Our Team
Anisha I. Patel, MD, MSPH, MSHS
Professor of Pediatrics, Stanford University
Dr. Anisha Patel is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and, by Courtesy, of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford. She is also Director of the Office of Community-Engaged Research in Stanford’s Maternal and Child Health Research Institute. Clinically, Dr. Patel sees general pediatric patients at the Gardner Packard Children’s Health Center, a federally qualified health center affiliated with Stanford.
Dr. Patel’s research interests include developing and evaluating interventions and policies to prevent disparities in health, with an emphasis on diet-related conditions. She is widely recognized for her research examining drinking water access in schools; she has published widely on this topic and has a diverse funding portfolio ranging from the National Institutes of Health to foundations. Dr. Patel’s research with partners has helped to inform the development of local, state and federal nutrition policies.
Dr. Patel received her MD and MSPH at the University of North Carolina, completed her pediatric residency and chief residency at Stanford, and obtained a master’s in health services research as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also completed a policy fellowship in the Phillip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.
Aditi Sharma, Drph, mph
Basic Life Research Scientist
Aditi is a community-engaged researcher designing and implementing applied research and evaluation studies that are practical, informative and solution based. She is skilled in qualitative health research methods as well as community-based health program design and implementation research in low resource settings. She completed her Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) from the Pennsylvania State University- College of Medicine and her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Sheffield. Her current work at Dr. Patel’s Lab focuses on community-engaged research to address child health disparities, particularly pertaining to food and nutrition insecurity for low-income and minority communities. Her research interests also include sexual and reproductive health, women’s and minority health, gender and education. Aditi grew up in Nepal and in her spare time she loves to go to the beach with her dog or travel with her husband.
Valeria Ordonez
Clinical Research Coordinator Associate
Valeria collaborates with data collection and observations for the Water First study. Valeria is an experienced field interviewer/data collector with a demonstrated history of working in social science and clinical research industry. Valeria was born and raised in Lima, Peru and is fluent in Spanish. In her spare time, she enjoys spending quality time with her three children, going salsa dancing with her husband and traveling.
Reanna Murthy, MPH
Clinical Research Coordinator Associate
Reanna primarily supports Healthy Drinks, Healthy Futures in childcare settings. She has a BS in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of San Francisco with a concentration in Community Public Health Practice. Reanna grew up in the Bay Area and enjoys spending her free time reading, baking, and spending time outdoors.
Alix Zuceth Durán Gómez, MD
Clinical Research Coordinator Associate
Alix is currently working on Healthy Drinks, Healthy Futures and the Marketing to Promote School Meal Participation projects; providing special support with the Spanish-speaking families and contributing to various other activities. She grew up in the hot city of Mexicali, México and holds a medical degree from the School of Medicine at the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC). Currently, she is preparing for the STEPS exams and intends to pursue a medical residency in the United States in the near future. In her free time, Alix enjoys baking healthy desserts and traveling with her husband.
Chi pham
Associate Clinical Research Coordinator
Chi primarily works on the Healthy Drinks, Healthy Futures project by providing support to Vietnamese-speaking families. She is currently pursuing her B.S. in Design and a Minor in Translation Studies at Stanford University. She was born in Vietnam and grew up in New Orleans, LA. In her free time, Chi enjoys hiking and thrifting.
Andrea Pedroza-Tobias, phd, msc
Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Andrea Pedroza-Tobias is a postdoctoral scholar supporting Healthy Drinks, Healthy Futures and Marketing to promote school meals studies. She received her Ph.D. in Global Health Sciences from the University of California San Francisco and an MSc in Nutrition from the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, where she is from. Andrea’s research interests focus on generating rigorous evidence to inform real-world decision-making on sustainable and effective public health interventions that modify the food environment. In her free time, Andrea enjoys exploring parks and museums with her 3-year-old son.
Anjali Gupta
Medical Student, Stanford University
Anjali is pursuing her MD degree as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar at Stanford. She graduated from Duke with a self-designed major (BS) titled, "The Interplay Between Health and Educational Outcomes." While at Duke, Anjali interned with the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom Schools program and the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education. After graduating college, she studied health care access and breast cancer epidemiology in The Gambia. Anjali aspires to bridge health disparities and advance equity in K-12 education through community-centered efforts.
Viviane Richard, msc
Visiting Student Researcher, University of Geneva
Viviane works on data analysis for the Water First study and contributes to Healthy Drinks, Healthy Futures. She holds a BS in Economics and a MSc in Environmental Sciences from Switzerland, where she is from. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Her work focuses on social inequalities in health among children and she has joined Dr. Patel’s team for a research stay within her thesis. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, playing badminton, and hiking.
Team Alumni
Keila Rodriguez - DRIVE Undergraduate Student, Stanford University
Madison McPherson - Graduate Student, Stanford University
Analisa Ruiz-Garcia - Pediatrics Internship Program (PIPS) Student, Branham High School
Austin Meng - Pediatrics Internship Program (PIPS) Student, Dublin High School
Gwendolyn Aguilar - DRIVE Undergraduate Student, Stanford University
Lauren Blacker, MSC, ANUTR - Clinical Research Coordinator Associate
Liz Heckard - Graduate Student, Stanford University
Kiara Revels - Graduate Student, Stanford University
Brandon Cortes - Research Assistant, Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School
Jeffery Ezennia - Clinical Research Coordinator Associate
Emily Altman - Clinical Research Coordinator Associate
Gala Moreno - Clinical Research Assistant
Wasan Kumar - Medical Student, Stanford University
Kelly Garvey - Graduate Student, Stanford University
Jonathan Tyes - Medical Student, University of Louisville School of Medicine
Emma Higuchi - Graduate Student, Stanford University
Tatum Marcille Sohlberg - Pediatrics Resident, Stanford University
Ashley Jowell - Medical Student, Stanford University
Jazmin Perez - Medical Student, Stanford University
Maggie Rosenthal - Haas Fellow