Stanford University
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Raya Saab
Lindhard Family Professor of Pediatric Cancer Biology
BioI am a pediatric oncologist, and I primarily treat children who are diagnosed with soft tissue sarcomas including rhabdomyosarcoma, and children diagnosed with the eye tumor retinoblastoma, as well as children with other solid tumors.
I have two very different areas of primary research interest, both of which I pursue with passion. One focuses on global oncology, including clinical and research resource capacity building towards effective treatment and improving outcomes of children with cancer worldwide. I work with collaborators across the globe towards a common goal of improving access to diagnostic and clinical care, training of multidisciplinary teams, and building clinical resources and research capacity to develop context-informed approaches to improving cancer care and achieving better outcomes for children diagnosed with cancer irrespective of where they happen to live.
My parallel research interest, which is the focus of my laboratory, is understanding oncogenic signaling in pediatric soft tissue sarcomas, in an effort to clarify the driving biology and determinants of metastatic disease, to uncover novel targets for more effective treatment. We use preclinical in vitro and in vivo models, including murine and human cell lines, and mouse models of cancer. We have recently uncovered a paracrine role for rhabdomyosarcoma-secreted exosomes in impacting biology of stromal cells. Rhabdomyosarcoma-derived exosomes carry specific miRNA cargo that imparts an invasive and migratory phenotype on normal recipient fibroblasts, and proteomic analysis revealed specific and unique pathways relevant to the two different molecular rhabdomyosarcoma subtypes that are driven by distinct oncogenic pathways. We identified that the driver oncogene in fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma, PAX3-FOXO1, modulates exosome cargo to promote invasion, migration, and angiogenic properties, and identified specific microRNA and protein cargo acting as effectors of PAX3-FOXO1 exosome-mediated signaling, including modulation of oxidative stress response and cell survival signaling. Our ongoing work is focused on interrogating specific paracrine signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms of metastatic disease progression in rhabdomyosarcoma, for potential therapeutic targeting. -
Nojus Saad
Masters Student in Clinical Informatics Management, admitted Summer 2026
BioNojus Saad, MD, is a physician-entrepreneur and digital health diplomat dedicated to engineering health justice through scalable digital systems. As a volunteer humanitarian advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), he co-develops global adolescent health indicators adopted by the World Bank, UNFPA, UN H6+ Partners, and UN Member States. His leadership in rural and LMIC communities across Iraq, India, and France is anchored by his role as a former founder and executive at the Youth For Women Foundation, where he spearheaded 45 youth-led initiatives directly impacting the lives of 18,500 women and young people.
Dr. Saad’s diplomatic expertise spans health and security, having served as UN Youth Ambassador for Disarmament and Biosecurity (UNODA) and as the MENA Youth Lead for the Swiss-based DTH-Lab. Through these mandates, he mobilized coalitions across 12 MENA countries to integrate digital innovation into national health agendas. This high-level advocacy is validated by his track record as a systems architect; in 2021, he orchestrated a digital health literacy and COVID-19 misinformation initiative for rural and displaced populations. By building the digital capacity of NGO leaders and youth, he empowered grassroots networks to execute 15 targeted awareness campaigns, reaching 10,000 women and youth to strengthen their access to reliable health services.
Looking ahead, Dr. Saad aspires to build a coordinated, all-in-one digital health platform connecting Iraq’s public and private healthcare sectors. The envisioned system would use interoperable electronic health records and data-driven referral matching to streamline patient pathways and connect individuals with high-quality, cost-effective care both within Iraq and internationally, including the United States and France. His long-term vision is to help unify fragmented healthcare systems and improve access to specialized care.
A Knight-Hennessy Scholar and former advisor to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, Dr. Saad holds an MD with executive diplomatic training from the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm School of Economics. At Stanford MCiM, he is refining the technical and managerial frameworks necessary to lead the next generation of inclusive, tech-driven health systems in LMICs. -
Chiara Sabatti
Professor of Biomedical Data Science and of Statistics
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsStatistical models and reasoning are key to our understanding of the genetic basis of human traits. Modern high-throughput technology presents us with new opportunities and challenges. We develop statistical approaches for high dimensional data in the attempt of improving our understanding of the molecular basis of health related traits.
