School of Medicine
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Ryan Christopher Padrez
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatrics - General Pediatrics
BioRyan is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University's Division of General Pediatrics. His primary clinical practices are at Gardner Packard Children's Health Center and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. In addition to his work at Stanford, Ryan also serves as the Medical Director for The Primary School, a new integrated health and education model that serves low income children and families in East Palo Alto, CA. His work and leadership focuses on the intersection and reform of primary pediatric care and early childhood education. He works to integrate systems and promote models that ensure high quality care is accessible to all children.
Ryan graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Human Biology and earned his MD at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He completed his pediatric residency at UCSF and participated in UCSF's Pediatric Leadership for the Underserved (PLUS) program. He went on to complete a chief resident year at The San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. -
Anisha I Patel
Professor of Pediatrics (General Pediatrics) and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Patel is a physician-scientist with a focus on community-engaged research (CEnR). She works to translate evidence to impact policies that can benefit children facing inequities due to their racial/ethnic background, poverty, and/or geography.
She leads the independently-funded research program, Partnerships for Research in Child Health, which collaborates with community partners to co-develop, implement, and evaluate innovative interventions aimed at preventing obesity and cardiometabolic diseases in low-income, minoritized populations. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Patel has led numerous studies to encourage healthy beverage intake among children and adolescents. These studies include analyses of large national data sets, conduct of randomized controlled trials in schools, child care, and community settings to examine how interventions to increase children’s intake of water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages impact child health, and the evaluation of policy efforts to improve the healthfulness of beverages offered in schools and community settings.
Long before the Flint water crisis, Dr. Patel was working with partners to address nitrate and arsenic contamination in drinking water supplies in California’s San Joaquin Valley, a rural region home to many low-income Latinx farm-working families. She secured funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to collaborate with researchers, nonprofits, water utilities, families, and advocates to develop innovative solutions to drinking water contamination in the region, helping to lead to the Agua4All program. The Agua4All initiative increased access to safe drinking water by installing filtered water stations in schools and community sites. The program’s success led to its national expansion and informed a $16.3 million-dollar water in schools grant program as well as California legislation to improve safe water access in public schools. Dr. Patel’s work with collaborators and communities was recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama’s Drink Up campaign and featured in Stanford Medicine’s award-winning magazine.
As an expert in CEnR, Dr. Patel leads initiatives at Stanford. She is Director of the Office of Community-Engaged Research at Stanford's Maternal and Child Health Research Institute. In this role, she is helping to lead several initiatives, including expanding grant funding for CEnR and implementing capacity-building training programs for both community partners and the Stanford community. She also serves as Associate Dean of Research in Stanford’s School of Medicine, where she works to enhance community engagement across the university. Dr. Patel is a Co-Investigator on Stanford’s Clinical Translational Sciences Award. She also helps lead mentoring of fellows and junior faculty in CEnR.
Dr. Patel has a diverse funding portfolio ranging from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research Program, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Patel has presented her research to local, national and international audiences. She has also been recognized for her research with awards from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill School of Public Health. -
Maryann Abiodun Pitts, MD
Clinical Instructor, Pediatrics - General Pediatrics
BioDr. Pitts is a board-certified pediatrician. She has served as a clinical instructor and assistant clinical professor (affiliated) in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.
She provides care to children and adolescents. Among the services she delivers are well check-ups, vaccinations, acute care, mental health support, and preventive care.
When patients meet with Dr. Pitts, it is important to her that they always feel respected and heard. If they are not ready or able to answer a question, or if they feel more at ease with a different approach to their appointment, she will always honor how they are feeling.
Dr. Pitts also works with the community to strengthen the systems that support healthy children and families. She has extensive experience collaborating with community-based organizations and government agencies. Her experience includes serving as a physician partner to the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Aware Initiative. This program develops methods to screen patients and create treatment plans designed to help them heal from the impacts of trauma and toxic stress.
Her leadership experience includes co-founding POWER: Pediatricians Organizing and Working to End Racism and developing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within health institutions. As an invited speaker at regional and national events, she has made many presentations to her peers. She also served as a health equity panelist for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
Dr. Pitts speaks both English and Spanish.
