January 22, 2018

Daniel Bernstein, MD, the Alfred Woodley Salter and Mabel G. Salter Professor of Pediatrics, has been appointed as the School of Medicine’s Associate Dean for Curriculum and Student Scholarship.

Dr. Bernstein is a pediatric cardiologist who served for 19 years as the Chief of Pediatric Cardiology at the Stanford School of Medicine. He is also the former president of the Society for Pediatric Research and a widely published scientist. Among the topics that Dr. Bernstein has studied as a funded investigator are the roles of G-protein coupled receptors in the regulation of cardiac function; the importance of mitochondrial dynamics in heart metabolism and function; and most recently, the use of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-cardiomyocytes to understand the mechanisms of cardiomyopathies and congenital heart disease, as well as the pharmacogenomics of anthracycline cardiotoxicity. In addition to these basic and translational research studies, Dr. Bernstein is a clinician and clinical investigator who founded the pediatric heart transplant program at Stanford. His clinical studies include the role of transplantation in congenital heart disease and biomarkers for graft rejection and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder in children.

In addition to his clinical and scientific accomplishments, Dr. Bernstein is an award-winning educator. He completed a fellowship in medical education during his clinical training, was a former director of the pediatric clinical clerkship, and since 2014 has directed the cardiovascular block of the second-year Human Health and Disease course. In 2013 Dr. Bernstein received the School of Medicine’s “Best Lecture Award” for his outstanding and innovative lectures in the cardiovascular module. He has trained dozens of students, residents, and fellows in both basic and translational research. Dr. Bernstein was involved in the design and development of Stanford’s new “Discovery” curriculum that is underway and will be expanded during the 2018-19 academic year.

Dr. Bernstein’s position acknowledges the importance of teaching, discovery through research, and the development of outstanding clinical skills as valued components of a Stanford medical education.