Comparative Medicine is a distinct discipline of experimental medicine that uses animal models of human and animal disease in translational and biomedical research. The Department of Comparative Medicine at Stanford is an academic department whose faculty teach at the undergraduate, graduate, professional and post graduate levels. 

The faculty in the Department of Comparative Medicine are basic researchers or veterinary clinician scientists, all working toward one health. Basic scientist faculty use animal models of epilepsy, neuronal reorganization and recovery after injury, and cortical neuronal circuitry to study physiological and pathophysiological processes. The veterinary clinical faculty in the Department of Comparative Medicine research interests focus on topics pertaining to laboratory animal and wildlife health, and on animal models of human disease. The species studied are diverse, ranging from rodents to the African Clawed frog.