School of Medicine


Showing 1-50 of 54 Results

  • Lusine Aghajanova, M.D., Ph.D.

    Lusine Aghajanova, M.D., Ph.D.

    Clinical Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology - Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility

    BioDr. Aghajanova received her medical degree from Yerevan State Medical University in Armenia, followed by residency in obstetrics and gynecology, then completed PhD in Human Implantation at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, followed with embryology training at Karolinska Institute, with an Internship in Austria.
    She continued her research as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California San Francisco.

    Subsequently, Dr. Aghajanova completed residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and at UC San Francisco. She proceeded then with subspecialty fellowship training in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at UC San Francisco. She is a respected researcher in the field of endometrial receptivity, implantation and endometriosis.

    Dr. Aghajanova speaks Russian and Armenian and is very well published with over 50 peer-reviewed publications as well as numerous other oral and poster presentations and is a professional peer-reviewer for over 12 journals.

    Dr.Aghajanova enjoys spending time with her husband and children, and traveling.

  • Jacob S. Ballon

    Jacob S. Ballon

    Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (General Psychiatry and Psychology)

    BioJacob S. Ballon, M.D., M.P.H. specializes in the treatment of people with psychotic disorders including schizophrenia. He is the Co-Director of the INSPIRE Clinic at Stanford which provides interdisciplinary care for people experiencing psychosis. He is also the Associate Chair for Patient Services and co-Division Chief for General Adult Psychiatry and Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Ballon completed his residency at Stanford in 2009 and a Schizophrenia Research Fellowship at Columbia University in 2011.

    Dr. Ballon's research focuses primarily in clinical trials of new medications for the treatment of schizophrenia. He further maintains an interest in understanding the connections between the brain and the rest of the body as relates to the manifestation and treatment of people who experience psychosis. He works closely with a diverse group of researchers throughout the university and technology community to investigate these connections. He has participated in numerous projects investigating the metabolic implications of schizophrenia and of psychiatric medication including the association of antipsychotic medication with weight gain and insulin resistance.

    INSPIRE is an innovative interdisciplinary client-centered resource providing respectful evidence-based care to support people to achieve meaningful recovery from psychosis through collaborative partnership with individuals and their families while advancing knowledge and training for a new generation of providers. With a recovery-oriented philosophy, the clinic provides an array of services including psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and psychosocial evaluations. As a research clinic, they are focused on collaborating with multiple disciplines throughout the university to conduct clinical and basic science research including functional imaging, clinical trials, basic pathophysiology, and genetics.

  • Che-Hong Chen

    Che-Hong Chen

    Senior Research Scientist - Basic Life, Chemical and Systems Biology Operations

    Current Role at StanfordSenior Research Scientist
    CEO, International ALDH2 STAR Research Consortium
    Director of China, Singapore, and Taiwan Outreach, Center for Asian Health Research and Education Center

  • Yanan Feng

    Yanan Feng

    Sr. Research Scientist - Basic Life, Genetics

    Current Role at StanfordSenior Research Scientist, Department of Genetics, Dr. Stanley N. Cohen's lab

  • Daiana Fornes

    Daiana Fornes

    Postdoctoral Scholar, Pulmonary

    BioDaiana Fornes is a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, supported by a Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) Postdoctoral Fellowship. Her research centers on reproductive biology and pregnancy disorders, with a particular focus on uterine contractility, preterm labor, and uterine atony. She investigates calcium signaling pathways, including the role of TRPV4 ion channels, to identify novel therapeutic strategies aimed at improving maternal health outcomes.

    Daiana earned her PhD from the University of Buenos Aires, where she studied metabolic alterations during pregnancy and their effects on fetal development. Her training has provided her with a strong foundation in translational research, with extensive experience in experimental design, molecular biology, and the analysis of signaling pathways.

  • Fumiaki Ikeno

    Fumiaki Ikeno

    Program Director (U.S) Japan Biodesign, Stanford Biodesign, Medicine - Med/Cardiovascular Medicine

    BioProgram Director (U.S) Japan Biodesign, Stanford Biodesign
    Researcher Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University
    Faculty of Japan Reach, CARE (Center for Asian Health Research and Education) , Stanford University
    Co-Director of Asia, SPARK Global, Stanford SPARK , Stanford University


    Dr. Ikeno is a Researcher, Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University. In this role, he is responsible for pre clinical studies including GLP for medical devices and also regenerative medicines for cardiovascular diseases. Currently, he is devoting himself to the international regulatory project between Japan and the United States, also known as "Harmonization by Doing", whose focus is to collaborate with regulatory agencies such as FDA, PMDA/MHLW, academia and industries for improving the regulatory process in the 2 largest medtech markets. Dr. Ikeno also devoted himself to found Japan biodesign program which is a collaborative program with University of Tokyo, Osaka University, Tohoku University, Japan Federation Medical Device Association, Ministry of Education Japan and Stanford biodesign program. Currently, Dr. Ikeno serves as the Program Director (US) for Japan Biodesign. Dr. Ikeno is co-founder and board member of US-Japan MedTech Frontier which is a non-profit cooperate to make a trans-pacific eco-system of medical device between Japan and USA.

    After 9 years clinical practice as an interventional cardiologist and Family Doctor in rural areas of Japan, Dr. Ikeno came to Stanford as a Researcher and completed his Biodesign Certificate Program. Being part of the ecosystem in Silicon Valley, Dr. Ikeno participated in more than 200 medtech projects and 50 GLP studies as well as in the analysis of clinical trials for cardiovascular medicine (BARI2D, FAME, ReOPEN etc). His other academic consortium projects include Peripheral Academic Research Consortium, Global Consensus Working Group of Optical Coherence Tomography, and Japan-US consensus document for the treatment of critical limb ischemia.

    Over the last decade, Dr. Ikeno has served as an advisor for medical device industries and currently serves as a chief medical officer of an incubation fund specific for medtech (Medventure Partners, Inc, Tokyo) as a spin-off from Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) that is the largest government and private partnership fund in Japan. He is also serving as a chair of cardiovascular working group of APAN (Asian Pacific Advanced Network) that contributes the remote education, research activities, and tele-health using a specialized internet network. Dr.Ikeno is also serving as consulting faculty/lecturer roles in several universities in Japan including University of Tokyo, Osaka University, Tsukuba University etc. Dr. Ikeno has authored over 70 peer reviewed publications and textbooks and has been invited to lecture at international medical conferences. Dr. Ikeno is a council member of U.S.- Japan Council which is a non-profit organization by Japanese American. He is serving as a mentor for START-X MED which is an accelerating program for Stanford related entrepreneurs in medical fields.

    Contact Information


    Falk CVRC CV007
    300 Pasteur Drive
    Palo Alto, CA 94305-5406

  • Kathy Johnson

    Kathy Johnson

    Executive Administrator, SPARK at Stanford

    Current Role at StanfordProgram Administrator, SPARK at Stanford
    Executive Admin to:
    Daria Mochly-Rosen, Professor
    Kevin V. Grimes, Professor - Teaching
    Department of Chemical & Systems Biology

  • Jeewon Sylvia Kim

    Jeewon Sylvia Kim

    Program Manager, SPARK at Stanford

    Current Role at StanfordProgram manager for SPARK Translational Science Program overseeing educational seminar series, managing projects and facilitating SPARK global operations.

  • Bruce Koch, Ph.D.

    Bruce Koch, Ph.D.

    Director of High-Throughput Screening

    Current Role at StanfordDirector, ChEM-H/CSB High Throughput Screening Group
    Staff Lead, IMA HTS Module

    Adviser to the SPARK Program

  • Joanna E. Liliental, PhD

    Joanna E. Liliental, PhD

    Director, TRAM, M-TRAM, TASC, Med/TRAM

    Current Role at StanfordExecutive Director, Master's in TRAM (M-TRAM)
    https://med.stanford.edu/tram/masters-program.html

    Director, Translational Applications Service Center (TASC)
    http://tasc.stanford.edu

    Associate Director, Translational Research and Applied Medicine (TRAM) Program
    http://tram.stanford.edu

    Senior Research Scientist, Stanford School of Medicine

    Instructor of University Courses: MED221,MED121, MED212A

    Member, Stanford Cancer Institute

  • Xin Liu

    Xin Liu

    Basic Life Science Research Scientist, Genetics

    BioXin Liu is a postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Genetics at Stanford University. Xin holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her basic research interests include RNA and protein biochemistry, enzymology, cancer immunology, and autoimmune disease. She has published papers in several prestigious journals in the field of biochemistry, including Nature Communications, Journal of American Chemical Society, and Nucleic Acids Research. The highlight of her multidisciplinary research includes the development of high-throughput enzymatic methods to discover anti-microbial agents and to reveal mechanisms behind human mitochondrial diseases, as well as innovative applications of genome engineering and machine-learning to decode principles of RNA editing in human cells. Her current research focuses on the mechanistic study of innate immune pathways.

  • Antonio Meola, MD, PhD

    Antonio Meola, MD, PhD

    BioAntonio Meola M.D. Ph.D graduated Summa cum Laude and Research Honors at the University of Pisa, Italy, in 2008, and completed his residency training in Neurosurgery at the same Institution in July 2015. Dr Meola attended a Ph.D. program at the University of Florence, Italy, where he discussed a doctoral thesis entitled "A New Head-Mounted Display-based Augmented Reality System in Neurosurgical Oncology: a study on phantom".
    Since 2/2014 to 1/2015 Dr Meola completed a Research Fellowship in Neurosurgical anatomy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), under the Direction of Dr. Juan C. Fernandez-Miranda. The main focus of his research was the surgical neuroanatomy of the white matter tracts of the human brain.
    Since 7/2015 to 6/2016 Dr Meola served as Clinical Fellow in Image-Guided Neurosurgery at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, in Boston, MA (Director: Dr. Alexandra J. Golby M.D.). During the fellowship, he focused on the clinical application and integration of advanced imaging techniques, including intraoperative-MRI, intraoperative US, functional MRI, tractography.
    Since 7/2016 to 6/2017 Dr Meola completed a Neurosurgical Oncology Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH, devoting his efforts to minimally-invasive neurosurgical techniques, such as Laser interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (Gamma Knife), as well as to awake neurosurgery.
    Starting 7/2017, Dr Meola joined the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford. Dr. Meola mainly focuses on conventional and innovative treatments for brain and skull base tumors, including both surgery and stereotactic radiosurgery (CyberKnife).

  • Pardis Miri

    Pardis Miri

    Basic Life Research Scientist, Genetics

    BioPardis Miri, PhD, is a Research Scientist and former Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, where she develops technology aimed at improving mental well-being. She holds a PhD in Computer Science and has extensive training in affective science under Professor James J. Gross. Pardis leads a multidisciplinary team (http://wehab.stanford.edu
    ) conducting clinical and real-world studies to assess how wearable technologies can reduce stress and enhance glymphatic flow in early-stage Alzheimer’s patients.

    During her postdoctoral work, Pardis served as the principal investigator of FAR, a multi-disciplinary project to design, build, and evaluate an end-to-end wearable system for children with emotion dysregulation, including those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. FAR aims to support more adaptive emotion-regulation strategies through a combination of systems design and behavioral research.

    Pardis is advised by Professors Michael Snyder, Keith Marzullo, and James J. Gross, and collaborates with Professor Antonio Hardan of the Stanford School of Medicine on research involving children with autism spectrum disorder.

  • Dhriti Nagar

    Dhriti Nagar

    Postdoctoral Scholar, Neonatal and Developmental Medicine

    BioPremature birth is a leading cause of developmental and neuropsychiatric disorders in children. One of the factors causing these defects is lowered levels of available oxygen (hypoxia) in the newborn due to immature lungs. My research focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying hypoxia-induced developmental disorders of the nervous system due to preterm birth.

  • Michitaka Nakano

    Michitaka Nakano

    Basic Life Research Scientist, Medicine - Med/Hematology

    BioI am a MD/PhD postdoctoral fellow and medical oncologist with a long-standing interest in translational cancer research. My long-term goal is to be a lab-based physician-scientist and independent academic researcher, translating basic cancer research, and mentoring next-generation scientists. My thesis work in Japan focused on cancer stem cell equilibrium by uniquely applying organoid culture as a method to elucidate cancer stem cell dynamics, which was awarded in Japanese Cancer Association. Along with the development of the field represented by success in T cell checkpoint, my interest gradually shifted to immune oncology while I examined numerous numbers of cancer patients as a medical oncology fellow. My postdoctoral fellowship at Calvin Kuo Lab in Stanford (2019-present) focuses on tumor immune microenvironment. Kuo lab developed a unique 3D air-liquid interface (ALI) organoid system that cultures tumors while preserving their endogenous infiltrating immune cells (T,B ,NK, Myeloid cells). My postdoctoral work will prove the significance of organoids as a translational tool to discover tumor-immune interaction by novel checkpoint inhibitors for immune cells, which can be broadly applicable to basic cancer biology, precision medicine, therapeutics validation and biomarker discovery.

  • Kouta Niizuma

    Kouta Niizuma

    Basic Life Research Scientist, Stem Cell Bio Regenerative Med Institute

    BioI am a Research Scientist in Prof. Hiromitsu Nakauchi's laboratory at Stanford University. I obtained my PhD in Immunology from the University of Tsukuba, Japan. During my doctoral studies in Prof. Akira Shibuya's laboratory, I focused on the characterization of cell surface receptors expressed on immune cells. I successfully cloned a novel human immunoglobulin-like receptor, CD300H, and established a specific monoclonal antibody. My research demonstrated that CD300H is expressed on a subset of human monocytes and dendritic cells and plays a crucial role in enhancing inflammation by promoting the production of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines.

    During my PhD, I also studied as a visiting scholar in Prof. Lewis L. Lanier's laboratory at UCSF, where I investigated the role of the activating receptor NKG2D on NK cells in viral immunity.

    Since May 2018, I have been a member of the Nakauchi lab. My current research focuses on the development of new immunotherapies using myeloid cells derived from iPS cells, the generation of monoclonal antibodies, and hematopoietic stem cell biology.

  • Esa Rasanen

    Esa Rasanen

    Visiting Scholar, Chemical and Systems Biology Operations
    Affiliate, SPARK at Stanford

    BioI am a Professor of Physics at Tampere University with a background in quantum physics and dynamics, and broad experience in multidisciplinary research at the interface of physics, engineering, and medical sciences. My work has increasingly focused on computational cardiology, electrocardiography, and physiological signal analysis, where our team develops algorithms and software for extracting clinically meaningful information from complex biosignals. I have been involved in both academic research and applied innovation, including clinical validation studies and technology translation in healthcare and wearables. I am particularly interested in problems where rigorous physical modeling, data-driven methods, and real-world medical applications intersect.

  • Sean Paul Spencer, MD,PhD

    Sean Paul Spencer, MD,PhD

    Assistant Professor of Medicine (Gastroenterology and Hepatology)

    BioSean Spencer, MD,PhD is a Gastroenterologist and Physician Scientist at Stanford University working to uncover the role of dietary intake on the gut microbiome and mucosal immune system. Sean obtained his medical degree University of Pennsylvania, earning his PhD studying nutritional immunology with Yasmine Belkaid,PhD at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), after which he moved to Boston for residency training at Massachusetts General Hospital and completed his Gastroenterology training at Stanford University. Sean’s career goal is to study mechanisms by which dietary intake influences our microbiome and immune system to better understand and treat gastrointestinal disease. Sean has launched a microbiome-focused clinical practice at Stanford where he is working to develop novel microbiome diagnostics and microbial medicines.

  • Yonatan Winetraub

    Yonatan Winetraub

    Instructor, Structural Biology

    Current Research and Scholarly InterestsMy interests span non-invasive imaging for early cancer diagnosis and space exploration.
    I'm focusing on utilizing Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and machine learning to create virtual histology tools to image cancer non invasively at a single cell resolution, allowing physicians to skip biopsy (read more about the research). Prior to my PhD at Stanford, I co-founded SpaceIL, a non-profit organization that launched the first private interplanetary robotic mission to the Moon launched 2019.