Meet our Mentors
Our Mentors are the backbone of the 1st Generation Mentorship Program. Below is an evolving and growing list of our 1st Gen Mentors. They have been sorted according to their mentoring interests. Please read below for more information.
This program is absolutely incredible! This is the first that I've heard of a community explicitly for first generation graduate/medical students. I think this is critical because we go through specific hardships that some other groups might not experience exactly as we do, and it is great to have the support of people who understand.
I like that the program tries to match you to a mentor that can support your career goals. I also liked that this past year, there were more workshops and seminars for those involved in this program. These type of events gave me a sense of community at Stanford, in addition to having the support from a mentor.
Interested in becoming a mentor?
Many successful professionals have had, early on, one or more mentors who made a big difference in helping them achieve early success. Our graduate students, and especially those who are first generation, will benefit greatly from expert guidance throughout their academic journey.
Being a mentor has its benefits. First, sharing your passions, you can help to set the tone for students entering their professional careers. Mentors learn things about themselves as well; their career benefits, and, when thinking about the impact on someone else’s life, mentors feel like they are doing something that matters deeply and personally.
Pay it forward. Bridge the generation gap. Become a mentor.
(Please note that, while we greatly value our mentor community, not all mentors will be matched directly with a student. We need a diverse pool of mentors so that they best suit the needs of our mentees.)
I had a really rough time in my winter rotation, and my mentor has been very useful in helping me choose my rotation labs. He met with me during winter to talk about how to deal with my situation and what to do for my spring rotation. It has been amazing to have his perspective because he has mentored a lot of students.
I really enjoyed the [opening] event. The students were lovely and a joy to meet. As I reviewed the evening, I realized I would be happy to mentor two students! You're doing a wonderful thing. I'm happy to help any way I can.
Judy Chang, MD, FAASM, D, ABSM
Judy Chang, MD, FAASM, D, ABSM is a board-certified adult neurologist as well as an adult and pediatric sleep specialist. She trained at Harvard and Stanford University, and has practiced clinical medicine in a variety of settings. She has given more than 50 presentations and plenary sessions, and received the Loma Linda University School of Medicine Neurology Residents' Day Teacher of the Year Award. Dr. Chang emphasizes patient education and behavioral and lifestyle modification in conjunction with pharmacologic management of sleep disorders.
Peter Chiu, MD '83
Dr. Peter Y. Chiu has been an adjunct clinical professor of Medicine at Stanford University Medical School since 2009. He specializes in Occupational Medicine and Family Medicine. Since 2013 he also serves on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Hearing Board as a medical expert.
In addition, he continues to serves on the California Board of Behavioral Sciences since his appointment by Governor Brown in 2013. Previously, he was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the U.S. Presidential / Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management for environmental protection from 1994-1997.
Dr. Chiu was an Occupational Medicine Department and Emergency Department physician at Kaiser Milpitas /Santa Clara from 1990 - 2012, a private practice family physician in San Jose from 1986-1990, and resident physician and chief of resident physicians at San Jose Hospital from 1983-1986. He also served as principal environmental engineer for the Association of Bay Area Governments from 1976-1979, and associate water quality management engineer at the Bay Area Sewage Services Agency from 1974-1976. He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Stanford University, as well as a Doctor of Public Health degree in Environmental Health, a Master of Public Health degree in Occupational Health, and a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering all from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Heike Daldrup-Link
I am a physician-scientist and the first doctor in my family. I grew up in a small town in the German countryside with a population of about 6,000 people. My mother was a teacher and my father an administrative manager at the nearby University. I was a quick learner and made my way from the best local schools in my area to some of the best Universities in the world. That path was not easy. I had to overcome financial, geographical and political barriers. Joining the faculty of a prestigious university like Stanford is difficult for anyone, but especially for someone who comes from the other end of the world, speaks a different language, has little resources, and is a woman. I consider myself fortunate to have made it thus far. And I want to represent a role model for any immigrant, anyone who is the first professor in their family, and any woman, that if we work hard with dedication and integrity, we can realize our full potential.
Since I came to Stanford in 2010, I established clinical and research services for children with cancer in close collaboration with our pediatric oncologists. I developed novel pediatric molecular imaging technologies in an NIH-funded basic science lab while also being involved in the clinical care of children with cancer. As a pediatric radiologist, I had the privilege of reviewing and interpreting thousands of imaging studies of pediatric patients, especially children with cancer. As a scientist, I have both uncovered basic scientific principles and brought new concepts to our patients' bedside. Through my research program and resources at Stanford, I can offer pediatric cancer patients the most advanced cancer staging procedures currently available.
Lawrence Fung, PhD '98, MD '09
Dr. Fung is a child & adolescent psychiatrist with specialized clinical training in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and advanced research training in chemical engineering, neuropsychopharmacology, and neuroimaging. He has extensive work experience in pharmaceutical research and development, including the discovery and development of a GABA(A) receptor agonist for the treatment of insomnia and anxiety. In addition to pharmacologic treatment studies in ASD and other developmental disorders, he is performing multimodal neuroimaging studies in these disorders. Dr. Fung employs state-of-the-art multimodal neuroimaging tools to study GABA neurophysiology in individuals with ASD, fragile X syndrome (FXS) and intellectual disability. He is the Principal Investigator of NIH-funded "GABAergic Neurophysiology in Autism Spectrum Disorder". His overarching goal is to dissect the neurobiology of ASD using a combination of bioanalytical, immunochemical, and multimodal imaging techniques to identify biomarkers based on specific molecular mechanisms that will inform targeted treatments for ASD.
Dr. Joseph Garner
The overarching theme of Joe's research is understanding why most drugs (and other basic science findings) fail to translate into human outcomes, the role that animal models and methodology play in in these failures, and developing new approaches to improve the translation and benefits of animal research while minimizing welfare impacts. Joe is an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Medicine, a Courtesy Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and a member of the Child Health Research Institute at Stanford University. Joe runs Stanford's Technique Refinement and Innovation Lab, which provides 3Rs support services for researchers on campus. Joe is an internationally recognized expert in the behavior and welfare of laboratory mice, including awards from the National Center for the 3Rs (UK), the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, the Swiss Laboratory Animal Science Association, and the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare. Joe also works extensively in human health, both as a researcher and an advocate. Joe's current human health research is focused on animal and human studies in autism, and animal work in trichotillomania, and skin-picking. The question driving all of this work is 'Why does one sibling become ill and another does not?', and the goal is to identify biomarkers leading to screening, prevention and personalized treatment options. Joe's advocacy work includes serving on scientific advisory boards for the Trichotillomania Learning Center, the Tourette Association of America, and the Beautiful You MRKH Foundation.
Joe's work is available via a number of different websites:
Dr. Natalia Gomez-Ospina
Dr. Gomez-Ospina was born and raised in Medellin, Colombia. She began her undergraduate studies in petroleum engineering at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia before moving to Colorado. She double majored at the University of Colorado Boulder, completing her bachelor's degree in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology as well as Biochemistry. She graduated summa cum laude and wrote an honors thesis entitled "Role of the quiescent center in the regeneration of the root cap in Zea Mays." She then completed her combined MD, PhD at Stanford Medical School, where her PhD work focused on understanding the novel functions of voltage-gated calcium channels. Her PhD thesis, "The calcium channel CACNA1C gene: multiple proteins, diverse functions," was published in Cell. After completion of her dual degrees, she did her preliminary year in internal medicine at Santa Barbara Cottage hospital before starting residency in Dermatology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She completed residency in Medical Genetics at Stanford Hospital and clinics. She is currently doing her post-doctoral research with Dr. Matthew Porteus in Pediatric Stem Cell transplantation, where she is developing a genome editing strategy in stem cells as a curative therapy for metabolic diseases. In addition to her research, Dr. Gomez-Ospina is a clinical instructor in Medical Genetics. For her clinical practice she sees patients with suspected genetic disorders, and is also in charge of the enzyme replacement service for lysosomal storage disorders at Lucile Packard Children's hospital. She has been the lead author in research studies in The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, Nature Communications, and American Journal of Medical Genetics.
Kevin Grimes, MD '82, MBA '93, MA (Pastoral Ministries) '07
My clinical focus is internal medicine, but the majority of my time is spent in translational research focusing on drug discovery and development – specifically the development of new therapeutics for unmet medical needs. I am also the Co-Director of the SPARK Program. My research interests include:
- translation of promising research discoveries into novel therapeutics and diagnostics;
- discovery and development of new drugs, biologics, and diagnostics;
- repurposing existing drugs against new targets for new clinical indications;
- developing novel therapeutics and diagnostics for neglected global health problems;
- and, the role of non-canonical amino acids in human disease.
Dr. Henry Lee
I came to the US at age seven from Korea and lived in the Chicago area during childhood. I received engineering and medical degrees from the University of Illinois and moved to California for my residency training in pediatrics and have been here since, subsequently completing fellowship in neonatology, working at community hospitals in the Bay Area in neonatal intensive care units, and now at Stanford, working at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, as well as conducting research and teaching on maternal and neonatal care at the medical school.
Dr. Ankush Madaan
Originally from India, Ankush comes from a small town called Amritsar in Northern India. He completed his Bachelors in Pharmacy from Guru Nanak Dev University in 2009. Later, he completed his Masters in 2011 from McGill University, Montreal, Canada where he worked on investigating the role of intermediates of carbohydrate metabolism in regulating retinal angiogenesis. Furthermore, he obtained his PhD from Faculty of Medicine, McGill University in 2016 under the mentorship of Dr. Sylvain Chemtob.
His graduate research focus revolved around investigating the role of intermediates of carbohydrate metabolism and orphan GPCRs in modulation of the following:
- Angiogenesis/Retinal vascular development in Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP)
- Modulation of inflammation during Preterm Labor
- Regulation of Brain angiogenesis and rescue after post hypoxic-ischemic Brain injury
He received a couple of scholarships during his stint at McGill including CIHR-DDTP, CIHR-SBTP, FRSQ-VHRN scholarship and Graduate Provost Scholarship. He worked as a Biomarkers Scientist at Charles Rivers Laboratories, one of the leading CRO's for a year after his PhD. Ankush recently joined Department of Ophthalmology, Stanford University as a Post Doctoral Researcher under the guidance of Dr. Jeffery Goldberg.
Dr. Julio Monterrey
Born in LA, grew up in east San Jose. Went to undergrad at Santa Clara University, then attended a combined MD/Masters program, receiving MD from UC Irvine along with taking medical anthropology classes to train in helping underserved populations, and then received MS in Epidemiology and Clinical Study Design from Stanford. Currently a PGY-4 Stanford Psychiatry resident, in the research track with a post-doc status.
Dr. Denise Rettenmaier
Dr. Denise Rettenmaier obtained her BS from SFSU in marine biology and whale and dolphin research; she is an internist, geriatrician and the first Stanford Geriatric Fellow to become board certified in Hospice and Palliative Care. She is third generation German Catholic immigrant, born in Oakland, California to her Kansas-bred parents; they returned to Kansas during her childhood, where she was raised close to her parents' families, including her mother's farming relatives near Wichita and especially her grandparents. Her mother was the first person to ever leave the farming life and seek education after high school, as an RN, who then encouraged her daughter to pursue medicine, empowering her to become "first generation" herself as a physician, and the only woman physician from either side of their family. A graduate of Western University's College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP), she completed the UCSF Internal Medicine residency at Highland General Hospital in the city of her birth, Oakland. Following residency she was one of the first three DO's to ever graduate from Stanford Medicine, as a Geriatric Fellow. Since then she has been serving elderly veterans at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, Napa Valley, including several years as the Medical Director of the Memory Care Center, specializing in Dementia Care.
Dr. Jonathan (Jon) Santoro
Dr. Santoro was the first in his family to pursue a career in medicine, doing his undergraduate, masters, and medical degrees at Tulane University. He moved to California for residency in pediatric neurology where he currently serves as Chief Resident. His interest is in neuroimmunology and neuroinfectious triggers of immune pathology.
Logan Schneider, MD '10
Dr. Schneider is a board-certified sleep neurologist trained in Neurology at Johns Hopkins and Sleep Medicine at Stanford University. While his routine clinical practice adeptly addresses the full breadth of sleep disorders, his primary clinical interests are in the areas of parasomnias, including REM-sleep behavior disorder and NREM parasomnias. He is also passionate about education, and has established himself within the educational community of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). Toward this end, Dr. Schneider has held many leadership roles, serving as the Chair of the Consortium of Neurology Residents and Fellows, and currently is a member of the Graduate Education Subcommittee and the Chair of the Sleep Medicine Section of the AAN, as well as the Educational Products Development Subcommittee of the AASM. In addition to a number of peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Schneider is the author of the chapter on Anatomy and Physiology of Normal Sleep in Miglis's Sleep and Neurologic Disease and is a primary author on A Manual for the Neurological Examination for Neurologists in Training with international collaborators Drs. Klaus Toyka, Joseph Classen, and Dorothee Saur. From a strategic career standpoint, Dr. Schneider is interested in heading a department, maintaining a pedagogical and research focus consistent with the training he has received at the exemplary institutions of Johns Hopkins and Stanford University.
Dr. Darvin (Scott) Smith
Darvin (Scott) Smith graduated in biochemistry from Bowdoin College in Maine and went on to study tropical public health at Harvard School of Public health before attending medical school in his home state of Colorado, where he grew up. He worked on developing diagnostic tests and epidemiology (Leishmania and Onchocerciasis) in Cali Colombia on a Fulbright scholarship before finally moving to California where he completed residency at Stanford Medical School, then a Fellowship in Infectious Disease & Geographic Medicine. He now serves as Chief of the Dept of Infectious Disease at Kaiser Permanente in Redwood City California, and he teaches several classes at Stanford.
Scott volunteers as a community neighborhood network lead in Hillsborough and works with international disaster response to vector borne disease threats as a clinical lead for MENTOR-Initiative around the world (Indonesia, Myanmar, Tanzania, Kenya, Haiti, Thailand). Scott enjoys gardening, sustainable household development, photography and wants to do a triathalon...
Lynne Sopchak, PhD
B.S. in Medical Technology, Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology from Wayne State University, Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Pathology and Oncology at Stanford University. My research interests are cancer biology, immunology and microbiology. Presently, I am a Biomedical Consultant and Scientific Analyst for the biopharmaceutical industry conducting primary market research focusing on technology development for drug discovery and biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. I also do some part-time teaching for several bay area universities and a SPARK volunteer. I enjoy swimming, sailing, hiking, theatre and creative arts.
Dr. Kirsten White
Kirsten White is a Senior Director of Biology and Clinical Virology at Gilead Sciences. She obtained her PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Stanford School of Medicine in 2001. Kirsten then joined Gilead as a post doc and has been at Gilead for 17 years. Kirsten runs a team of scientists and works with multidisciplinary teams to develop HIV antiretroviral drugs. This work involves biochemistry, mechanism of action studies, intense global regulatory writing, clinical trial design and support, the study of drug resistance, and communication of findings. Kirsten was the lead virologist for the important HIV medicines Stribild, Complera, and Biktary and is an author on over 80 manuscripts. Kirsten enjoys mentoring and has mentored scientists at Gilead through the Gilead Mentorship Program and Stanford through the Association for Women in Science. When not studying HIV, she raises two daughters with her husband, is a black belt, and has been on Food Network.
Linda Wu, PhD, JD
Linda Wu is an Intellectual Property Counsel at Natera. Prior to joining Natera, Linda was an associate with Foley & Lardner, focusing on IP counseling for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Linda has experience in a wide range of intellectual property law, including patent prosecution, litigation, inter partes review (IPR), interference, due diligence, freedom to operate, infringement, invalidity, patentability evaluations, technology transfer, and license agreements. Prior to her law career, Linda was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Stanford University and a Scientist at Medarex (now Bristol-Myers Squibb). Linda contributed to multiple IND filings with FDA. Linda earned her Ph.D. in Immunology and Molecular/Cellular Biology from University of Toronto, Canada. Linda's work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including a first author paper in Nature Immunology. Linda earned her J.D. from Santa Clara University.
Dr. Susan Ziolkowski
Susan Ziolkowski completed medical school at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY and Internal Medicine training at University of Rochester before coming to Stanford University in July 2015 as a nephrology fellow. Susan is supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (Parent F32) and is working towards a Master's Degree in Epidemiology and Clinical Research. Her research focuses sarcopenia and obesity in chronic kidney disease and she is currently recruiting for two longitudinal cohort studies on the effects of treatment for secondary hyperparathyroidism on chronic kidney disease mineral bone disorder. She has also recently started a new project recruiting pre-dialysis patients into an exercise intervention study. Her faculty mentors are Dr. Mary Leonard and Dr. Glenn Chertow.
Dr. Alice Bertaina
Dr. Bertaina is a well-known expert in the field of allogeneic HSCT in pediatric patients affected by hematological malignancies or non-malignant disorders. Despite her young age, she was the Head of the Stem Cell Transplant Unit of the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, the Institution transplanting with hematopoietic progenitors the largest number of children in Europe (around 150 patients/year). During her last ten years she has built a great experience in managing patients given T-cell depleted HSCT. Since 2010, in fact, she pioneered a novel approach of graft manipulation based on the physical elimination of alpha/beta T cells and B cells. Thanks to the large clinical experience she had in her previous institution and her PhD program, she has excelled at both clinical and biological expertise, as documented by several papers she's published in the field of pediatric hematology and oncology. Furthermore, she has developed a robust expertise in the knowledge of the different aspects of immunological reconstitution of children given an allograft of hematopoietic stem cell, paying peculiar attention to the innate immunity. Since the beginning of her career she has had particular focused in investigating pediatric acute leukemia and, particularly, how to reduce the risk of leukemia after allogeneic HSCT. However, Dr. Bertaina as an excellent experience in transplanting very rare genetic disorders this rendering her expertise broader between malignant and non-malignant disorders.
Jane Chien, MD '94
Personal
- Born in Missouri
- Grew up in Des Moines, IA and San Jose, CA with 3 younger brothers
- BS Stanford Computer System's Engineering
- MS Stanford Electrical Engineering
- MD Stanford Medical School
- Residency Internal Medicine at Valley Medical Center, San Jose, CA
- Married with 2 sons, age 10 and 12
Professional
- 14 yr small self-employed group practice in San Jose, CA
- 6 yr University Medical Group (Stanford Hospital foundation) in San Jose, CA
- 1/1/18 returning to small self-employed group practice in Los Gatos, CA
Dr. Ann (Caroline) Fisher
Dr. Fisher was born in San Francisco to Peruvian immigrant parents. She attended Stanford University as an undergraduate and medical student, receiving a BA in Spanish, a BS in Biology, and and MD. She then went on to The University of Pennsylvania Presbyterian Hospital to do her transitional internship year. She completed her ophthalmology residency at NYU/ Manhattan Eye, Ear, Throat Hospital and returned for her fellowship in Glaucoma at Stanford. She has been at Stanford since her fellowship in 2006, and has always called Stanford "home." Her areas of interest are glaucoma and cataract surgery and management. She is an Office of Faculty Development and Diversity Liaison and also is the Director of the Stanford Belize Vision Clinic aimed at providing medical eye care to the local population and providing an international rotation for Stanford ophthalmology residents.
Dr. Steven Foung
The focus of the Foung Laboratory is to define immune correlates of protection against hepatitis C virus and other viral pathogens. More specifically, our goal is to define protective humoral immunity to viral pathogens through the isolation, biochemical and functional characterization of broadly neutralizing human or nonhuman primate monoclonal antibodies. Dependent on the pathogen, approaches to isolate these antibodies include yeast surface IgG display or single-cell cloning. These efforts will create high-resolution, functional maps of linear and nonlinear epitopes comprising the major binding sites of both isolate-specific and broadly neutralizing antibodies for rational vaccine design.
Dr. Nick Hatamiya
I grew up on my family's peach, prune, and walnut farm in a small, rural city just outside of Sacramento, CA. My hometown is classified as being "medically underserved" and my motivation to pursue family medicine stems from my rural upbringing. I attended college at UC Berkeley, where I studied Integrative Biology and performed lactate metabolism research & worked as a sports medicine intern. Afterwards, I spent several years doing sports medicine/biomechanics research at UCSF, volunteering in Honduras, and working for a digital health startup company before heading off to medical school. As a Family Medicine resident physician, I enjoy counseling my patients and encouraging them to live healthier lives through exercise, nutrition and preventative health. I ultimately hope to pursue a career in Sports Medicine and look forward to hopefully completing a Primary Care Sports Medicine Fellowship after residency.
Judy Kalinyak, MD '83, PhD '83
I obtained my MD and PhD at Hershey Med Center (Pennsylvania State University). I completed internship at UC Davis medicine, medicine and Nuclear Medicine residency and Endocrinology fellowship at Stanford, was on faculty at USCF (Endocrine) and Stanford (Nuc Med) for combined 22 years. Now working in start-up company called i-Human Patients, Inc. We specialize in teaching diagnostic reasoning using cloud-based technology to create Virtual Patient Encounters with automated assessment analytics. Also raised 2 children, on a science writer/copy editor for IFLS and one is an anesthesia resident.
Dr. Lucy Lee
I am the daughter of Burmese immigrants. All of my opportunities grew from the courage of my parents, who left Burma for the promise of a better life in an unfamiliar world, based on a story my father told us – he was learning English at the American Embassy and was amazed by a simple water cooler. Many homes in Burma did not have running water (let alone a water cooler), and he imagined the kind of lives people could live in a place like America. He convinced my mom to apply with him to a handful of countries, and was granted residency in Canada. My father worked in factories and restaurants, becoming a bartender and school bus driver, and my mother took cosmetology classes and became a hairdresser. They taught me to work hard and value education, but were unable to help me navigate my career path. After much trial and error, I graduated from Cornell University, attended medical school and completed pediatric residency and chief residency at Stanford. Since completing Chief Residency, I served as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) Stanford, Associate Clerkship Director for the core Pediatrics rotation at the Stanford School of Medicine, and Associate Director of Coaching in the Pediatric Residency Program. As of January 2019, I joined the Pediatric Hospitalist group at Palo Alto Medical Foundation and am fortunate to still be able to practice and teach at LPCH/Stanford. I am also completing a 4-year team as a Resident Fellow in Cedro, a first-year dorm on campus. I often still feel like an outsider in the field of medicine, and consider myself extremely lucky to be where I am today. I hope that I can help others navigate their paths, and let them know that they are not alone.
Dr. AC Matin
I was born in Delhi, India, and came to US (UCLA) for doctorate work. Following that I spent 4 years in the Netherlands doing research and teaching. Moved to Stanford in 1975 and have taught and done research in several areas. Current major interests is to direct gene delivery specifically to tumors using exosomes, bacterial antibiotic resistance on Earth and in microgravity of space -- a flight is scheduled on November 11 to test our findings in simulated microgravity to the effect that this condition increases bacterial resistance and virulence.
Ashley McCullough, MD '17
I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. I was the few in my family to have graduated high school and the first to attend college. I received my B.S. in Biomedical Sciences in 2013 and my M.D. in 2017, both at Texas A&M University. While I was the first in my family to pursue a graduate degree, I always had their love and support cheering me on. I have enjoyed carving the academic path for my family and find pride in watching my younger siblings follow along. I have just started my residency at Stanford in Pediatrics. This is my first time living on the West Coast and I have been amazed at the beautiful outdoors that the mountains and coast lines offer. In my free time, I enjoy running or hiking outdoors with my golden retriever and fiancé.
Dr. Roland Minami
As a child, I spent the first three years of my life in an internment camp (prison) in Arkansas for people of Japanese ancestry during WWII.
I was the first in my family to graduate from undergraduate school and dental school which I attended at USC with scholarship assistance. After finishing dental school, I worked as a dentist in private practice part time and full-time for the community chest program in Los Angeles. I then went to the USC medical school on a scholarship followed by a straight surgical internship at UCLA – Harbor General Hospital. My residency in general and plastic surgery took place at Stanford University Medical Center from 1971-1976. Part of my training included cleft lip and palate training in Guatemala as well as cranial facial surgery education in Paris, France, Switzerland and Scotland.
I especially appreciated the opportunity to do cleft lip and palate surgery in foreign countries through the Interplast program started by Dr. Donald Laub who was then the chief of plastic surgery at Stanford. I have been fortunate to be able to be part of teams that perform reconstructive surgery in a number of underserved countries.
I spent almost forty years in private practice and have been retired for two years.
Dr. Arturo Molina
Dr. Molina is Chief Medical Officer at Sutro Biopharma. Previously, he was Vice President, Oncology Scientific Innovation at Janssen R & D (Johnson and Johnson, JNJ). While at JNJ he was responsible for the clinical development and New Drug Application for abiraterone (Zytiga(r)), which is now approved for metastatic prostate cancer in more than 100 countries. He was Chief Medical Officer/EVP at Cougar Biotechnology, which was acquired by JNJ in 2009. Arturo also worked at IDEC, then Biogen-IDEC, ultimately becoming Head, Oncology Clinical Development. In collaboration with Genentech, he led the clinical Supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) filing activities resulting in FDA approval of Rituxan(r) in two first-line indications in 2006: follicular lymphoma and diffuse B-cell lymphoma. From 1991-2002, Dr. Molina was a faculty physician in Hematology/Bone Marrow Transplantation and Medical Oncology/Therapeutics Research at the City of Hope (COH) Comprehensive Cancer Center, where he became an Adjunct Professor, member of the COH Medical Group Board of Directors and President-Elect of the COH Medical Staff. Arturo received his MD and MS (Physiology) from Stanford University, and completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowships in Medical Oncology, Biological Science, and Bone Marrow Transplantation, all at Stanford. Arturo was an undergraduate at the University of Texas at Austin where he received a BS in Zoology (Honors) and BA in Psychology (High Honors).
Ethan Nicholls, MD '88
Dr. Ethan A. Nicholls received his A.B from Harvard University, his M.D. from Stanford University and completed his Anesthesia residency and fellowship in Pain Management at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
He joined the Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group in March, 2015 where he currently serves as Chair, Department of Anesthesia, Alameda Division. Previously, he was a senior partner and served as President of Northern California Anesthesia Associates (2004-2015), a private practice anesthesia group. After initially completing his residency and fellowship training, Dr. Nicholls held the position of Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Management at the University of California, San Francisco before leaving for private practice and working at El Camino Hospital and later Washington Hospital.
In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Nicholls has held numerous positions. He has served as a member of the Board of Trustees, Castilleja School in Palo Alto (2011-2017) including Chair, Trustees and Governance Committee and a member of the Executive Committee. He has also served as a member, El Camino Hospital Finance Committee (2001-2003); Delegate, District 4, California Society of Anesthesiology (2001-2007); Chief, Department of Anesthesiology, El Camino Hospital (1999-2000); member, Board of Directors, El Camino Surgery Center (1997-2002); Chair, El Camino Hospital Ethics Committee (1996-1997).
Dr. Nicholls has two daughters, is a season ticket holder of Stanford Women's Basketball and enjoys traveling and attending the theatre and SF Opera.
Dr. Mark Owolabi
I am the son of hard working Nigerian immigrants. I became interested in medicine after witnessing the ravages of chronic, preventable illness in rural North Carolina where I grew up. Furthermore, in medical school I discovered just how critical nutrition and physical activity are to the maintenance of health. I am currently finishing my final year of Family Medicine residency. In the future I hope to work with underserved communities to change behavior and reverse chronic disease.
Dr. Gabriel (Gabe) Reyes, MD '16, PhD '16
Gabriel grew up in Anaheim, CA and studied general biology at UCLA before graduating in 2006. He spent two years participating in basic science research before starting the MD/PhD program at UCSF in 2008. He graduated in 2016 and began anesthesiology residency at Stanford University in 2017 (after completing his intern year of preliminary medicine at Kaiser SF).
Ulysses Rosas, MD '16
I grew up in the Coachella Valley in Southern California and I came to Stanford to begin my career as a physician. My parents are originally from Cocula, Jalisco and I am the first person in my family to become a doctor. I received my undergraduate degree in Human Biology and Stanford University and then received my medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine. I have conducted research in chronic disease and obesity prevention, as well as bariatric surgery research. I have been active with the Latino Medical Student Association at Stanford and many other groups who seek to increase the number of diversity applicants entering the health care fields. I am currently a resident in internal medicine at Stanford Healthcare. In my free time I love going to the sporting and concert events we get to enjoy here in the Bay Area as well as making day trips to Napa, Tahoe, and Monterey Bay.
Melissa Sims, MD '07
Dr. Melissa Sims is currently a private practice radiologist with California Advanced Imaging Medical Associates (CAIMA) in Northern California. Dr. Sims graduated cum laude from Harvard University with an A.B. degree in Psychology. She received her M.D. from Stanford School of Medicine and M.P.H. from the University of California at Berkeley. She completed Radiology residency at UCLA and Stanford, after which she completed a fellowship in Musculoskeletal Imaging with National Orthopedic Imaging Associates. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Sims is a contributor to the new editions of Stoller's Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine textbooks. During her time at Stanford, she was President of the Stanford Medical Student Association and Coordinator for the Stanford University Minority Medical Alliance, a student organization dedicated to increasing diversity in medicine. Dr. Sims lives in San Mateo with her husband, Leroy (BS '01, MS '02, MD'07, Fellow '10), and their two young daughters. They enjoy international travel, supporting Stanford sports teams, cooking, and learning foreign languages.
Dr. Aparajita (Apa) Sohoni
I was born in Mumbai, India, and split my early childhood between India and the US. My family settled in the Bay Area in 1989, and I have been here ever since. I completed my bachelor's degree in Human Biology at Stanford University, with a focus with Medical Anthropology. I fulfilled a Master's in Biology at Stanford while serving as a Course Assistant for the Human Biology Core. After that, I attended medical school at Stanford, and then residency in Emergency Medicine at Highland Hospital in Oakland. After finishing an ultrasound fellowship at Highland, I stayed as junior faculty and Clerkship Director for the medical students. I eventually left academics to work in the community, and currently work full time at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, CA. I have maintained a strong interest in education, health disparities in the underserved populations, and ultrasound.
Reena Thomas, MD, PhD
Dr. Reena Thomas received her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC and her PhD from the City of Hope Graduate School in Duarte, California. She completed her training as a resident in Neurology as well as her fellowship training in Neuro-Oncology at Stanford University Hospital. Her research background and interests are focused on immune based cancer therapies and chemokine signaling in glioblastoma brain tumors. She has also been involved in advanced imaging studies of glioblastoma. She is the Director of the Adult Neuro Oncology Fellowship at Stanford.
Dr. Jerry Thrush
Dr. Thrush received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Stanford University School of Medicine in 1988, and has been in practice for thirty years. He was the first in his immediate family to undertake higher education. During medical school at Stanford he did research in the department of Plastic Surgery, but chose academic emergency medicine as a career before transitioning to practice at a busy tertiary care trauma center at a large community hospital where he spent the majority of his career.
Dr. Thrush is a residency-trained board-certified specialist in emergency medicine and has additional training in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine as well as non-surgical cosmetic techniques. He was an academic physician on faculty at Loma Linda University Medical Center immediately after finishing residency, where he served as Emergency Medical Services medical director, as well as medical director of LifeCare, an advanced life support medical transportation company, as a DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) member where he provided medical care at disasters. He also served at a county hospital as a consultant in the division of Hyperbaric Medicine and for two decades as courtroom expert in emergency medicine.
Dr. Thrush is a founding member and fellow of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, and a member of the American Academy of Aesthetic Medicine. Presently, Dr. Thrush has retired from emergency medicine because of a series of foot and ankle surgeries, but serves as medical director of Allureous, LLC, a medical spa and clinic in San Diego, California.
Dr. Audrey Verde
Audrey was born in Columbus, Ohio, but grew up in Wilmington, NC playing soccer and spending her free time at the beach. She went to NC State for undergrad where she majored in Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Psychology. She then worked full time as a medical assistant, and managed a neurobiology lab at Duke over the course of two years before starting her MD-PhD at UNC Chapel Hill. For her Neurobiology PhD Audrey helped to develop a pipeline of tools to analyze diffusion weighted images, which she then used to perform DTI and quantitative tractography to investigate the episodic memory circuitry in cigarette smokers and nonsmokers. Audrey then stayed at UNC Chapel Hill for a Medicine Prelim year before switching coasts to come to Stanford for her Radiology Residency. In the future Audrey anticipates completing a fellowship in Neuroradiology, and then pursuing a position within academia. Besides radiology and research, Audrey's passions are advocacy, mentorship, leadership, and policy.
Ross Anderson, PhD '14
Ross graduated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio in 2007 with a B.S. in Physics (with a concentration in Biophysics) and a minor in Mathematics. He followed on to complete his Ph.D. in the Physiology and Biophysics department at CWRU in 2014 in the laboratory of Dr. Ben Strowbridge studying the role of subthreshold oscillations and persistent activity in the rodent hippocampus, a region of the brain thought to be responsible for short term memory and spatial navigation. He then did postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Cameron McIntyre developing computational models of evoked activity in the motor cortex in response to deep brain stimulation and now is excited to be moving full circle as an electrophysiologist to be developing new technology and therapeutic biomarkers for the treatment of Parkinson's Disease through deep brain stimulation. Outside of the lab, Ross enjoys the great Bay Area outdoors through swimming, running, biking and hiking as well as tinkering with model steam engines, amateur electrics, and printed circuit boards.
David Enard, PhD '10
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Dmitri Petrov in the Biology Department at Stanford University. I worked previously as a PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. Hugues Roest Crollius at Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. I hold a master's degree in molecular and cellular biology from Ecole Normale Superieure in Lyon.
My experience as a first-generation college student informs a deeper understanding of the struggles and feelings related to belonging to different social backgrounds, genders and minority groups in the university context. I care deeply about empowering members of disadvantaged groups to succeed in academic environments that can sometimes feel exclusive. As a Ph.D. student in Paris, I greatly enjoyed the 200 hours I spent teaching Biostatistics, Bioinformatics, Population Genetics and Molecular Evolution at Université Paris 7. This experience gave me the opportunity to learn to teach fascinating topics to diverse populations at both the undergraduate and graduate level. As a postdoctoral researcher, I have taken pride in mentoring high school, undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
Over the course of my research career, I have worked to create an original approach to population genetics and evolutionary genomics that seeks to examine and explain pervasive adaptation in human and other mammalian genomes. The years I spent considering the driving ecological forces of adaptation have helped me come to the conclusion that infectious diseases are a major component of genomic adaptation in humans and other animals. This has motivated me to initiate multiple projects over the past three years that have aimed to quantify genome-wide adaptation in response to diverse pathogens. Among other results, I have recently shown that viruses alone drive an enormous 30% of all protein adaptation in humans. I have also shown that viruses were an important driving force of adaptive introgression between Neanderthals and modern humans. Further, my work finds that abundant signals of adaptation can be harnessed to study ancient epidemics, where specific species or populations harbor the genomic footprints of ancient arms races with specific pathogens. I am keenly interested in taking ecological genomics to the next level by applying state-of-the-art methods to study genomic adaptation to interesting ecological systems.
Dr. Francisco Gimenez
Francisco is a principal on the investment team at 8VC. He focuses on Bio-IT investments and Enterprise AI.
Francisco previously was the Resident Data Scientist at Formation8 Partners where he worked with portfolio companies to strategize, prototype, and recruit for data products. He was the founder of Catenus Science, a data science consulting and recruiting firm that used an apprenticeship model to help early stage companies build data science teams.
Francisco received his Ph.D. from Stanford in Biomedical Informatics, where he was a Ruth L. Kirchstein Fellow. His research focused on clinical decision support for Radiology which won him the Martin Epstein award for best paper at the American Medical Informatics Association in 2014. He was the commencement speaker for the Stanford School of Medicine in 2015.
Prior to that he got his B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley while doing research in Parkinson's disease at UCSF.
Dr. Julie Huang
I grew up in East Los Angeles and am a first generation college student. My parents left the Kaiping Village in Southern China in hopes of a better future. Despite growing up in a low-income family, I had boundless support from my family, teachers, and friends who encouraged me to chase my dreams. I ended up attending my dream school, Caltech, and received a Bachelor of Science in Geobiology in 2009. After Caltech, I had the opportunity to live in Germany for a year and do research at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology through a Fulbright Fellowship. Following my year abroad, I joined the lab of Dr. Manuel Amieva in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University where I investigated how the bacterium Helicobacter pylori survives in the stomach. I completed my PhD in May 2016 and immediately joined Amgen Inc. as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Inflammation and Oncology Department. I am now investigating the biology of various immune cells that may be harnessed to fight cancer cells and pathogens. In addition to research, I am passionate about science communication and mentorship. These passions led me to be involved in the iBiology Young Scientist Seminar Series and various mentoring initiatives, including co-founding the Stanford First Gen/Low-Income (FLI) Undergraduate Mentoring Program and Grad First-Gen Low-Income Partnership (Grad FLIP) while I was at Stanford.
Dr. Zhenbo Huang
I was born in a small village in China. As a first generation college student, I was the proud of the village. However, the college that I was enrolled in was not a top rank one in China. My teachers and parents wanted me to repeat another high school year and take the national college entrance exam again, hopefully get into a better college (that's a real thing in China; many high school students re-take senior year once or even twice in order to get into a better college). I said I did not want to repeat high school and decided to go to college with the aim that I would go to a great graduate school after college. After four years hard work I got into The Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of most prestigious research institutions in China, as a graduate student in a combined Master-PhD program. Because of some unpredictable events I ended up graduating from The Chinese Academy of Sciences with a Master degree. But I never gave up my research dream. After working for one year as a research assistant at Sun Yat-sen University, I applied PhD programs in the United States and got accepted into Neuroscience PhD program at the Florida State University. I finished my PhD degree in five years and now I am a postdoc scholar at Stanford University. From a first generation college student to come to this far, the journey has not been easy and the future will not necessarily be easier. But I have my philosophy of life to carry me through, which is accepting, try to do best I can, and live in the moment.
Dr. Ángel Islas
Ángel Islas is associate professor and chair of the biology department at Santa Clara University. He was born and raised in San José California, received his B.S. in biochemistry from U.C. Davis and his Ph.D. in biology from Stanford. He went on to postdoc in Michael Lieber's lab in the department of pathology at the Stanford School of Medicine before joining Bill Morgan's lab as an assistant research scientist at U.C. San Francisco and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories. Dr. Islas has been at Santa Clara University since 2000 and teaches courses in molecular biology, biotechnology and cancer biology. He studies the molecular consequences of DNA double-strand breaks and the role that DNA polymerases play in repairing DNA damage.
Dr. Daniel (Dan) Jarosz
Daniel Jarosz, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Chemical & Systems Biology and Developmental Biology at Stanford University. He received his B.S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Washington and then moved to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his PhD, where he investigated mechanisms of replication and mutagenesis in the laboratory of Dr. Graham Walker. Following his graduation in 2007, Dr. Jarosz pursued postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute with Dr. Susan Lindquist, a pioneer in the field of protein folding. In 2013 Dr. Jarosz established his independent group at Stanford University, where his research is focused on molecular mechanisms that contribute to robustness and evolvability. His work employs multidisciplinary systems approaches ranging from chemical biology to quantitative genetics to understand how these mechanisms contribute to evolution, disease, and development. Dr. Jarosz has received a number of distinctions including being named a Searle Scholar, Kimmel Scholar, and Vallee Foundation Faculty Scholar. He has also received a Science and Engineering Fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a Director's New Innovator Award from the NIH, a CAREER award from the NSF, a Pathway to Independence Award from the NIH, and a fellowship from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation.
Dr. Ashby Morrison
I am a first-generation college student raised by my single mom and mexican immigrant. I serendipitously became involved in biological research as a consequence of my efforts to stay in school and avoid a "real job." Since my first days in the lab, I have been completely hooked on the excitement of discovery. I consider myself very fortunate to have the opportunity to direct my own research lab at a this wonderful university. I am happy to help others as they navigate their way through Stanford.
Dr. Harold Pimentel
Harold Pimentel is a postdoctoral researcher with Jonathan Pritchard in the department of genetics. He is builds models to analyze vast datasets. Of current interest is how human genetic variation affects intron retention events.
He received his PhD from UC Berkeley EECS in 2016.
Dr. Alex Poon
I spent nine years at Stanford – four years as an undergrad majoring in Computer Science, followed by another five years in the PhD program in Medical Informatics, graduating in 1996. I'm an entrepreneur at heart, but my current day job is in venture capital, where I am a partner at UP2398, a seed-stage investment firm here in the Bay Area. In my free time I enjoy tennis, coding, watching sports, and spending time with my family.
Dr. Mirabela Rusu
Dr. Rusu received a Master of Engineering in Bioinformatics from the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France. She continued her training at University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, where she received a Master of Science and PhD degree in Health Informatics for her work in biomolecular structural data integration of cryo-electron micrographs and X-ray crystallography models. During her postdoctoral training at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Rusu has developed computational tools for the integration and interpretation of multi-modal medical imaging data and focused on studying prostate and lung cancers. Prior to joining Stanford, Dr. Rusu was a Lead Engineer and Medical Image Analysis Scientist at GE Global Research Niskayuna NY where she was involved the development of analytic methods to characterize biological samples in microscopy images and pathologic conditions in MRI or CT. Currently, Dr. Rusu is an Assistant Professor of Radiology where she leads the Laboratory for Integrative Personalized Medicine.
Dr. Gavin Sherlock
Gavin Sherlock got his undergraduate degree in Genetics, and Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Manchester in the UK, then did postdoctoral training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Stanford. He then worked as a software engineer for the Saccharomyces Genome Database, directed the Stanford Microarray Database, and then became faculty in Genetics. His lab studies the evolutionary process, using yeast as a model system.
Dr. Paula Welander
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA and I am the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants. I was educated in the Los Angeles Unified School District Magnet Program and I went on to receive a BA in Kinesiology from Occidental College in Los Angeles. I completed my doctoral studies in microbiology at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Biology and Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT. I started my faculty position at Stanford in the Department of Earth System Science in January of 2013. My research program at Stanford focuses on microbial impacts on the ancient Earth and how the study of extant microbes can provide insight into ancient ecosystems.
Shelley Blam, PhD '86
Dr. Blam received a PhD in Cancer Biology from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed postdoctoral training funded by a National Research Service Award at the National Cancer Institute. She has worked in cutting-edge laboratories on state-of-the-art developments in cancer research and treatment. Her research background spans academia and industry and she has been intimately involved with clinical trials.
As Dr. Blam became increasingly interested in the extraordinary challenges faced by cancer patients, she undertook volunteer work at the Women's Cancer Resource Center and Highland County Hospital in Oakland. Here she developed a genuine understanding of the needs of individuals at the time of a new cancer diagnosis and during treatment, which led her to her patient advocacy work.
As an oncology research professional, Dr. Blam brings a unique and comprehensive background to the role of patient advocate. Her work in Medical Affairs in the pharma/biotech sector and her expertise in preclinical and clinical research facilitate her ability to provide fair-balanced medical information when advocating for the interests of people with cancer.
Dr. Beth Chang
Dr. Chang received her PhD in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University. She is an experienced biopharma professional with demonstrated ability leading cross-functional global teams to enable successful target identification, clinical development and product launch. Her experience in the industry spans research, clinical development and medical affairs in both pharmaceutical and diagnostic spaces. She is currently serving as a Medical Director at Grail Bio in Menlo Park, CA.
Dr. Lynn Cintron
I strongly support Stanford’s mission for mentoring first generation physicians in training. I am also a first-generation physician and grew up in a devout Catholic Hispanic family. I have been a Stanford Affiliate for over 10 years and welcome the opportunity to help guide our upcoming medical students. Despite all the challenges, medicine is an extremely rewarding career. It is full of exciting discoveries, learning and opportunities. It is important to stay ‘humble’. We don’t have all the answers and it takes a team to provide the best care possible. About myself; I am a board-certified anesthesiologist and pain physician. I teach at Stanford and the University of California, in Anesthesiology and Pain. I enjoy clinical practice as well as research in anesthesia and perioperative pain. I am a life-long learner. There are many exciting developments in this field, including regenerative medicine and advancements in technology. I advocate that whatever career path you select, try to stay active in student and professional societies. By joining forces with others, we are stronger and more effective to educate and improve health care.
Dr. Cynthia DeTata
Clinical Focus: Obstetrics and Gynecology and Medical Education.
Dr. Sharon Drost
Dr. Drost graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 2002, and completed her residency in Neurology and Psychiatry at Stanford Medical Center. Additionally, Dr. Drost was a Chief Resident in Neurology at Stanford Medical Center, and has experience teaching neurological diagnosis and treatment to Stanford medical students, interns, and residents. She opened her general adult neurology practice in January 2008 and was a member of the Good Samaritan Hospital Stroke Team and Medical Staff until May 2010. Dr. Drost is currently serving her second term on the Board of Governors for the Stanford Medicine Alumni Association. She has been involved in Stanford Medical School admissions since 1997, currently as an MMI rater. Dr. Drost is a comprehensive adult neurologist with special interests in multiple sclerosis, headache, stroke, and medical technology development. She has published 17 peer-reviewed papers and holds one U.S. patent in the field of neurology.
Dr. Neil Gesundheit
Dr. Neil Gesundheit is a board-certified endocrinologist who trained at Stanford and UCSF in internal medicine and at the National Institutes of Health (NIDDK) in endocrinology and metabolism. He sees hospitalized endocrine patients at Stanford and at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospitals. Dr. Gesundheit directs the second-year medical student endocrine physiology module, teaches in the Practice of Medicine course, and as the Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education oversees implementation of the new Stanford medical student curriculum. Dr. Gesundheit has oversight of educational programs for physician assistant master's students, residents and fellows in clinical training, and Stanford-sponsored continuing medical education (CME) programs for faculty.
Dr. Robert Harrington
Dr. Robert A. Harrington is an interventional cardiologist and the Arthur L. Bloomfield Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Harrington was previously the Richard Sean Stack, MD Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) at Duke University. His research interests include evaluating antithrombotic therapies to treat acute ischemic heart disease and to minimize the acute complications of percutaneous coronary procedures, studying the mechanism of disease of the acute coronary syndromes, understanding the issue of risk stratification in the care of patients with acute ischemic coronary syndromes, building local, national and international collaborations for the efficient conduct of innovative clinical research and trying to better understand and improve upon the methodology of clinical research. His research has been extensively funded through NIH, NIA, other peer reviewed agencies and private industry. Committed to training and mentorship, Harrington has served as the principal mentor for more than 20 post-doctoral clinical research fellows focused on cardiovascular research.
Dr. Jean Kirsch
Stanford took a flyer when they admitted me to the incoming medical school class in 1964. I was a woman, at a time when the unofficial quota for women was around 10%; I was older (26) and divorced; I had an RN and was finishing my BS at a university that literally was "far out," to use the lingo of the era (University of Alaska in Fairbanks). I was at sea in my first years and was convinced that "they" were embarrassed to have admitted someone so unsuitable. I believed I had to tough it out on my own and had no way of knowing that help might be available or that others felt the way that I did. I had no support from my family, emotional or financial, and so I felt that if I failed I had no safety net. I toughed it out. I am very glad that I did, for I landed in a field for which I am well suited and through which I have learned a great deal about myself and about life, as we humans struggle to live it. I have learned to accept help and know deep satisfaction, when I learn that I have given it to another.
Dr. PJ Utz
While earning his M.D. degree in 1991 from Stanford, Dr. Utz co-discovered the transcription factor Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cells (NFAT) with J.P. Shaw in Dr. Gerald Crabtree's laboratory. He completed his internal medicine residency, rheumatology fellowship, and post-doctoral training at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston prior to joining the Harvard Medical School Faculty in 1996. He joined the Stanford Faculty in 1999 and was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine in 2005 and Professor in 2012. Professor Utz is an expert in the study of human and murine autoantibodies and autoantigens, apoptosis signaling pathways, animal models of autoimmunity, proteomics and multiplexed assay development for biomarker discovery. He directs Stanford’s MSTP and founded and directs SIMR, one of the largest high school research programs in the United States.