School of Medicine
Showing 61-67 of 67 Results
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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 Institutet in Stockholm. She became an Assistant Professor in their Clinical Epidemiology Unit in 2011, and was later honored with a Karolinska Institutet 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 Institutet, she joined Stanford’s Epidemiology faculty in 2013. Dr. Simard studies outcomes such as malignancy, stroke, infection, and mortality, in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases with a focus on systemic lupus erythematosus. Recently her primary research focus has shifted to the intersection between reproductive epidemiology and rheumatic disease fueled 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. Dr. Simard was awarded a Peter Joseph Pappas Research Grant from the Preeclampsia Foundation for her lab's work examining preeclampsia risk in high-risk populations, and a McCormick Faculty Award from Stanford Medicine to take important steps towards disentangling preeclampsia from lupus nephritis. Dr. Simard is leading 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.
In addition to these issues of misclassification in reproductive rheumatology questions, Dr. Simard's lab is also interested in how misclassification, missed opportunities, and misdiagnosis contribute to disparities in complex conditions such as systemic lupus. 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. Dr. Simard was recently awarded an R01 from NIH (NIAID) to study the role of cognitive errors in clinical decision making for female-predominant diseases including lupus. -
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
Current 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. -
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.
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Dee W. West
Professor of Health Research and Policy, Emeritus
Current Research and Scholarly Interests- Cancer etiology (diet, familial, genetic), especially breast, prostate and colon cancer
- Cancer surveillance (Cancer registration, cancer patterns)
- Cancer outcomes (Survival, quality of life, quality of care) -
Alice S Whittemore
Professor of Health Research and Policy (Epidemiology) and of Biomedical Data Science, Emerita
Professor Emerita, Epidemiology and Population HealthCurrent Research and Scholarly InterestsCancers of the prostate, breast and ovary account for a major proportion of new cancer cases and cancer deaths in the U.S. each year. Our recent research focus has been on developing improved statistical methods for the design and conduct of studies involving hereditary predisposition and modifiable lifestyle characteristics in the etiologies of site-specific cancers.
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Michelle Williams, ScD
Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health
BioMichelle A. Williams, ScD, is Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health and Associate Chair for Academic Affairs in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University, School of Medicine.
Dr. Williams' research focuses primarily on reproductive and perinatal epidemiology. Over three decades, she has integrated epidemiological, biological, and molecular approaches into rigorously designed research that has advanced understanding of placental abruption, gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia. Her research methodology includes: (1) identifying literature gaps; (2) developing robust epidemiological data systems across North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and South America; and (3) integrating biochemical and molecular biomarkers into these platforms. She has effectively utilized various epidemiology study designs to investigate adverse reproductive and perinatal outcomes. Her consistent goal has been using biological and molecular biomarkers as objective measures of exposures and validated pre-clinical determinants of outcomes with clinical and global health significance. In 2019, in partnership with Apple Inc. and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, she co-designed and currently co-leads the Apple Women's Health Study, a large-scale digital national study examining determinants of women's gynecological health.
Dr. Williams has advanced knowledge of understudied gynecological, obstetric, and perinatal outcomes while identifying novel risk factors. Her research has been funded by multiple NIH R01s, R03s, an SBIR, and HRSA grants, and she has served as co-investigator on numerous other grants. She has published over 540 peer-reviewed scientific articles and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2016. In 2020, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and was recognized by PR Week as one of the top 50 health influencers of the year.
Dr. Williams has been recognized for her excellence in teaching, as the recipient of the 2015 Harvard Chan School’s Outstanding Mentor Award, the UW’s Brotman Award for excellence in teaching (2007), the American Public Health Association’s Abraham Lilienfeld Award for education in epidemiology (2007), and the White House’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (2012).
Before joining Stanford, Dr. Williams served as Dean of the Faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Prior to her deanship, she was Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard Chan School and Program Leader of Population Health and Health Disparities Research Programs at Harvard's Clinical and Translational Sciences Center.
Dr. Williams previously had a distinguished career at the University of Washington School of Public Health. She holds an undergraduate degree in biology and genetics from Princeton University, a master's in civil engineering from Tufts University, and master's and doctoral degrees in epidemiology from the Harvard Chan School. -
John Witte
Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, of Biomedical Data Science and of Genetics
BioDr. Witte joined the Stanford community in July 2021. In addition to serving as Vice Chair and professor in the Department of Epidemiology & Population Health, and as a professor of Biomedical Data Science and, by courtesy, of Genetics, he will also serve as a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute.
Dr. Witte is an internationally recognized expert in genetic epidemiology. His scholarly contributions include deciphering the genetic and environmental basis of prostate cancer and developing widely used methods for the genetic epidemiologic study of disease. His prostate cancer work has used comprehensive genome-wide studies of germline genetics, transcriptomics, and somatic genomics to successfully detect novel variants underlying the risk and aggressiveness of this common disease. A key aspect of this work has been distinguishing genetic factors that may drive increased prostate cancer risk and mortality among African American men. Providing an avenue to determine which men are more likely to be diagnosed with clinically relevant prostate cancer and require additional screening or specific treatment can help reduce disparities in disease prevalence and outcomes across populations. Dr. Witte has also developed novel hierarchical and polygenic risk score modeling for undertaking genetic epidemiology studies. These advances significantly improve our ability to detect disease-causing genes and to translate genetic epidemiologic findings into medical practice.
Dr. Witte has received the Leadership Award from the International Genetic Epidemiology Society (highest award), and the Stephen B. Hulley Award for Excellence in Teaching. His extensive teaching portfolio includes a series of courses in genetic and molecular epidemiology. He has mentored over 50 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, serves on the executive committees of multiple graduate programs, and has directed a National Institutes of Health funded post-doctoral training program in genetic epidemiology for over 20 years. Recently appointed to the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Counselors, Dr. Witte has been continuously supported by the National Institutes of Health.