Faculty and Academic Staff
Faculty
Professor Ying Qing Chen, PhD
YING QING CHEN, PhD is Professor of Medicine at Stanford, and Director of the Cooperative Studies Program Coordinating Center, Veteran Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto. He has dedicated himself over two decades to novel statistical methods development, design, management and analysis for clinical trials and epidemiologic studies in clinical research, with a focus on population-based diseases prevention. He has been involved in the design and analysis of many high-impact clinical trials.
Shoa L. Clarke, MD, PhD
Shoa L. Clarke, MD, PhD, is the Director of Nutrition Studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and a professor of medicine at Stanford University. He received his PhD in Nutritional Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 1993. His postgraduate training included a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease epidemiology at Stanford.
Professor Christopher Gardner, PhD
CHRISTOPHER D. GARDNER, PhD, is the Director of Nutrition Studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and a professor of medicine at Stanford University. He received his PhD in Nutritional Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 1993. His postgraduate training included a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease epidemiology at Stanford.
Shawna Follis, PhD, MS
Shawna Follis, PhD, MS, is an Instructor of Medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. She received a K99/R00 award from the NHLBI. Previously, she was a Stanford Propel Postdoctoral Scholar from 2021 to 2023 and a NIH T32 Postdoctoral Fellow from 2020 to 2021. Dr. Follis is a social epidemiologist researching the role of structural and social determinants of health in cardiovascular disease risk factors, including obesity. She received her PhD in epidemiology at the University of Arizona and her master’s degree in anthropology from Purdue University. Dr. Follis promotes inclusion of groups underrepresented in medical research through mentorship, teaching, and committees reflecting diverse perspectives.
Associate Professor Catherine A. Heaney, PhD, MPH
CATHERINE HEANEY, PhD, MPH, is an associate professor (teaching) in the Stanford Prevention Research Center, the Department of Psychology, and the interdisciplinary Program in Human Biology. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her MPH and PhD in health behavior and health education from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Professor Ann Hsing, PhD, MPH
ANN HSING, PhD, MPH, is an epidemiologist with over 28 years of experience in cancer epidemiology, genetic and molecular epidemiology, population sciences, and international studies. She has extensive expertise in hepatobiliary and prostate cancer epidemiology, hormonal carcinogenesis, genetic susceptibility, circadian rhythms, and inflammation.
Professor John P.A. Ioannidis, MD, DSC
JOHN P.A. IOANNIDIS, MD, DSC, holds the C.F. Rehnborg Chair in Disease Prevention at Stanford University where he is professor of medicine, professor of health research and policy, and professor of statistics (by courtesy) at the School of Humanities and Sciences. From 1999 until 2010, Dr. Ioannidis chaired the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the University of Ioannina School of Medicine in Greece. He trained at the University of Athens School of Medicine in Greece, Harvard and Tufts, and also held appointments at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, Harvard, and Imperial College London.
Professor Abby King, PhD
ABBY KING, PhD, is Professor of Epidemiology & Population Health and of Medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology at Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY, and her PhD in clinical psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1983. She is an internationally respected scientist and award-winning teacher and mentor who has developed, evaluated, and disseminated creative solutions to major public health challenges related to prevention of chronic disease.
Professor David Maron, MD
DAVID MARON, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University. He is a cardiologist. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University and his medical degree from the University of Southern California. He trained in internal medicine at UCLA. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, a preventive cardiology fellow at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and subsequently a cardiology fellow at Stanford.
Marily Oppezzo, PhD, MS, RD
MARILY OPPEZZO, PhD, MS, RD is an Instructor of Medicine working on her K01 award from NHLBI at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. She is a learning and behavioral scientist, studying the best ways to help people not only change and improve their lifestyle behaviors, but also learn the tools to maintain this change. She is also a registered dietitian, with her Masters in Nutritional Science and over two decades of experience teaching, coaching, and researching nutrition and exercise. Her current work focuses on: using virtual social support to reduce sedentary behavior and increase physical activity.
Michele ("Shelley") L. Patel, PhD
Michele ("Shelley") L. Patel, PhD is an Instructor of Medicine at Stanford University and a recipient of a K23 career development award. Her research focuses on optimizing digital health interventions for treating obesity. She is particularly interested in improving engagement in these interventions and examining the impact of psychosocial factors on treatment success. Dr. Patel received her PhD in clinical psychology from Duke University and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford Prevention Research Center.
Professor Judith (Jodi) Prochaska, PhD, MPH
JUDITH (JODI) PROCHASKA, PhD, MPH, is a Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute, and a licensed clinical psychologist with addiction medicine privileges at Stanford Hospital and Clinics. Dr. Prochaska is Deputy Director of SPRC, co-Director of SPRC’s T32 postdoctoral training program in cardiovascular disease prevention, and the Faculty Director for Stanford’s Master of Science Program in Community Health and Prevention Research. Dr. Prochaska received her bachelor's degree from Duke University and completed doctoral training in the Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at the University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University, where she also completed a master's degree in public health.
Alex Sandhu, MD, MS
Alex Sandhu, MD, MS, is a cardiologist with a special interest in the care of patients with advanced heart failure. He graduated from the seven-year combined BA-MD program at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at Stanford University, spending 16 weeks at Makerere Hospital in Uganda as part of the Global Health track. He subsequently obtained completed a Masters in Health Services Research at Stanford while acting as a fellow in health services research at the Palo Alto VA and Stanford's Center for Health Policy/Primary Care and Outcomes Research. Next, he completed fellowships in cardiology and advanced heart failure and transplant at Stanford before joining the faculty.
Professor Randall S. Stafford, MD, PhD
RANDALL S. STAFFORD, MD, PhD, is the Director of the Program on Prevention Outcomes and Practices. Dr. Stafford received a Master's degree in Health Administration from Johns Hopkins University, a PhD in Epidemiology from UC Berkeley, his Medical degree from UC San Francisco, and completed a residency in primary care internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a post-doctoral fellowship in epidemiology at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Professor Marcia Stefanick, PhD
MARCIA STEFANICK, PhD, is a professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center and professor of obstetrics and gynecology. She received a BA in biology from the University of Pennsylvania and obtained her PhD in Physiology at Stanford University. Dr. Stefanick is a leading pioneer in womens health research and she has been at the forefront of the study of aging in both women and men, including the role of diet and nutritional supplements, physical activity, and body composition on chronic diseases.
Professor Emerita Marilyn Winkleby, PhD
MARILYN WINKLEBY, PhD, is a professor of medicine, emerita at the Stanford Prevention Prevention Research Center. She received her undergraduate and master's degrees in social science and clinical psychology from California State University, Sacramento, and earned her master's degree in public health and PhD in epidemiology from the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Since then, Dr. Winkleby has combined epidemiologic study with intervention research to shed light on the ways in which social factors impact health.
Senior Research Scientists
Senior Research Scientist Michaela Kiernan
MICHAELA KIERNAN, PhD, is a senior research scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC). Dr. Kiernan’s research focuses on the design of behavioral interventions that promote long-term lifestyle changes and weight management among subgroups at risk. Her research also focused on methodological and statistical innovations that improve the design, delivery, and analysis of randomized clinical trials including the recruitment of ethnic minorities into clinical trials.
Senior Research Scientist Lisa Henriksen, PhD
LISA HENRIKSEN, PhD, is a Senior Research Scientist at the Stanford Prevention Research Center (SPRC), where she manages a portfolio of grants from the National Cancer Institute, the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, and the California Department of Public Health. Before joining SPRC, Dr. Henriksen was Assistant Professor at Rutgers University, where she earned the university’s highest award for excellence in teaching.
Courtesy Faculty Appointment
Michael Baiocchi, PhD
Michael Baiocchi, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Epidemiology and Population Health. He is an interventional-statistician, creating interventions and the means for analyzing them. He specializes in creating simple, easy to understand statistical methodologies for getting reliable results out of messy data and messy situations. His research is in nonparametric estimation and design-based inference. He was the inaugural Stein Fellow in the department of Statistics at Stanford University. He is the principal investigator on a large (enrollment: 5,000+ students, 100+ schools) randomized study of a sexual assault prevention intervention in the informal settlements around Nairobi, Kenya. He is currently launching a five-university study of a sexual assault resistance program in the United States.
Matthew Kohrman, PhD
Matthew Kohrman, PhD, his research and writing bring anthropological methods to bear on the ways health, culture, and politics are interrelated. Focusing on the People's Republic of China, he engages various intellectual terrains such as governmentality, gender theory, political economy, critical science studies, narrativity, and embodiment. His first monograph, Bodies of Difference: Experiences of Disability and Institutional Advocacy in the Making of Modern China, raises questions about how embodied aspects of human existence, such as our gender, such as our ability to propel ourselves through space as walkers, cyclists and workers, become founts for the building of new state apparatuses of social provision, in particular, disability-advocacy organizations.
Latha Palaniappan, MD, MS
Latha Palaniappan, MD, MS, is an internist, and clinical and population researcher. Her research has focused on the study of diverse populations, chronic disease and prevention, and seeks to address the gap in knowledge of health in Asian subgroups and other understudied racial/ethnic minorities. She was awarded a Stanford Impact Labs Leave in Service to pursue chronic disease prevention in India for Social Good. She is the Faculty co-Director of Stanford Biobank, designed to accelerate translatable scientific discoveries and co-founder for the Stanford Center for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Research and Education (CARE). CARE has established health related research collaborations in Asia, including student exchange programs in Hong Kong and Vietnam, and research collaborations in India, Japan, and Singapore. She has recently received a Fulbright Future Scholar Award and worked with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization on implementation of Precision Health in Australia.
Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH
Fatima Rodriguez, MD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine and (by courtesy) the Stanford Prevention Research Center. She received her MD and MPH from Harvard and completed her cardiovascular fellowship at Stanford. She has expertise in cardiovascular prevention and promoting health equity in cardiovascular care and research.
Joshua W. Knowles, MD-PhD
Joshua W. Knowles, MD-PhD, Josh Knowles is a physician-scientist, and Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiovascular Medicine) at Stanford. The overall theme of his research has been understanding the genetic basis of cardiovascular disease. His work stretches across the scientific continuum from Discovery, to the development of Model Systems, to the Translation of these findings to clinical applications, and most recently to the Public Health aspect of genetics.
Sandra Tsai, MD, MPH
Sandra Tsai, MD, MPH is a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford and (by courtesy) the Stanford Prevention Research Center. She earned her MD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and her MPH from the University of California Berkeley. She completed her internal medicine residency at UT Southwestern and her postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease prevention at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. Her specialty includes hypertension, abnormal cholesterol, weight management, and postpartum counseling in women with pregnancy induced hypertension.