School of Medicine
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Hector Rodrigo Mendez
Postdoctoral Scholar, Cardiovascular Medicine
BioDr. Hector Rodrigo Mendez is a Medical Geneticist from Argentina. Rodrigo completed a residency program in Medical Genetics at Centro Nacional de Genetica Medica – ANLIS (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and a Master’s program in Medical Molecular Biology at Buenos Aires University.
Rodrigo continued his scientific career at a German Genomic Start-up, working as a human geneticist and providing his experience in rare disorders, genomic data (WGS/WES/gene panels) analysis, variant interpretation, and its integration with a deep focus on genotype-phenotype correlation.
Rodrigo’s areas of expertise are rare disorders, NGS technology, Whole Genome Sequencing analysis, and ACMG interpretation guidelines, and his research aims are:
- Collection and analysis of clinical data through deep-learning phenotyping approaches.
- Multi-omic data integration to elucidate complex and rare genetic disorders.
- Drive progress in curing rare genetic diseases, particularly among critically sick infants.
At Stanford University, under the supervision of Dr. Matthew Wheeler, he is conducting his postdoctoral research studies to achieve his scientific goals. -
Samuel Montalvo Hernandez
Postdoctoral Scholar, Cardiovascular Medicine
BioAs a clinical exercise physiologist and sport biomechanist, I am dedicated to advancing human exercise and sports performance. I hold certifications as a Performance and Sport Scientist (CPSS) and as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist with Distinction (CSCS, *D) from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). In 2022, I was honored with the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship and a T32 Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Research Training in Myocardial Biology (TIMBS) at Stanford University.
My research focuses on understanding the mechanical, molecular, and physiological mechanisms that underpin human performance. I am also committed to developing innovative and practical training methods to enhance exercise and sports performance. Currently, I am a member of the Stanford Bioinformatics Core, contributing to the NIH-funded Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) project. In this capacity, I analyze extensive clinical and exercise datasets, as well as multi-omic, multi-tissue, multi-exercise modality, and multi-species data, to uncover new insights into the biological mechanisms of physical activity and its impact on human health and performance.
In addition to my primary research focus, I collaborate with several teams at Stanford on projects involving Sports and Electrocardiography, Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, Exercise and Neuromuscular Disease, and the Stanford Baseball Team.
Beyond research, I am deeply committed to teaching and mentoring. As a first-generation college graduate and a Mexican-American with Indigenous heritage, I bring a unique perspective to my work, which informs my dedication to creating supportive and inclusive spaces for underrepresented groups in science and education. I serve as a Post-Doc Mentoring Coach in collaboration with the Stanford Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, where I facilitate bi-weekly workshops on mentoring for postdocs. I am also part of the Stanford PRISM program, which promotes opportunities for postdoctoral scholars. Furthermore, I mentor prospective and current medical students through the MAVERICs program (Metascience Analyses and Explorations of Reproducibility in Cardiovascular Science) as part of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, supporting their growth in cardiovascular research.
These experiences reflect my dedication to fostering an inclusive and supportive academic environment. My long-term goal is to become a professor, combining my passion for research, education, and mentoring the next generation of scientists to advance the fields of exercise physiology, multi-omics, and sports science. -
Connor Galen O'Brien
Postdoctoral Medical Fellow, Cardiovascular Medicine
BioDr. O'Brien is a native of Menlo Park, CA. He attended medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. At Columbia he was elected to both Alpha Omega Alpha and Gold Humanism Honors Societies. He completed an Internal Medicine residency as well as fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. In his third year of fellowship, he was selected Chief Cardiology Fellow.
He is currently a post-doctoral fellow performing regenerative medicine research, specifically studying the role of exosomes in treating cardiomyopathy. In addition to his basic science research, he is also involved in human clinical trials investigating the role of stem cells in treating various forms of cardiomyopathy. -
Disha Sharma
Postdoctoral Scholar, Cardiovascular Medicine
BioI am a computational biologist with more than 12 years of extensive experience aiming to pursue career in developing translational medicine- and healthcare-oriented solutions. I have Ph.D. in bioinformatics with technical expertise for next-generation sequencing assays, genome-wide association studies, bulk and single-cell multi-omics analysis, R, python, shell Scripting, cloud computing, Data structure and algorithms, as well as machine and deep learning algorithms. I have solid background in genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics and metagenomics. I have worked with both complex and rare genetic disorders performing data analysis, data interpretation, data curation with clinical data and databases.
I am presently a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University for 4 years now where my main focus is to understand the genetic risks of cardiometabolic diseases using GWAS, integrating modalities including single-cell multiomics, CRISPR perturbation datasets. I am working on building machine learning models and use statistical genetics tools using large biobanks including UKBiobank, AllofUS and MVP. -
Laurens van de Wiel
Postdoctoral Scholar, Cardiovascular Medicine
BioI am a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University under supervision of Matthew Wheeler and Stephen Montgomery. My research focuses on understanding the entire spectrum of genetic variation effects on protein function and structure in order to decipher molecular mechanisms of disease.
My post-doctoral work centers on developing novel software methodologies which combine multi-omics data to interpret the functional impact of genetic variants in undiagnosed patients. I am part of the Undiagnosed Disease Network (UDN) at Stanford Center for Undiagnosed Diseases (CUD), Genomics Research to Elucidate the Genetics of Rare Diseases (GREGoR) consortium at GREGoR Stanford Site (GSS), and the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) at the Bioinformatics Center (BIC).
Before joining Stanford. I was received my Ph.D. in 2021 at the Radboud University Medical Center under supervision of Christian Gilissen, Gert Vriend, and Joris Veltman. I received my MSc degree in 2014 at Radboud University under supervision of Tom Heskes, Evgeni Levin, and Armand Paauw. Before my Ph.D, I worked as a Data Scientist at FLXone, where I developed machine learning solutions within a large-scale, real-time infrastructure.
Research
I am interested in a variety of topics in Bioinformatics and Computer Science. In particular, I am interested in the application of Artificial Intelligence and Statistical Modelling to analyse human (Rare) Mendelian Disease Genetics, Evolutionary Comparative Genomics, Protein Domain Homology, and Molecular Structures.
