Stanford University
Showing 1-10 of 10 Results
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Valeria Ramirez Castaneda
Postdoctoral Scholar, Economics
BioValeria Ramírez Castañeda is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the King Center on Global Development. Her research explores the intersection of urbanization, sustainability, and disease ecology, with a focus on Amazonian cities. She studies how urban expansion interacts with environmental change and vector-borne disease dynamics, using participatory research approaches to co-develop solutions with local communities. In addition to her ecological research, she examines the dominance of English in science and its structural consequences, working to promote more inclusive and multilingual scientific practices. Ramírez-Castañeda received her PhD in evolutionary biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Rafael Rivera Lugo
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioRafael Rivera-Lugo is a Stanford Science Fellow postdoctoral associate in the Department of Biology and the ChEM-H Institute at Stanford University, where he works in the laboratory of Christine Jacobs-Wagner. His postdoctoral research focuses on how the Lyme disease bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi establishes infection using novel mouse models to dissect the immune and cellular mechanisms that drive tissue pathology during infection. He is also developing metabolically active, non-replicating bacterial platforms for vaccine applications.
Rafael completed his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, in the laboratory of Daniel A. Portnoy. His doctoral work revealed how the intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes acquires and utilizes flavins (riboflavin derivatives) during infection, reshaping our understanding of bacterial metabolism and immune evasion. This work produced multiple high-impact publications in journals including PNAS, eLife, Nature, and mBio, and was recognized with the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award and the Nicholas Cozzarelli Prize. He received his B.S. in Biology and Biotechnology, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Puerto Rico at Ponce.
Beyond research, Rafael is deeply committed to expanding access to scientific careers. He has mentored students from historically underserved communities through programs at Stanford and UC Berkeley, co-founded organizations to support peers navigating academic science, and has been a consistent advocate for creating welcoming and rigorous scientific environments for all students. -
Anders Rydstrom
Postdoctoral Scholar, Biology
BioAnders Rydstrom is a Postdoctoral Scholar with the Natural Capital Project and is investigating the links between exposure to nature areas and health. His research primarily focuses on conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with uses of multimodal data sources such as accelerometers, ecological momentary assessments, behavioral outcomes and biometric health data. Anders received his Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, where he analyzed heterogeneity of treatment effects in lifestyle oriented RCT’s for prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease and cognitive impairment. He has also conducted research within cognitive training and emotion regulation. He holds an M.Sc. in psychology from Lund University, Lund, Sweden and has also clinical experience from working as a licensed healthcare psychologist in Scandinavia.
