School of Medicine
Showing 101-128 of 128 Results
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Maira Tafolla
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioMaira Tafolla, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral scholar working under the supervision of Dr. Somer Bishop in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. She received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2025. Her research interests span several areas related to individuals with developmental conditions, including assessment, treatment of individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities, caregiver mental health and well-being, and facilitators and barriers to service access among underserved families. Dr. Tafolla is bilingual and is a certified ADOS-2 trainer in both Spanish and English.
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Niloofar Taheri
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioDr. Niloofar Taheri is a postdoctoral researcher (MD, Inv) in the Mignot Lab at Stanford University, where she conducts research in sleep medicine and neuroimmunology. Her work has been recognized with Gold Medals at international invention competitions, including the IFIA Members’ Competition for developing a novel diagnostic and therapeutic approach to neurodegenerative disorders, and the 2025 American Innovation Exhibition (AIIE) in San Diego, where she received a Gold Medal and Special Prize for designing a medication to improve the treatment of brain metastases in breast cancer. Most recently, she won a Gold Medal at the 2025 Kaohsiung International Invention & Design Expo (KIDE), for a patent on a novel diagnostic method for the early detection of major depressive disorder (MDD).
She brings experience in clinical practice, co-founding an autoimmune society, and developing wet-lab models. She is also a verified peer reviewer for psychiatry and neuroscience journals. -
Sakura Tanaka
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioDr. Tanaka is a postdoctoral scholar advised by Dr. Nirao Shah in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. She received her PhD in Marine and Estuarine Environmental Sciences from the University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2022. After transitioning from aquaculture science to neuroscience, she now studies how reproductive states reshape the neural circuits that govern the body's behavioral and physiological demands, integrating molecular biology, bioinformatics, neuroscience, and reproductive biology.
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Colin Alexandr Tidwell
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioColin A. Tidwell (he/they) is a Clinical Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Tidwell received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona and completed his predoctoral clinical internship at the Washington, D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Clinically, Dr. Tidwell provides evidence-based and identity-affirming care to adults and adolescents. His clinical practice uses an integrative theoretical orientation centered on meeting his patients where they are. He has extensive training in supporting the identity development of sexually and gender diverse individuals as well as in early psychosis intervention. Dr. Tidwell enjoys working with these populations as well as working with patients navigating serious mental illness, trauma, anxiety, and depression.
Dr. Tidwell’s research focuses on the intersection of minoritized stress, daily social interactions, and mental health outcomes among LGBTQ+ populations. Dr. Tidwell has also published in the area of training health service psychologists. He his uses observational ambulatory assessment methodologies, including the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), to capture real-world social dynamics and behavior. His scholarship has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Behavior Research Methods. -
Xun Tu
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsAs a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Erin Gibson’s lab, I am integrating my expertise in molecular signaling and systems neuroscience to study the role of OPCs in sleep. My interest in sleep has been further reinforced by observing the dramatic shifts in sleep architecture across developmental stages as a new parent, highlighting the necessity of sleep for neural refinement. My current research uses in vivo calcium imaging and closed-loop optogenetics to determine how OPC-neuron communication coordinates hippocampal sharp-wave ripples. By characterizing how aging blunts OPC responsiveness to sleep, I aim to identify novel strategies to preserve memory and promote healthy cognitive aging.
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Masataka Wada
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioDr. Masataka (he/him/his) is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a board-certified psychiatrist and holds a PhD in neuroscience.
His clinical and research interests center on psychiatric disorders in treatment-resistant conditions. To address these challenges, Dr. Masataka is engaged in exploring electrophysiological, neuroimaging, and neuromodulation techniques, including repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) and Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). He spearheaded a significant Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) that involved 180 patients with treatment-resistant depression, aiming to develop an innovative rTMS-based treatment. His efforts have led to him receiving awards at international conferences on three occasions for his significant contributions.
Dr. Masataka's scholarly work includes publications on the electrophysiological characteristics of psychiatric disorders and the effects of neuromodulation on clinical symptoms and neuroimaging features. Additionally, he has been the recipient of two scholarships and three grants, further highlighting his contributions to the field. -
Zongyi Wang
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsSleep disruptions in neurodegenerative disorders
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Sara Wilkerson
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioI am a postdoctoral fellow specializing in the treatment of OCD, anxiety and depressive disorders using a cognitive-behavioral framework. My research centers on the accurate assessment of internalizing disorders, as well as the etiology of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders. I welcome "cold" emails for all professional inquiries.
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Ruohan Xia
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioRuohan's research centers around understanding the genetic and environmental mechanisms supporting infants' and young children's socioemotional development through the lens of developmental cognitive neuroscience. Her PhD research focused on uncovering he neural and caregiver correlates on infants' emotion-perception neural circuitry during live interactions in typically developing children using electroencephalogram (EEG). At Stanford, she is pursuing research questions using a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and EEG to identify the endophenotype of the neural anatomy and function in children with rare genetic conditions such as neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and Noonan Syndrome (NS) differ from typically developing counterparts, and explore how such neural differences may lead to unique developmental trajectory of social communication.
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Kanhao (Alex) Zhao
Postdoctoral Scholar, Psychiatry
BioDr. Zhao is a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University specializing in computational neuroscience, neuroimaging, and integrative multi-omics approaches to brain health. His research integrates supervised and unsupervised machine learning, functional neuroimaging, microbiome sequencing, metabolomics, and large-scale clinical datasets (e.g., Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) to investigate how modifiable risk factors such as obesity, diet, and gut dysbiosis contribute to accelerated brain aging, cognitive vulnerability, and psychiatric symptoms.
His work focuses on developing multimodal frameworks that combine functional brain connectivity, cognitive and emotional phenotyping, microbiome profiles, and metabolomic signatures to uncover biological mechanisms underlying early cognitive decline and neuropsychiatric disorders. Through these approaches, Dr. Zhao aims to identify personalized intervention strategies—including dietary modification, microbiome-targeted therapies, and metabolite-guided treatments—to mitigate obesity-related brain aging and reduce the risk of cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, and depression.
In addition to translational neuroscience research, Dr. Zhao develops machine learning and computational methods for biomarker discovery, disease prediction, and precision psychiatry. His recent work also explores autonomous AI research agents and self-improving computational systems for large-scale neuroimaging and multi-omics foundational analysis. His publications were in online Nature Mental Health, Molecular Psychiatry, JAMA Network Open. He serves as a peer reviewer for leading journals, including Nature Mental Health, Medical Image Analysis, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, npj Digital Health, and Neuropsychopharmacology.
