Medical center people
Amreen Husain
Gill Bejerano, PhD, assistant professor of developmental biology, has been selected as a 2008 Searle scholar. His research focuses on the functional landscapes of vertebrate genomes. The Searle scholars program looks for individuals who have already done important, innovative research and who have the potential for making significant contributions to biological research over an extended period of time. Fifteen 2008 scholars from 176 applicants at 120 universities and research institutions were selected.
Amreen Husain, MD, has been promoted to associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, as of June 1. Her research interests focus on investigating the differences in tumor biology of cancers of the endometrium and the development of invasive cancers from precancerous lesions of the uterus. She also has an interest in hereditary ovarian cancers and is investigating the epidemiology of low malignant potential tumors of the ovary. Husain is active in international medical work and helped start the Stanford Eritrean Women's Project, which travels to Eritrea several times a year to train surgeons and health-care personnel in caring for and preventing obstetric fistula.
Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, has been appointed assistant professor of microbiology and immunology, as of June 1. He is interested in the basic principles that govern interactions within the intestinal microbiota and between the microbiota and the host.
Maxence Nachury, PhD, has been appointed assistant professor of molecular and cellular physiology, as of July 1. His lab studies the primary cilium, a once-obscure cellular organelle recently re-discovered for its role in a number of signaling pathways. Defects in cilium biogenesis lead to a variety of hereditary disorders characterized by retinal degeneration, kidney cysts and obesity.
Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, has been appointed assistant professor of pediatrics (pulmonary) and, by courtesy, of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, as of June 1. Her research interests focus on the role of human T cells, specifically natural regulatory T cells and invariant natural killer T cells, in immunological diseases.
Daniel Chang, MD, has been appointed assistant professor of radiation oncology, as of June 1. His research interests focus on the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies. Chang is interested in developing stereotactic body radiotherapy for tumors of the liver; functional imaging as a means of determining treatment response with radiation, as well as developing image-guided radiotherapy to improve radiation delivery for GI cancers to reduce toxicity and improve disease outcome.