School of Medicine


Showing 1-50 of 50 Results

  • Leah Backhus

    Leah Backhus

    Thelma and Henry Doelger Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery

    BioLeah Backhus trained in general surgery at the University of Southern California and cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California Los Angeles. She practices at Stanford Hospital and is Chief of Thoracic Surgery at the VA Palo Alto. Her surgical practice consists of general thoracic surgery with special emphasis on thoracic oncology and minimally invasive surgical techniques. She is also Co-Director of the Thoracic Surgery Clinical Research Program, and has grant funding through the Veterans Affairs Administration and NIH. Her current research interests are in imaging surveillance following treatment for lung cancer and cancer survivorship. She is a member of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable of the American Cancer Society serving as Chair of the Task Group on Lung Cancer in Women. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. As an educator, Dr. Backhus is the Associate Program Director for the Thoracic Track Residency and is the Chair of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Thoracic Surgery which is the accrediting body for all cardiothoracic surgery training programs in the US.

  • Nitish Badhwar

    Nitish Badhwar

    Clinical Professor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine

    BioNitish Badhwar, MD is Professor of Medicine and Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology Training Program at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Badhwar received his medical degree from Maulana Azad Medical College (University of Delhi, India). After completing his internal medicine training from New York Hospital of Queens (affiliated with Cornell Medical School), he worked as faculty in the Department of Medicine at Hospital of St. Raphael (Yale University School of Medicine). He completed Cardiac Electrophysiology training at UCSF with Dr. Scheinman. After being on faculty at UCSF for 15 years he recently joined the Arrhythmia Service at Stanford Hospital. He is a Fellow of American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm Society. He has been named best doctor in cardiac electrophysiology in San Francisco Magazine 3 years in a row (2015-2017). This is nominated by his peers. He was given Excellence in Teaching award in Medical Education by Academy of Medical Educators in 2015. He was an invited speaker at prestigious international meetings including Oriental Congress of Cardiology (OCC) in Shanghai, China; Cardiostim EHRA /Europace in Nice, France; Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society (APHRS) in Seoul, S Korea; American Heart Association Annual Scientific Session in New Orleans, LA and Indian Heart Rhythm Society in New Delhi, India.


    Clinical Interest: Dr. Badhwar's clinical interest is in complex catheter ablation procedures including mapping and ventricular tachycardia (VT), atrial fibrillation (AF) and supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) including junctional variants of SVT. He started the epicardial ablation program at UCSF and also worked with Dr. Randall Lee to perform the first percutaneous epicardial left atrial appendage (LAA) ligation in the Bay Area in patients with atrial fibrillation. He has also differentiated himself in the field of electrophysiology by performing hybrid procedures with CT surgeons in patients with AF and VT. He is also involved in device implantation including pacemakers, ICD and biventricular pacing for heart failure.

    Research Interest: Dr. Badhwar has published electrophysiologic characteristics of SVTs including atrial tachycardia arising from the coronary sinus musculature, para-hisian atrial tachycardia, left sided AVNRT, junctional tachycardia and nodofascicular tachycardia. He has also published on the use of nuclear medicine (ERNA) in assessing left ventricular dyssynchrony as well as optimal pacing sties in patients with heart failure requiring biventricular pacing. He has described the unique clinical characteristics of epicardial idiopathic VT arising from the cardiac crux. He has also published clinical outcomes of combining LAA ligation with catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation perform (first in human percutaneous closed chested Maze procedure) and is now part of a multi-center randomized study comparing standard ablation to ablation plus LAA ligation in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (aMAZE trial).

  • Julie Baker

    Julie Baker

    Professor of Genetics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWe examine how cells communicate and function during fetal development. The work in my laboratory focuses on the establishment of specific cell fates using genomics to decipher interactions between chromatin and developmental signaling cascades, between genomes and rapidly evolving cell types, and between genomic copy number variation and gene expression. In recent years we have focused on the vastly understudied biology of the trophoblast lineage, particularly how this lineage evolved.

  • Laurence Baker

    Laurence Baker

    Bing Professor of Human Biology, Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and Professor, by courtesy, of Economics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Baker's research is in the area of health economics, and focuses on the effects of financial incentives, organizational structures, and government policies on the health care delivery system, health care costs, and health outcomes.

  • Zhenan Bao

    Zhenan Bao

    K. K. Lee Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Materials Science and Engineering and of Chemistry

    BioZhenan Bao joined Stanford University in 2004. She is currently a K.K. Lee Professor in Chemical Engineering, and with courtesy appointments in Chemistry and Material Science and Engineering. She was the Department Chair of Chemical Engineering from 2018-2022. She founded the Stanford Wearable Electronics Initiative (eWEAR) and is the current faculty director. She is also an affiliated faculty member of Precourt Institute, Woods Institute, ChEM-H and Bio-X. Professor Bao received her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from The University of Chicago in 1995 and joined the Materials Research Department of Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. She became a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 2001. Professor Bao currently has more than 700 refereed publications and more than 80 US patents with a Google Scholar H-index 210.

    Bao is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Bao was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Science in 2021. She is a Fellow of AAAS, ACS, MRS, SPIE, ACS POLY and ACS PMSE.

    Bao is a member of the Board of Directors for the Camille and Dreyfus Foundation from 2022. She served as a member of Executive Board of Directors for the Materials Research Society and Executive Committee Member for the Polymer Materials Science and Engineering division of the American Chemical Society. She was an Associate Editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Science, Polymer Reviews and Synthetic Metals. She serves on the international advisory board for Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, ACS Nano, Accounts of Chemical Reviews, Advanced Functional Materials, Chemistry of Materials, Chemical Communications, Journal of American Chemical Society, Nature Asian Materials, Materials Horizon and Materials Today. She is one of the Founders and currently sits on the Board of Directors of C3 Nano Co. and PyrAmes, both are silicon valley venture funded companies.

    Bao was a recipient of the VinFuture Prize Female Innovator 2022, ACS Award of Chemistry of Materials 2022, MRS Mid-Career Award in 2021, AICHE Alpha Chi Sigma Award 2021, ACS Central Science Disruptor and Innovator Prize in 2020, ACS Gibbs Medal in 2020, the Wilhelm Exner Medal from the Austrian Federal Minister of Science in 2018, the L'Oreal UNESCO Women in Science Award North America Laureate in 2017. She was awarded the ACS Applied Polymer Science Award in 2017, ACS Creative Polymer Chemistry Award in 2013 ACS Cope Scholar Award in 2011. She is a recipient of the Royal Society of Chemistry Beilby Medal and Prize in 2009, IUPAC Creativity in Applied Polymer Science Prize in 2008, American Chemical Society Team Innovation Award 2001, R&D 100 Award, and R&D Magazine Editors Choice Best of the Best new technology for 2001.

  • Tina Baykaner

    Tina Baykaner

    Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine)

    BioTina Baykaner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Electrophysiology. Following internal medicine residency, cardiovascular medicine and advanced heart failure fellowship trainings at University of California, San Diego and electrophysiology fellowship at Stanford University, Dr. Baykaner joined Stanford University faculty in 2018. She has published over 200 papers, book chapters and abstracts including over 80 original peer-reviewed articles, and delivered over 40 invited presentations in national and international meetings. She serves as associate editor, section editor and editorial board member of four electrophysiology journals.

    Dr. Baykaner’s current research interests include outcomes research, epidemiology and mechanisms of rhythm disorders. She is currently funded by the National Institutes of Health to study patient related outcomes regarding atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. She received prior research funding from American Heart Association and Heart Rhythm Society. Dr. Baykaner's clinical practice focuses on ablation of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, SVTs, inappropriate sinus tachycardia management, device implantation and device extraction.

    Dr. Baykaner is an active member of American Heart Association (AHA), American College of Cardiology (ACC), Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and European Society of Cardiology (ESC). She serves as an elected member of the Communications Committee for HRS, and previously served as an elected member of the ACC Task Force ICD research committee. She also served in the Organizing Committee for Stanford Cardiovascular Institute Annual Postdoctoral Research Meeting in 2017 and 2018 and for Early Career related sessions for HRS Scientific Sessions in 2019 and 2020.

  • Hans-Christoph Becker, MD, FSABI, FSCCT

    Hans-Christoph Becker, MD, FSABI, FSCCT

    Clinical Professor, Radiology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMyocardial bridges (MB) with associated upfront atherosclerotic lesions are common findings on coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA). Abnormal septal wall motion in exercise echocardiography (EE) may to be associated with MB. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is considered the gold standard for the detection of MB. We investigate whether CTA is comparable to IVUS for the assessment of MB and upstream plaques in symptomatic patients with suspicion for MB raised by EE.

  • Gill Bejerano

    Gill Bejerano

    Professor of Developmental Biology, of Computer Science, of Pediatrics (Genetics) and of Biomedical Data Science

    Current Research and Scholarly Interests1. Automating monogenic patient diagnosis.
    2. The genomic signatures of independent divergent and convergent trait evolution in mammals.
    3. The logic of human gene regulation.
    4. The reasons for sequence ultraconservation.
    5. Cryptogenomics to bridge medical silos.
    6. Cryptogenetics to debate social injustice.
    7. Managing patient risk using machine learning.
    8. Understanding the flow of money in the US healthcare system.

  • Edward Bender

    Edward Bender

    Clinical Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery

    BioDr. Edward Bender specializes in the treatment of adult cardiac abnormalities, including ischemic heart disease, structural and valvular disease, and arrhythmias. Additionally, he has an interest and expertise in General Thoracic and Vascular surgery. Dr. Bender currently works with organizations within the medical community to develop software to aid in the teaching and practice of medicine.

  • Daniel Bernstein

    Daniel Bernstein

    Alfred Woodley Salter and Mabel G. Salter Endowed Professor of Pediatrics

    Current Research and Scholarly Interests1. Using iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes to understand hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and heart failure associated with congenital heart disease.
    2. Role of alterations in mitochondrial dycamics and function in normal physiology and disease.
    3. Differences between R and L ventricular responses to stress,
    4. Immune biomarkers of risk after pediatric VAD implantation.
    5. Biomarkers for post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder.

  • Gerald Berry

    Gerald Berry

    Richard Kempson, M.D., Professor of Surgical Pathology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsCardiopulmonary and pulmonary transplant medicine; diagnostic surgical pathology

  • Mark Francis Berry, MD

    Mark Francis Berry, MD

    Mylavarapu Rogers Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery

    BioDr. Berry joined the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Stanford in August 2014. He came to Stanford from Duke University, where he had most recently served as Associate Professor. He received his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine after receiving bachelors and masters degrees in Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his residency in Cardiothoracic Surgery at Duke University Medical Center after performing a residency in General Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His Cardiothoracic Surgical training included a year dedicated to Minimally Invasive General Thoracic Surgery, a period that also included an American Association for Thoracic Surgery sponsored Traveling Fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh.

    Dr. Berry practices all aspects of thoracic surgery, including procedures for benign and malignant conditions of the lung, esophagus, and mediastinum. He has a particular interest in minimally invasive techniques, and has extensive experience in treating thoracic surgical conditions using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgical (VATS), laparoscopic, robotic, endoscopic, and bronchoscopic approaches. He serves as the co-Director of the Stanford Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery Center (SMITS), and has both directed and taught in several minimally invasive thoracic surgery courses.

    Dr. Berry also has a Masters of Health Sciences in Clinical Research from Duke University. His clinical research activities mirror his clinical interests and activities in optimizing short-term and long-term outcomes of patients with thoracic surgical conditions. He has more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, most of which are related to both the use of minimally invasive thoracic surgical techniques as well as evaluating outcomes after treatment of thoracic malignancies. His clinical practice and his research both focus on choosing the most appropriate treatment and approach for patients based on the individual characteristics of the patient and their disease process.

  • Vivek Bhalla, MD

    Vivek Bhalla, MD

    Associate Professor of Medicine (Nephrology)
    On Partial Leave from 03/01/2024 To 08/31/2024

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Bhalla's two primary research interests are in the role of the kidney in diabetes and hypertension. We use molecular, biochemical, and transgenic approaches to study: (1) mechanisms diabetic kidney disease disease including the role of the endothelium to regulate inflammation and kidney injury; and (2) regulation of tubular transport of glucose, sodium, and potassium. These latter studies have treatment implications in diabetes, kidney disease, and hypertension.

  • Ami Bhatt

    Ami Bhatt

    Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology) and of Genetics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Bhatt lab is exploring how the microbiota is intertwined with states of health and disease. We apply the most modern genetic tools in an effort to deconvolute the mechanism of human diseases.

  • Y. Katherine Bianco

    Y. Katherine Bianco

    Clinical Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology - Maternal Fetal Medicine

    BioMy clinical interest in pregnancies complicated with birth defects has led my underlying research interests in genomic abnormalities in the human trophoblast carrying to faulty placentation. The latter began with initial work during K12 and KO8 funding. I took a great interest in the human placenta as it carries potential advantages over other tissues sources: first, this highly metabolically active organ is the potential source of many transcripts. Second, the placenta forms at a very early stage of embryonic development, potentially allowing detection of primary alterations as compared to secondary changes that may mask the underlying causal phenomena. Finally, studying early placentation may provide targets for development of novel molecular approaches, such as up-regulate or down-regulate genes, the protein products of which could potentially serve as molecular surrogates for diagnosis and treatment of pregnancy complication such as miscarriages, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy induced hypertension and intrauterine growth retardation. This work has led to the first Trisomy 21, Trisomy 18, trisomy 13 cell lines established from human placentas making it possible to apply gene editing in the early stages of human trophoblast development.

    As my primary clinical responsibility involves treating patients needing medical care and support through their high risk pregnancies, I am interested in factors that may impact outcomes, such as prenatal screening and diagnosis, maternal heart conditions, labor and delivery management, and safety approaches for the second stage of labor. In investigating length of labor and approaches to shorten the second stage, I have found methods of improving perinatal outcomes in diverse maternal populations.

    With regards to my interest in fetal medicine, I have worked in collaboration with other specialists such as radiologists and pediatric cardiologists utilizing imagining studies to assess and determine successful perinatal care and fetal survival.

  • Sandip Biswal, MD

    Sandip Biswal, MD

    Adjunct Clinical Professor, Radiology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe management of individuals suffering from chronic pain is unfortunately limited by poor diagnostic tests and therapies. Our research group is interested in 'imaging pain' by using novel imaging techniques to study peripheral nociception and inflammation with the goal of accurately identifying the location of pain generators. We are developing new approaches with positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (PET/MRI) and are currently in clinical trials.

  • Richard Bland

    Richard Bland

    Professor (Research) of Pediatrics (Neonatology), Emeritus

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur research focuses on the pathogenesis and treatment of acute and chronic neonatal lung injury and the mechanisms that regulate lung fluid balance and alveolar & pulmonary vascular development after premature birth.

  • Francis Blankenberg

    Francis Blankenberg

    Associate Professor of Radiology (Pediatric Radiology) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsStudies on apoptotic cell death in vivo using the H MRS phenomenon.

  • Terrence Blaschke

    Terrence Blaschke

    Professor of Medicine and of Molecular Pharmacology, Emeritus

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsClinical pharmacology of antiretroviral drugs

    Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic mechanisms of variability in drug response.

    Drug development

  • Helen M. Blau

    Helen M. Blau

    Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Professor, Director, Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology and Professor, by courtesy, of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsProf. Helen Blau's research area is regenerative medicine with a focus on stem cells. Her research on nuclear reprogramming and demonstrating the plasticity of cell fate using cell fusion is well known and her laboratory has also pioneered the design of biomaterials to mimic the in vivo microenvironment and direct stem cell fate. Current findings are leading to more efficient iPS generation, cell based therapies by dedifferentiation a la newts, and discovery of novel molecules and therapies.

  • Paul Bollyky

    Paul Bollyky

    Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Microbiology and Immunology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsChronic bacterial infections are a major health care problem. Our lab is interested in understanding the host and microbial factors that perpetuate chronic infections and in developing novel therapeutic interventions to improve human health.

  • Anna Maria Bombardieri

    Anna Maria Bombardieri

    Clinical Assistant Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
    Masters Student in Epidemiology and Clinical Research, admitted Autumn 2022

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy overall research goal is to advance clinical practice by providing anesthesiologists with data to most effectively maintain cerebral blood flow in the perioperative period.
    I am interested in the effect of the autonomic nervous system on cerebral blood flow regulation.
    I intend to combine regional anesthetic techniques and noninvasive bedside cerebral blood flow monitoring to understand the effect of the sympathetic system on cerebral blood flow.
    A secondary goal is to apply this new knowledge to investigate whether cervical sympathetic blocks improve long term neurological outcomes.

  • Bernardo Bonilauri

    Bernardo Bonilauri

    Postdoctoral Scholar, Cardiovascular Institute

    BioI am a highly motivated and devoted scientist, deeply committed to advancing our understanding of the molecular foundations of cardiovascular disease while spearheading innovative therapeutic approaches and drug discovery. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, under the guidance of Dr. Joseph C. Wu, I am privileged to contribute to cutting-edge research. My work spans various disciplines, including multi-omics, molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering, biochemistry, structural biology, and state-of-the-art imaging technologies. This holistic approach and sharp critical thinking equips me to untangle the complexities of cardiac diseases and innovate novel therapeutic strategies, particularly for rare cardiac conditions such as Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis.

  • Crystal M. Botham, Ph.D.

    Crystal M. Botham, Ph.D.

    Director of Grant Writing Academy & Office of Research Development, Pediatrics

    Current Role at Stanford• Providing individualized grantsmanship assistance to postdoctoral fellows and faculty
    • Editing and critically evaluating grant applications to improve funding potential
    • Interpreting sponsor requirements and providing strategic advice
    • Identifying a diverse portfolio of funding opportunities
    • Designing and facilitating courses to enable postdoctoral fellows to develop competitive Career Development applications
    • Developing and presenting at workshops on grant writing and proposal submission
    • Coordinating completion of subcontracts and large collaborative projects

  • Francesca Briganti

    Francesca Briganti

    Instructor, Cardiovascular Institute

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOne gene can lead to the production of many different RNA isoforms via mechanisms such as alternative promoter usage, splicing, and polyadenylation. The functional significance of many of these isoforms, their impact on cell physiology, and their regulation remain mostly controversial. Understanding the functional consequences of transcript heterogeneity will improve our understanding of gene expression regulation, broadening our ability to intervene when mutations that interfere with this regulation cause human disease.
    My goal is to become an independent researcher leading an academic lab that focuses on better understanding human tissue-specific post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and developing mechanism-based therapeutics. My general strategy is to study the function of regulatory genes and their deregulation in human disease. My specific approach is to understand the molecular mechanisms by which disease-causing mutations alter the gene function and lead to human disease. My hypothesis is that a detailed understanding of the relationship between the gene's molecular function and the disease mechanism will allow the development of first-in-class, personalized therapeutic strategies that target the disease mechanisms rather than manage symptoms independently of disease etiology.

  • Jessica Brodt

    Jessica Brodt

    Clinical Associate Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsClinical Education
    Regional Anesthesia for Cardiothoracic Enhanced Recovery (RACER)
    Anesthesia for transcatheter and electrophyiology procedures

  • Aaron Brown

    Aaron Brown

    Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering, admitted Autumn 2019

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsEngineering research with applications to energy/environmental sustainability.

  • Anne Brunet

    Anne Brunet

    Michele and Timothy Barakett Endowed Professor

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur lab studies the molecular basis of longevity. We are interested in the mechanism of action of known longevity genes, including FOXO and SIRT, in the mammalian nervous system. We are particularly interested in the role of these longevity genes in neural stem cells. We are also discovering novel genes and processes involved in aging using two short-lived model systems, the invertebrate C. elegans and an extremely short-lived vertebrate, the African killifish N. furzeri.

  • Marion S. Buckwalter, MD, PhD

    Marion S. Buckwalter, MD, PhD

    Professor of Neurology (Adult Neurology) and of Neurosurgery

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe goal of the Buckwalter Lab is to improve how people recover after a stroke. We use basic and clinical research to understand the cells, proteins, and genes that lead to successful recovery of function, and also how complications develop that impact quality of life after stroke. Ongoing projects are focused on understanding how inflammatory responses are regulated after a stroke and how they affect short-term brain injury and long term outcomes like dementia and depression.

  • Thomas Burdon

    Thomas Burdon

    Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery (Adult Cardiac Surgery)

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsNew technologies in the area of catheters, clamps, and, visualization devices for aid in cardiac surgery; distribution of, cardioplegia, both anterograde and retrograde as determined by, techniques in technetium pyro-phosphate scans; glucose insulin, potassium as an adjunct in cardiac surgery.

  • Elan Chanel Burton, MD, MHA

    Elan Chanel Burton, MD, MHA

    Clinical Associate Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery

    BioDr. Burton is a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon. She is also a clinical associate professor in the Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Section Chief for Stanford Medicine Affiliates.

    She offers her patients exceptional expertise in advanced cardiothoracic surgical techniques. For each patient, she develops a customized, comprehensive, and compassionate care plan.

    Dr. Burton has completed specialized training in robotic technique for minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB). This procedure enables surgical access to the heart with a smaller incision than other coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures.

    In addition to her clinical practice, Dr. Burton has conducted research on health disparities in cardiovascular disease, diversity in radiology and molecular imaging, and other topics. She received an innovation research grant from the National Science Foundation for her work on an app for emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Dr. Burton has made presentations to her peers as a guest lecturer on subjects including coronary artery disease, primary cardiac tumors, and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. In addition, she has made presentations to the Western Thoracic Surgical Association, American Heart Association, International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation, and other organizations.

    Dr. Burton has published articles on advanced surgical techniques as well as issues such as balancing work and family during the COVID-19 pandemic, plus health disparities, biases in healthcare, and social determinants of health. Her work has appeared in the JAMA Network Open, Journal of Cardiac Surgery, JTCVS Techniques, International Social Work, and elsewhere.

    Dr. Burton has earned honors including the Coleman Connolly Award in Thoracic Surgery, which recognizes the exemplary efforts of thoracic surgery residents. She also won the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons Resident Achievement Award and the Dr. Albert G. Marrangoni Research Award.

    She is a member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, American College of Cardiology, American College of Physicians–American Society of Internal Medicine, Lillehei Surgical Society, Women in Thoracic Surgery, Western Thoracic Surgical Association, American Society of Professionals in Patient Safety, Women Health Care Executives, Association of Women Surgeons, Society of Black Academic Surgeons, and American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management.

    She has volunteered her time and expertise as a high school medical club faculty mentor, as an elementary school community health nutrition interventionist, and with the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society.

  • Eugene Butcher

    Eugene Butcher

    Klaus Bensch Professor of Pathology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur interests include:
    1) The physiology and function of lymphocyte homing in local and systemic immunity;
    2) Biochemical and genetic studies of molecules that direct leukocyte recruitment;
    3) Chemotactic mechanisms and receptors in vascular and immune biology;
    4) Vascular control of normal and pathologic inflammation and immunity;
    5) Systems biology of immune cell trafficking and programming in tumor immunity.