

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe management of pain in children using intraspinal opioids, regional anesthetics, and novel analgesic agents; cerebral and osmolar complications of diabetic ketoacidosis in children.

  • Mark Krasnow

    Mark Krasnow

    Paul and Mildred Berg Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly Interests- Lung development and stem cells
    - Neural circuits of breathing and speaking
    - Lung diseases including lung cancer
    - New genetic model organism for biology, behavior, health and conservation

  • Emily Kraus

    Emily Kraus

    Clinical Assistant Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery

    BioDr. Kraus is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford Children’s Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center trained in the specialty of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) sports medicine. She has research and clinical interests in endurance sports medicine, injury prevention, running biomechanics, prevention of bone stress injuries, and the promotion of health and wellness at any age of life. Dr. Kraus is the director of the FASTR Program, which stands for Female Athlete Science and Translational Research. The FASTR program is supported by the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance and seeks to close the gender gap in sports science research with an emphasis on early identification and interventions to prevent injury and identify ways to optimize performance in female athletes. Dr. Kraus is also a member of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Women's Health Task Force and is the medical director of the Stanford Children's Motion Analysis and Sport Performance Lab. She has completed nine marathons including the Boston Marathon twice and one 50k ultramarathon. With running and staying physically active as one of her personal passions, she recognizes the importance of fitness for overall wellbeing and the prevention of chronic medical conditions.

  • Thomas M. Krummel, MD, FACS/FAAP

    Thomas M. Krummel, MD, FACS/FAAP

    Emile Holman Professor, Emeritus

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSurgical Innovation, Simulation and Virtual Reality in Surgical Education, Fetal Healing-Cellular and Biochemical Mechanisms