School of Medicine
Showing 11-20 of 34 Results
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Emily Ferguson, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioEmily Ferguson, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral academic researcher and clinician within Stanford University’s Autism and Developmental Disorders Research Program (https://med.stanford.edu/autism.html) within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She earned her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of California Santa Barbara and completed her clinical internship at the University of California Los Angeles. Dr. Ferguson's research focuses on advancing understanding of mechanisms of challenging behaviors in autistic youth and adults to inform treatment development. Her work takes a comprehensive perspective, integrating methods from implementation science to improve the accessibility and quality of clinical care for underserved autistic populations, especially those with higher support needs (or "profound autism"). She is also interested in developing methods to improve self-regulation in individuals with profound autism to effectively manage self-injurious behaviors and aggression. Dr. Ferguson is currently supporting research in the Preschool Autism Lab (https://med.stanford.edu/autismcenter/pre-school-autism-lab-program.html), and exploring profiles of challenging behaviors with the Program for Psychometrics and Measurement-Based Care (https://med.stanford.edu/sppmc.html) in a diverse range of autistic and non-autistic youth to inform treatment approaches.
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Anne Fernald
Josephine Knotts Knowles Professor of Human Biology, Emerita
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWorking with English- and Spanish-learning children from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, our research examines the importance of early language experience in supporting language development. We are deeply involved in community-based research in San Jose, designing an innovative parent-engagement program for low-resource Latino families with young children. We are also conducting field studies of beliefs about child development and caregiver-child interaction in rural villages in Senegal. A central goal of this translational research is to help parents understand their vital role in facilitating children’s language and cognitive growth.
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Dorien Feyaerts
Instructor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsBiomedical scientist and immunologist with a strong background in fetal-maternal immunology that aims to conduct impactful translational research in women’s health to improve the health of mothers and their children.
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Andrew Fire
George D. Smith Professor of Molecular and Genetic Medicine and Professor of Pathology and of Genetics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsWhile chromosomal inheritance provides cells with one means for keeping and transmitting genetic information, numerous other mechanisms have (and remain to be) discovered. We study novel cellular mechanisms that enforce genetic constancy and permit genetic change. Underlying our studies are questions of the diversity of inheritance mechanisms, how cells distinguish such mechanisms as "wanted" versus "unwanted", and of the consequences and applications of such mechanisms in health and disease.
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Michael Fischbach
Liu (Liao) Family Professor
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe microbiome carries out extraordinary feats of biology: it produces hundreds of molecules, many of which impact host physiology; modulates immune function potently and specifically; self-organizes biogeographically; and exhibits profound stability in the face of perturbations. Our lab studies the mechanisms of microbiome-host interactions. Our approach is based on two technologies we recently developed: a complex (119-member) defined gut community that serves as an analytically manageable but biologically relevant system for experimentation, and new genetic systems for common species from the microbiome. Using these systems, we investigate mechanisms at the community level and the strain level.
1) Community-level mechanisms. A typical gut microbiome consists of 200-250 bacterial species that span >6 orders of magnitude in relative abundance. As a system, these bacteria carry out extraordinary feats of metabolite consumption and production, elicit a variety of specific immune cell populations, self-organize geographically and metabolically, and exhibit profound resilience against a wide range of perturbations. Yet remarkably little is known about how the community functions as a system. We are exploring this by asking two broad questions: How do groups of organisms work together to influence immune function? What are the mechanisms that govern metabolism and ecology at the 100+ strain scale? Our goal is to learn rules that will enable us to design communities that solve specific therapeutic problems.
2) Strain-level mechanisms. Even though gut and skin colonists live in communities, individual strains can have an extraordinary impact on host biology. We focus on two broad (and partially overlapping) categories:
Immune modulation: Can we redirect colonist-specific T cells against an antigen of interest by expressing it on the surface of a bacterium? How do skin colonists induce high levels of Staphylococcus-specific antibodies in mice and humans?
Abundant microbiome-derived molecules: By constructing single-strain/single-gene knockouts in a complex defined community, we will ask: What are the effects of bacterially produced molecules on host metabolism and immunology? Can the molecular output of low-abundance organisms impact host physiology?
3) Cell and gene therapy. We have begun two new efforts in mammalian cell and gene therapies. First, we are developing methods that enable cell-type specific delivery of genome editing payloads in vivo. We are especially interested in delivery vehicles that are customizable and easy to manufacture. Second, we have begun a comprehensive genome mining effort with an emphasis on understudied or entirely novel enzyme systems with utility in mammalian genome editing. -
Adina S. Fischer, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (General Psychiatry and Psychology)
On Leave from 10/10/2022 To 03/09/2025BioDr. Fischer’s research focuses on characterizing risk and resilience factors in depression. She has been awarded an NIH Career Development Award (K23) and Klingenstein Foundation Fellowship in Adolescent Depression to build her program of clinical and translational research at Stanford. Dr. Fischer's program of clinical care focused on the delivery and teaching of evidence-based clinical interventions that enhance resilience, with a focus on addressing the unique stressors encountered in academia and academic medicine that may contribute to risk and resilience in mood and anxiety disorders.
Dr. Fischer’s translational program of research focuses on:
(1) Improving our understanding of protective biomarkers of resilience to depression
(2) Characterizing the effects of cannabis on neurobiological function and depressive symptoms
(3) Developing neurobiologically-guided interventions for depressive disorders, particularly those that co-occur with cannabis and other substance use
Dr. Fischer earned her BSc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, where she conducted research in the Early Childhood Cognition Laboratory. She then completed the MD/PhD Program at Dartmouth, where she obtained her PhD in in Neuroscience. Dr. Fischer’s doctoral research focused on characterizing the acute effects of cannabis in patients with schizophrenia and co-occurring cannabis use disorder. She then completed the Stanford Psychiatry Residency Training Program as a member of the Research Track, and an NIH funded T-32 postdoctoral research fellowship within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. -
Paul Graham Fisher, MD
Beirne Family Professor of Pediatric Neuro-Oncology, Professor of Pediatrics and, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery and of Epidemiology and Population Health
On Partial Leave from 07/15/2024 To 07/13/2025Current Research and Scholarly InterestsClinical neuro-oncology: My research explores the epidemiology, natural history, and disease patterns of brain tumors and other cancers in childhood, as well as prospective clinical trials for treating these neoplasms. Research interests also include neurologic effects of cancer and its therapies.
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Robert Fisher, MD, PhD
The Maslah Saul, MD, Professor and Professor, by courtesy, of Neurosurgery
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Fisher is interested in clincal, laboratory and translational aspects of epilepsy research. Prior work has included: electrical deep brain stimulation for epilepsy, studied in laboratory models and clinical trials; drug delivery to a seizure focus; mechanisms of absence epilepsy studied with in vitro slices of brain thalamus; hyperthermic seizures; diagnosis and treatment of non-epileptic seizures, the post-ictal state; driving and epilepsy; new antiepileptic drugs; surgery for epilepsy.
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Matthew Fitzgerald, PhD
Associate Professor of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery (OHNS)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research encompasses several translational projects. One focus is to modify the routine audiologic test battery such that it places equal weight on hearing acuity and hearing function. This work includes measures of speech in noise, or electrophysiologic responses such as the FFR. I also explore tools to better assess and maximize performance in users of hearing aids and cochlear implants. Finally, I am also investigating the benefits of telemedicine, and new treatments for tinnitus.
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Pamela Flood
Adjunct Clinical Professor, Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine
BioDr. Flood is a Professor at Stanford University who is fellowship trained in Pain Medicine and Obstetric Anesthesiology. She specializes in the treatment of chronic pelvic pain and multiple aspects of women's health including the prevention of chronic pain after childbirth. Research interests include the role of multimodal treatment in chronic pain conditions and prevention of persistent opioid use. Her research has spanned from detailed pharmacodynamic analysis, clinical trials to population health.