Department of Medicine 2020 Annual Report
Our Broad Reach
Over the course of an academic year we have many opportunities to learn what our colleagues are accomplishing: rounds at the division or department level, news items on department and division websites, award ceremonies, and our annual state of the department conference, among others. Once a year, we publish our annual report, which contains articles about the clinical, educational, research, and outside activities of individuals and groups throughout the department.
Every annual report has a theme. This year’s report focuses on how we’re extending our reach, whether through recent advances in treating a variety of diseases, or different approaches to the practice of medicine, or the diverse faces of medicine at Stanford. In these pages any one of us might find a nugget of information that could move our own research forward after a conversation with the colleagues an article describes.
Each individual article is like a pebble tossed in the water, its ripples widening over time to an unknowable extent, not unlike a lab discovery that turns into a drug development project and thereafter becomes a therapy that is successful in clinical trials until ultimately it becomes a treatment that heals patients worldwide.
Here are a few examples of how we’re making an impact beyond our department: Our colleagues are transforming care for patients with sarcoidosis by treating them within a hub of all the subspecialists involved in their care so they can see everyone they need to see on a single day. Several faculty members are applying artificial intelligence to underpin new approaches to caring for patients with pulmonary and other diseases. You can learn about the work that nocturnists do when they assume the overnight care of patients in our recently-opened hospital. With an emphasis on diversity, we are making it possible for sexual and gender minority populations here and elsewhere to receive better treatment through the creation of a database by The PRIDE Study. For women in medicine there is a new seminar series tailored for them with space devoted to connect and to share wisdom.
These and the other articles in this annual report are but a snapshot of the larger picture of what we in the Department of Medicine do every day. I hope you will spend some time here learning about the work of our colleagues and take pride in the accomplishments we all achieve through a variety of amazing talents and activities.
Sincerely,
Robert Harrington, MD
Chair, Department of Medicine
Extending our Reach in Diverse Ways
Department of Medicine in Numbers
- 15 Divisions
- 32 Endowed Professors
- 495 Trainees (137 Residents, 154 MD Fellows, 204 Post-docs)
- 375 Active Grants—End of FY19 (4 Program Projects, 74 R-01s, 30 Ks, 22 Us, 10 Training, 41 Federal Awards, 194 Non-Federal)
- 625 Faculty (109 University Tenure and Nontenure Line, 117 Medical Center Line, 359 Clinician Educators, 40 Instructors)
- 813 Staff and Research Associates (570 Staff, 97 Research Associates, 146 Contingent Staff)
- $135M Sponsored Research—FY19 ($79 million in federal grants, $33 million in non-federal grants, $23 million in clinical grants)
Diverse Faces of Medicine
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Taking PRIDE in Their Work
The PRIDE study seeks to understand how identifying as an SGM person affects one’s health.
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Taking Veteran Care on the Road
VA Palo Alto's Mobile Medical Outreach team gets health care to veterans who need it.
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The Power of Connection
The Women in Medicine group is creating community and amplifying residents’ voices.
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A Helping Hand
New initiatives are supporting vulnerable populations in nearby communities.
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Practitioner Liability
Physicians with multiple malpractice claims don’t skip town; they stop practicing or go solo.
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A Patient’s Last Wish
Doctors and staff from the Wish Project are granting wishes to bring comfort to the dying.
Recent Advances in Treatment
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Leading the Way in Esophageal Diseases
Gastroenterologist Joo Ha Hwang performs innovative endoscopic procedures to treat cancers and other gastrointestinal diseases.
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Immunotherapy Gives Hope to Multiple Myeloma Patients
A novel treatment using CAR-T cells is showing promise for treating multiple myeloma.
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Novel Cancer Treatment Shows Promise
A novel immunotherapy combination appears safe for use in patients with a type of blood cancer called non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
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Making a Place for Cancer Survivors
Primary care physician Jennifer Kim is helping patients bridge the gap between cancer treatment and the rest of their lives.
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The Down-to-Earth Goals of Two Nephrology Fellows
Two current nephrology fellows share a common background through their residencies at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida.
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Immunology and Rheumatology Faculty Reach Across Divisions to Fight Disease
Doctors in immunology and rheumatology are working collaboratively with other divisions on research and patient care.
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CREDENCE Brings Together Multiple Groups in Successful Trial
The successful CREDENCE trial focused on people with advanced kidney disease.
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New Approaches to Tobacco Control
Jodi Prochaska of the Stanford Prevention Research Center is making seminal contributions to the rapidly changing field of tobacco control.
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T Regulatory Cells Join the Mainstream
Just 70 years ago, cancers of the blood were essentially untreatable while other cancers, of solid organs for instance, could be cut out with surgery or burned out with radiation.
Different Approaches to Medical Practice
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Diagnosing Lung Disease with Help from Computers
Applying machine learning algorithms to patient data is helping Stanford researchers better diagnose and treat lung disease.
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The Medical Promise of Artificial Intelligence
Now that computers can be taught to process and recognize patterns in large amounts of data, their usefulness in medicine is greatly enhanced.
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Marina Basina’s Masterful Teaching and Patient Care
Clinical associate professor of endocrinology Marina Basina has well-recognized and truly extraordinary teaching skills.
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The Enormous Reach of the Stanford Medicine 25
The Stanford 25 website has 5,000 visitors daily and is second only to Stanford’s news office in hits for a Stanford website.
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Why Aren’t There More Female Cardiologists?
Faculty contribute their ideas and efforts to increase the number of women in cardiology.
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All in a Night’s Work
When doctors leave the hospital for the day, another dedicated, experienced team of doctors—nocturnists—step in to take their turn.
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Off Hours
In their off hours, Stanford staff have a variety of exciting hobbies.
"They’re leaving a legacy—they want things to be better for the women who come after them.
— Cybele Renault, MD
"You can imagine that if you treat each data source in isolation, you will have some predictive value. But what happens if we put them together?
— Olivier Gevaert, PhD
"It means we really detected a hidden system for classifying patients that is highly relevant to underlying disease biology and clinical outcomes.
— Andrew Sweatt, MD
"I like taking a single thread, combining it with other things, and making an entirely different product. That is also a lot like life—whether you’re at work or at home. We take all the little pieces and stitch them together to make something new and wonderful.
— Heidi Elmore
"If we can show that people who have had many traumatic experiences on the basis of their gender identity or sexual orientation have certain health outcomes, then that can provide some evidence to actually change policy and laws.
— Mitchell R. Lunn, MD, MAS
"We're bringing in leaders in gastric cancer from all over the world to talk about how we can establish screening guidelines for high-risk populations.
— Joo Ha Hwang, MD, PhD