Current Research and Scholarly Interests
My research interest is in viral infections commonly affecting immunocompromised patients, investigating anti-viral immunity of these opportunistic iruses. I have a special interest in latent and persistent viruses, such as cytomegalovirus, BK virus, and adenovirus in pediatric solid organ transplant patients. I focus on the host immune response to these viral infections with the end goal of improving clinical practices. I collaborate with both individual and core viral/immunology laboratories to conduct my research.
As Co-director of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Program in Immunocompromised Hosts (PIDPIC), I develop and conduct clinical and translational studies to improve identification, treatment and prevention of infectious diseases in the immunocompromised patient population. In collaboration with the clinical teams, we establish best practices from our clinical studies in order to improve our care for this patient population.
My scholarly work extends to medical education. I was the Curriculum Co-Chair for a multi-institution microbiology and immunology curriculum-development project (with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation) that re-imagined teaching of a fundamental pre-clinical course. Using this new curriculum, I co-direct our microbiology & infectious diseases course using a flipped-classroom education approach with active learning tools. Additionally, I have a broad interest in assessment. With a start-up education company, I am creating a cloud-based computer-patient assessment tool called Stanford CASE (Clinical Assessment Simulation Engine). The vision is for Stanford CASE to assess a learner’s thinking while deliberating through a patient case using a mixture of self-assessment and artificial intelligence-adapted scoring. I envision Stanford CASE to be used for all levels of assessments from a single course to certification board exams.
