School of Medicine


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  • Maira Karan

    Maira Karan

    Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry

    BioMaira Karan is a postdoctoral fellow in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and a pathyways trainee through the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Her doctoral research focused on how positive human behaviors, such as empathy and prosociality, develop during the period of adolescence and how the adolescent brain and body mature in concert to support these other-oriented behaviors. Her research has utilized behavioral experiments, validated questionnaires, ecological momentary assessments, longitudinal assessments, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Another line of her work examines how sleep affects adolescent health and well-being with a special focus on circadian rhythms. At Stanford, she is working on merging her two lines of research to assess how sleep and circadian timing influence adolescent behaviors and health. In addition to conducting research, she has a deep passion for uplifting underrepresented individuals in(to) the fields of psychology and neuroscience, and she has a Certificate in Critical Consciousness & Anti-Oppressive Practices.

  • Wayne Kepner

    Wayne Kepner

    Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry

    BioWayne Kepner, PhD, MPH is a public health researcher whose scholarship focuses on health disparities and substance use among vulnerable populations. Dr. Kepner is currently a T-32 Post-doctoral Fellowship in Pain and Substance Use at Stanford University's School of Medicine, where he will continue his research under the mentorship of Dr. Keith Humphreys and Dr. Mark McGovern.

    Dr. Kepner received his doctoral degree from the Joint Doctoral Program in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use at San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego. His research focused on substance use disorders, health services utilization, and geospatial analysis of health data, with a particular emphasis on older adult populations. Dr. Kepner has extensive experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, having conducted interviews with older adults on cannabis use and analyzed large-scale electronic health records. He has co-authored several peer-reviewed publications on topics ranging from cannabis use trends to emergency department utilization for substance-related diagnoses. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Kepner is committed to community engagement, co-founding Aztecs For Recovery, a collegiate recovery program at SDSU.