Research
Research programs within the Department of Medicine are directed towards discoveries and applications that lead to meaningful improvements in the health and health care of people in the United States and throughout the world. The department’s faculty includes physician investigators working at the cutting edge of cell and molecular science to elucidate the fundamental basis of diseases.
Clinical investigators in the department are developing innovative approaches to enable the translation of new discoveries into applications that directly improve the care of individual patients. Population health scientists employ a diverse set of methodologies and utilize comprehensive sources of data to strengthen the support and delivery of health care through disease prevention and health promotion, and to improve the health of communities.
Faculty in our department has an extraordinary record of past achievement that continues today. Faculty in medical oncology was among the first to cure Hodgkin’s lymphoma and pioneered the use of monoclonal antibodies to treat malignancies. Cardiology faculty at Stanford invented many of the devices that enabled the successful development of interventional cardiology. And clinical immunologists are building on fundamental research to develop new strategies to induce tolerance and reduce the risk of rejection in organ transplantation.
The following is a brief description defining research themes in the Department of Medicine.
Disease Oriented Research
Research related to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease. Studies are conducted in collaboration with other departments, The School of Medicine, The University, and other institutions all over the world
Patient Oriented Research
Patient derived programs may include studies of disease mechanisms, detection, treatment and prevention, and include clinical trials. Participants in a clinical trial can take a more active role in their own health care, gain entrance to new research, and contribute to medical science.
Population Research
Patient population research poses questions about where, when, and in whom diseases develop on the broad scale among communities and societies. It focuses on research and methodology to prevent disease in the population as a whole.
Enabling Sciences & Technology
Translation of information technologies between clinical and research areas and Stanford Medicine is a leader in the biomedicine information revolution.
Translational Research and Applied Medicine (TRAM)
TRAM was established to provide an infrastructure to rapidly translate novel genomic/proteomic, nanoscale and imaging research discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic and facilitate bench-to-bedside development of cellular therapies. Our program helps to support diverse translational research projects that will result in innovative approaches to the prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment of human cancers, heart disease, HIV infection, myelofibrosis, systemic sclerosis, graft-versus-host, as well as other human diseases.