Stanford Center for Health Research on Women & Sex Differences in Medicine Faculty Leadership Board
Who We Are
Leadership
Lynn Westphal, MD
Co-Director of Stanford Center for Health Research on Women & Sex Differences in Medicine (WiSDoM)
An esteemed leader in reproductive medicine, Dr. Westphal’s pioneering spirit was first evident in 1999, when she started one of the first oocyte cryopreservation programs in the country. Today, she directs the fertility preservation special interest group for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, leading fertility and cancer experts in their quest for new knowledge and improved outcomes for women seeking family building, despite a cancer diagnosis. As Director of the Women’s Health at Stanford program, she utilizes her unique collaborative skills and multidisciplinary interests to bring about rich, effective, transdisciplinary research, education and clinical solutions. She is a member of the University’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research, the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, and the Stanford Cancer Center. Dr. Westphal received her medical degree from Stanford University, subsequently completing post doctoral Fellowships at both Stanford and the University of California – San Francisco. Newer initiatives include her advocacy for more sex/gender medical research, and developing more supportive, multidisciplinary group processes for conducting research and enhancing clinical care.
Marcia Stefanick, PhD
Co-Director of Stanford Center for Health Research on Women & Sex Differences in Medicine (WiSDoM)
Marcia Stefanick, renowned women’s health researcher who chaired both the executive and steering committees of the Women’s Health Initiative (the largest study of women ever done in the United States), has been involved in the Women’s Health at Stanford program since its inception, in 2001.
Dr. Stefanick’s research, which has been widely disseminated nationally and internationally, has emphasized the role of lifestyle — especially exercise, diet, weight control, and menopausal hormone therapy — on chronic disease prevention, particularly heart disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, and more recently, dementia. Her primary academic interests include sex/gender differences and the influence of sex hormones on human physiology and disease, menopause, and health promotion over the life course, including healthy aging.
In addition, she is an experienced and active mentor of junior faculty, and teaches courses to both medical students and undergraduates on the role of sex differences in physiology and disease, and current topics in women’s health.
Sonoo Thadaney
Managing Director, Stanford Center for Health Research on Women & Sex Differences in Medicine (WiSDoM)
Sonoo's career has included higher education academic program management and student affairs; teaching and mentoring; high tech product marketing/management/business development/sales; civil/corporate/community mediation; executive/leadership coaching/training, and film making. In each career she works with and supports brilliant minds as they focus on research, teaching, engineering products, cine art and more. She engages professionals from diverse and multiple identities; builds cohesive teams in dispersed and decentralized organizations; helps create, launch and manage centers, businesses, programs and projects; and delivers timely and measurable results.
Most recently, Sonoo engaged campus partners and Stanford allies to create and deliver programs for the Program in Feminist Studies, the Diversity and First Gen Office, and the Weiland Health Initiative. She also spearheaded a pilot on Restorative Justice, under the auspices of the Office of Judicial Affairs. This work contributed to evolving Judicial Affairs into the Office of Community Standards.
Sonoo serves on the Advisory Board for San Mateo County Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs and for the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center. She serves as a Pre-Major Advisor to Stanford freshmen and is a key member of the Feminist Studies Partner's group at Stanford. She teaches conflict and decision coaching in multiple venues, including U.C. Berkeley Extension.
Sonoo has a B.A. in Psychology, with a Minor in Sociology from the University of Poona, India; a post Baccalaureate in Mass Communications from Sophia College, Bombay, India; and an M.B.A. from Santa Clara University, California. She can be reached at [email protected].
Advisory Board
Linda M. Boxer, Professor of Medicine, Hematology
Atul J. Butte, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Mark Cullen, Professor, Medicine
Mark Davis, Professor, Microbiology & Immunology
Sabine Girod, Associate Professor of Surgery
Steven Goodman, Professor of Medicine
Michael D. Greicius, Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences
Andy Hoffman, Professor of Medicine
Iris Litt, Emeritus Faculty - Pediatrics - Adolescent
Mark Daniel Pegram, Professor Of Medicine, Oncology
Ellen Fitzsimmons Porzig, Emeritus Faculty - Developmental Biology
Charles Prober, Senior Associate Dean, Medical Education and Professor of
Pediatrics
Natalie Rasgon, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Renee Reijo Pera, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
Laura Roberts, Katherine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the School of Medicine
Londa Schiebinger, John L. Hinds Professor in the History of Science
Eila Skinner, Professor, Urology
Mike Snyder, Professor in Genetics
Jennifer Tremmel, Assistant Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine
Hannah Valantine, Professor, Medicine - Cardiovascular Medicine
