School of Medicine
Showing 151-200 of 215 Results
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Michelle Odden
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMultilevel - from cells to society - epidemiologic study of healthy aging
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Anisha I Patel
Professor of Pediatrics (General Pediatrics) and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health
On Partial Leave from 2026-08-03 To 2027-03-08Current 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. -
Javier Perez-Garcia
Postdoctoral Scholar, Epidemiology
BioJavier Perez-Garcia is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University. His research has been focused on the integration of multi-omic data (e.g., genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, and microbiome) to identify potential biomarkers of treatment response for complex diseases like asthma. His research background includes experience both in molecular biology techniques (e.g., DNA extraction and sequencing libraries preparation) and bioinformatic analyses (e.g., processing of raw omic data, association studies at genomic scale, or multi-omic integration through machine learning and quantitative trait loci analyses). He holds a Ph.D. in Health Sciences and a B.Sc. in Pharmacy from the University of La Laguna (Spain).
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Rachel Pham
Educational Program Manager, Epidemiology and Population Health
Current Role at StanfordEducational Program Manager
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Rita Popat
Associate Professor (Teaching) of Epidemiology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research interest focuses on the epidemiology of Parkinsons disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, specifically evaluating the genetic and environmental contributions to these neurodegenerative disorders. I am also interested in studying the relation of cognition, estradiol exposure (endogenous and exogenous), and genetic factors.
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Alexis Reeves
Instructor, Epidemiology and Population Health
BioAlexis is a Propel postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health in the School of Medicine with Dr. Michelle Odden’s lab. Her research is broadly focused on the causes and consequences of racial disparities in accelerated aging. She is particularly interested in the interplay of structural and interpersonal racism, and the psychobiological mechanisms in which they produce early health declines in minoritized populations. Her work to date has focused on the health of Black women as they enter into life-stages, such as the midlife menopausal transition, where cardio-metabolic risk is high. Alexis also has a strong interest in causal inference, and applies causal inference theory and methods to these areas of research to mitigate and quantify bias.
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David Rehkopf
Director, Stanford Center on Longevity, Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, of Sociology, of Medicine (Primary Care and Population Health) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics, and of Health Policy
BioI am a social epidemiologist and serve as a Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and in the Department of Medicine in the Division of Primary Care and Population Health. I joined the faculty at Stanford School of Medicine in 2011.
I am Director of the Stanford Center for Population Health Sciences. In this position, I am committed to making high-value data resources available to researchers across disciplines in order to better enable them to answer their most pressing clinical and population health questions.
My own research is focused on understanding the health implications of the myriad decisions that are made by corporations and governments every day - decisions that profoundly shape the social and economic worlds in which we live and work. While these changes are often invisible to us on a daily basis, these seemingly minor actions and decisions form structural nudges that can create better or worse health at a population level. My work demonstrates the health implications of corporate and governmental decisions that can give the public and policy makers evidence to support new strategies for promoting health and well-being. In all of his work, I have a focus on the implications of these exposures for health inequalities.
Since often policy and programmatic changes can take decades to influence health, my work also includes more basic research in understanding biological signals that may act as early warning signs of systemic disease, in particular accelerated aging. I examine how social and economic policy changes influence a range of early markers of disease and aging, with a particular recent focus on DNA methylation. I am supported by several grants from the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to develop new more sensitive ways to understand the health implications of social and economic policy changes. -
Thomas Robinson
The Irving Schulman, M.D. Professor of Child Health, Professor of Medicine (Stanford Prevention Research Center) and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsDr. Robinson originated the solution-oriented research paradigm and directs the Stanford Solutions Science Lab. He is known for his pioneering obesity prevention and treatment research, including the concept of stealth interventions. His research applies social cognitive models of behavior change to behavioral, social, environmental and policy interventions for children and families in real world settings, making the results relevant for informing clinical and public health practice and policy.
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Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health
BioDr. Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa, PhD., MPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and also serves as the Associate Director of Research for the Office of Community Engagement at Stanford Medicine. Dr. Rodriguez Espinosa is also the Associate Core Lead for the Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Core of the Stanford Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. The ultimate goal of her research is to improve the health of diverse populations - including Latinxs, under-resourced communities, and older adults - through transdisciplinary and community-engaged scholarship. Her research aims to develop novel multi-level interventions and health promotion programs to improve health outcomes (e.g., around aging, multiple chronic conditions, cardiovascular disease) and that include multi-sectoral collaborations. Dr. Rodriguez Espinosa's research has also centered around developing the science of Community-Based Participatory Research, citizen/community science, and other participatory research approaches.
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Lisa Goldman Rosas
Associate Professor (Research) of Epidemiology and Population Health, of Medicine (Primary Care and Population Health) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics
BioLisa Goldman Rosas, PhD MPH is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and the Department of Medicine, Division of Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford School of Medicine. An epidemiologist by training, Dr. Goldman Rosas’ research focuses on addressing disparities in diet-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, depression, and cancer especially for those who face food insecurity. This research features rigorous quantitative and qualitative methodologies, participatory qualitative approaches, and shared leadership with patient and community partners. She is passionate about integrating patients, caregivers, community organizations, and other key stakeholders in the research process in order to affect the greatest improvements in health and well-being. As a reflection of this passion, Dr. Goldman Rosas serves as the Faculty Director for the School of Medicine Office of Community Engagement, Co-Director of Community-Engaged Research for the Office of Cancer Health Equity, and Director of the Outreach, Recruitment and Engagement Core for the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. In these roles, she supports other faculty and patient and community partners to develop sustainable and meaningful partnerships to support transformative research. In addition to research, she teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels and has a special focus on increasing capacity in community engagement methods.
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Kristin Sainani (n e Cobb)
Professor (Teaching) of Epidemiology and Population Health
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsScience writing, science communication, biostatistics. Research areas: osteoporosis, stress fractures, sports injuries, female athlete triad.
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Lee M. Sanders, MD, MPH
Professor of Pediatrics (General Pediatrics), of Health Policy and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI conduct interdisciplinary research to understand literacy as potentially modifiable lens for addressing maternal and child health disparities from birth through early adulthood. Applying mixed methods approaches (health-services, epidemiology, ethnography), I have been principal investigator on extramurally-funded research projects (NIH, PCORI, FDA) that aim to examine "natural experiments" in policy and/or to design, implement and test novel system-level interventions.
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Clea Sarnquist, DrPH, MPH
Clinical Professor, Pediatrics - Infectious Diseases
Clinical Professor (By courtesy), Epidemiology and Population HealthBioDr. Sarnquist focuses on applied teaching and research on the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions to decrease gender-based violence, improve mental health, and prevent HIV infection, especially among adolescents and children. She is particularly interested in rights-based approaches that tackle the complex interplay of factors that lead to poor health for many children and families. All of her work is applied, with direct links health practice and policy, and usually performed in conjunction with non-governmental organization and government partners. She works both globally and in the U.S., with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She is also a medical educator, directing the scholarly concentrations program of the pediatric residency at Stanford, co-directing the global health concentration for residents, and teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in global health with a focus on children and women’s health.
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Stylianos Serghiou
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and of Medicine (Computational Medicine)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am primarily working in evaluating scientific research, promoting rigorous scientific practice and advancing evidence-based medicine by using methods from computer science, statistics, econometrics and epidemiology. Ongoing projects include understanding allocation of social attention across fields of science, evaluating the predictive ability of prenatal screening for post-natal outcomes and building a deep learning system to predict the probability of heart disease.
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Gary M. Shaw
Rosemarie Hess Professor and Professor (Research), by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health and of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Maternal Fetal Medicine)
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsPrimary research interests include 1) epidemiology of birth defects, 2) gene-environment approaches to perinatal outcomes, and 3) nutrition and reproductive outcomes.
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Julia Fridman Simard
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, of Medicine (Immunology & Rheumatology) and, by courtesy, of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Maternal Fetal Medicine)
BioJulia Fridman Simard, ScD, is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Population Health, and of Medicine in Immunology and Rheumatology and Obstetrics and, by courtesy, Gynecology in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Simard earned her Masters and Doctorate of Science in Epidemiology degrees at the Harvard School of Public Health. During that time she trained with investigators at the Section of Clinical Sciences, Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. In 2008, Dr. Simard relocated to Sweden to begin a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. She became an Assistant Professor in their Clinical Epidemiology Unit in 2011, and was later honored with a Karolinska Institute Teaching Award. Leveraging the population-based registers of Sweden, Dr. Simard initiated a national register linkage study to examine the utility of registers in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) research and develop an extensive data repository for future epidemiologic investigations.
While maintaining a close collaboration with the Karolinska Institute, she joined Stanford’s faculty in 2013. Dr. Simard's work includes outcomes such as malignancy, stroke, infection, and mortality, in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases with a focus on systemic lupus erythematosus. She has made significant contributions at the intersection of reproductive epidemiology and rheumatic disease fueled initially by a K01 career development award from the NIH (NIAMS) to study maternal and fetal outcomes in systemic lupus pregnancy. This led to collaborations with colleagues at Stanford, throughout the US, and abroad, and a series of projects focused on the diagnosis of preeclampsia and associated risks in pregnant women with systemic lupus. With support from the Preeclampsia Foundation for her lab's work examining preeclampsia risk in high-risk populations, and a McCormick Faculty Award from Stanford Medicine, Dr. Simard is taking important steps towards understanding this significant pregnancy complication in pregnancies complicated by rheumatologic disease. Dr. Simard recently led an international study of hydroxychloroquine in lupus pregnancy leveraging mixed methods in partnership with qualitative researchers, patients, clinicians, and epidemiologists in Sweden, Canada, and in the United States, and is expanding to other medications and rheumatic autoimmune diagnoses.
Additionally, Dr. Simard's lab is also interested in how misclassification, missed opportunities, and misdiagnosis contribute to disparities in complex conditions. In addition to methodologic issues around misclassification and bias and the largely clinical epidemiology focus of her work, Dr. Simard's work examines social determinants of health and health disparities. With support from an R01 from NIH (NIAID), her lab is also studying the role of cognitive errors in clinical decision making for female-predominant diseases. This work evaluates this bias in multiple clinical specialties, including rheumatology, neurology, and primary care, and uses mixed methods including randomized survey-based studies and qualitative interviews. And most recently, she and colleagues have been evaluating how algorithms miss and misdiagnose the menopausal transition in women with systemic autoimmune disease. -
Shamsi Soltani
Ph.D. Student in Epidemiology and Clinical Research, admitted Autumn 2021
BioShamsi Soltani is a PhD candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and a trainee with the Center for Population Health Sciences, both in the Stanford School of Medicine. For three years, she was a fellow in the NIH T-32 Training in Advanced Data Analytics for Behavioral and Social Sciences (TADA-BSSR) program, supervised by Drs. Abby King and Lorene Nelson. Her dissertation work revolves around modifiable risk factors for suicide in LGBTQ+ populations and is mentored by Dr. Mitchell Lunn.
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Marcia L. Stefanick, Ph.D.
Professor (Research) of Medicine (Stanford Prevention Research Center), of Obstetrics and Gynecology and, by courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health
On Leave from 2026-07-16 To 2027-09-17Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMarcia L. Stefanick, Ph.D is a Professor of Medicine Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and by courtesy, Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Stefanick’s research focuses on chronic disease prevention (particularly, heart disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and dementia) in both women and men. She is currently the Principal Investigator the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Extension Study, having been the PI of the Stanford Clinical Center of the landmark WHI Clinical Trials and Observational Study since 1994 and Chair of the WHI Steering and Executive Committees from 1998-2011, as well as PI of the WHI Strong and Healthy (WHISH) Trial which is testing the hypothesis that a DHHS-based physical activity intervention, being delivered to a multi-ethnic cohort of about 24,000 WHI participants across the U.S., aged 68-99 when the trial started in 2015, will reduce major cardiovascular events over 8 years, compared to an equal number of “usual activity” controls. Dr. Stefanick is also PI of the Osteoporotic Study of Men (MrOS) which is continuing to conduct clinical assessments of bone and body composition in survivors of an original cohort of nearly 6000 men aged 65 and over in 2001. As founding Director of the Stanford Women’s Health and Sex Differences in Medicine (WHSDM, “wisdom”) Center, she plays a major role in promoting research and teaching on Sex and Gender in Human Physiology and Disease, Women’s Health and Queer Health and Medicine. Dr. Stefanick also plays major leadership roles at the Stanford School of Medicine, including as co-leader of the Population Sciences Program of the Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford’s NCI-funded comprehensive cancer center.
Dr. Stefanick obtained her B.A. in biology from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (1974), then pursued her interest in hormone and sex difference research at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, after which she obtained her PhD in Physiology at Stanford University, focusing on reproductive physiology and neuroendocrinology, with exercise physiology as a secondary focus. Her commitment to human research led to a post-doctoral fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, which has been her academic home for nearly 40 years. -
Holly Tabor
Professor of Medicine (Primary Care & Population Health) and, by courtesy, of Pediatrics (Stanford Center of Biomedical Ethics) and of Epidemiology
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy research focuses on ethical issues in genetics and genomics, specifically return of results and translation for exome and whole genome sequencing and translation of genomic sequencing into the clinical setting. I also conduct research on ethical issues in clinical care and research for patients and families with autism and other developmental and cognitive disabilities.
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Hannah Thomas
Ph.D. Student in Health Policy, admitted Autumn 2024
BioI am a resident in urologic surgery at the University of Toronto, currently pursuing my PhD in Health Policy (Decision Sciences) at Stanford University as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar. I previously completed a Masters in Global Health Sciences from UCSF.
I am passionate about leveraging data to guide evidence-based health policy, both domestically and globally. My doctoral thesis uses mathematical modelling to address critical disparities between the burden of disease and the urologic workforce- seeking to provide actionable insights for workforce planning and development in resource-constrained healthcare systems.
I serve on the Board of Trustees for the International Student Surgical Network. -
Tainayah Whitney Thomas
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health (Epidemiology)
BioTainayah Thomas, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health. Her research focuses on primary care improvement and diabetes prevention and management among racially and ethnically diverse populations. Dr. Thomas's research seeks to leverage delivery science research methodology to promote the integration of evidence-based research into clinical practice. Dr. Thomas is dedicated to transforming research into action by engaging community, health system, and policy stakeholders in adapting, implementing, and sustaining interventions that address health disparities and promote health equity.
