We all get moody -- it's part of human nature. But if you have people in your life afflicted with bipolar disorder, you quickly realize that not all moodiness is created equally. An estimated 4.4% of adults in the U.S. -- nearly 50 million people -- will be diagnosed with a mood disorder that falls into the bipolar classification.  While there are many medications to help these people find a sweet spot between their fluctuating moods -- from a manic state of high energy to an often paralyzingly depressive low -- those pharmacological interventions are riddled with adverse effects and can ..read more

At exactly 9 a.m. Pacific Time on every third Friday of March, anxious graduating medical students around the country tear open envelopes to reveal where they matched for their residencies. These three- to seven-year residency programs, usually based at hospitals, are essentially their first jobs out of medical school and the next stage of their training to become fully fledged and licensed physicians. Match Day might sound like a combination of the Oscars and one of Harry Potter's Sorting Hat ceremonies, but it's the result of an algorithm to create the ideal pairings between tens of thousand ..read more

Lillie Reed has been raising awareness about gender-based violence and the resulting trauma ever since she began studying public health as an undergraduate at Duke University. But her passion for the work grew from personal experience.  Raised in Greenville, North Carolina, Reed said her first experiences with abuse were at home and that her upbringing showed that the experience of domestic violence goes well beyond the violence. "The fear and anger and other ripple effects that violence creates ... it can feel inescapable," she said. "When you are experiencing domestic violence, even in ..read more

In this We Are Stanford Med series, meet individuals who are shaping the future of medicine. They hail from all over the globe and come to Stanford Medicine carrying big ideas and dreams. Melanie Shojinaga was on top of the world when she began pursuing her dreams via the Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies Program at Stanford Medicine in the fall of 2021. Then life took an unexpected turn. Toward the end of her first quarter, she began experiencing intense migraines. She attributed it to the stress of finals and a lack of sleep. But over winter break the headaches worse ..read more

In this We Are Stanford Med series, meet individuals who are shaping the future of medicine. They hail from all over the globe and come to Stanford Medicine carrying big ideas and dreams. At first glance, the dual roles of physician and chef may seem like an unlikely pairing. But for Carlie Arbaugh, MD, Chef, it was the parallels she found in the culinary arts and surgical care that drew her to each. Both fields demand meticulous attention to detail and the ability to think on your feet when things don't go as planned. Teamwork is essential in both the operating room and the kitchen ..read more

Amir Bahmani, PhD, reached a desperate low in his life following the death of his wife, Someyra, in 2014. Doctors mistook her terrible pain for an inflamed gallbladder, missing the signs of a malignant cancer. "If they had collected the data, they would have seen that something was going on internally, that there was a big shift underway that occurs with cancer patients," said Bahmani, director of the Stanford Deep Data Research Center. "They might have been able to catch it early and give her a better chance." In his grief, he realized how much data science could impact medicine and potential ..read more

In this We Are Stanford Med series, meet individuals who are shaping the future of medicine. They hail from all over the globe and come to Stanford Medicine carrying big ideas and dreams. Brian Smith thinks a lot about the powerful intention of words. As he navigates his second year of medical school at Stanford Medicine, he is continuously drawn to the impact that language and personal interaction wield in the realm of healing and patient care. Even as a kid, Smith recognized the importance of nuanced communication. He was born in Houston, but grew up in Europe, where he was expose ..read more

In this We Are Stanford Med series, meet individuals who are shaping the future of medicine. They hail from all over the globe and come to Stanford Medicine carrying big ideas and dreams. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Binisha Patel grew up speaking English, Hindi and Gujarati at home. But the language she is most fluent in, and the one that means the most to her, is Saaz (pronounced Sahj). That's the name of her younger brother, who was born with Pierre Robin sequence, a congenital condition characterized by an underdeveloped jaw which renders him unable to speak. Saaz is the sp ..read more

Our coverage of research and patient care news at Stanford Medicine in 2023 ranged from scientists discovering how to turn cancer cells into cancer-fighting weapons to how "cyclic sighing" can improve mood and reduce anxiety. Here, we share the stories and videos published in 2023 on our News Center, Scope and Stanford Medicine magazine sites that resonated most with our readers online and on social media. Most-read articles News Center Scientists transform cancer cells into weapons against cancer: Using an approach that's similar to turning one gangster against another to fight crime, researc ..read more

Meghana Guduru is a computer vision engineer who works with virtual reality and artificial intelligence systems at Meta. She wasn't expecting to have much interaction with either during her lengthy stay at Stanford Hospital after a bicycle accident. That is until Brian R. Smith, a medical student and research fellow at Stanford Medicine, toted a laptop into her room and helped her create some cute, AI-generated bunny rabbits.  Smith and other researchers with Stanford Medicine are helping patients use AI image-generation software as part of a unique study. The goal of the Portrait Project ..read more