Faculty
Ronald L. Dalman, MD
Walter Clifford Chidester and Elsa Rooney Chidester Professor of Surgery
Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery
Dr. Dalman graduated from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 1984. He completed his general surgery residency from University of Washington in 1989. He completed fellowship training in vascular surgery at the Oregon Health Sciences University in 1991.
He is board certified in both vascular surgery and general surgery.
Dr. Dalman has been a Stanford vascular faculty member since 1992. He currently serves as professor and chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery at Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Dalman is also a staff surgeon at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. He served as section chief of vascular surgery at VA Palo Alto from 1991 to 2005.
Dr. Dalman's research interests include the basic underlying mechanisms responsible for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease, as well as novel drug, device and exercise therapies to limit progression of small AAAs. He also has extensive experience investigating novel treatments for occlusive diseases of the lower extremities, including lower extremity limb salvage procedures and the modern management of walking disorders such as intermittent claudication (pain in the legs with exercise that is relieved by rest).
Specialties: minimally invasive revascularization techniques of the lower extremities, catheter-based and open management of carotid and extra-cranial cerebrovascular occlusive disease to prevent stroke, minimally invasive management of AAA disease, catheter-based and open management of venous diseases including varicose veins, subclavian vein thrombosis and superior vena cava syndrome, novel drug therapies for lower extremity ischemia and leg pain with walking, upper extremity circulation disorders, intestinal circulation disorders
E. John Harris, MD
Professor of Surgery Vascular Surgeon, Palo Alto Medical Foundation
Dr. Harris graduated from the St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1985. He completed his residency at Oregon Health Sciences University in 1991. He also completed a fellowship in vascular surgery at Oregon Health Sciences University in 1992.
He is board certified in both vascular surgery and general surgery.
Dr. Harris serves as a professor at Stanford University and a staff surgeon at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. He is also on staff at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital.
Dr. Harris' research interests include role of thrombosis in stimulating venous wall morphologic change, and non-invasive vascular imaging.
Specialties: minimally invasive revascularization techniques, diagnosis and treatment of venous diseases, treatment of critical limb ischemia, management of aortic aneurismal disease, and treatment of cerebrovascular occlusive disease
Jason T. Lee, MD
Professor of Surgery
Director of Endovascular Surgery
Vascular Surgery Program Director
Dr. Lee graduated with honors from the California Institute of Technology in 1994, and finished medical school at the University of California, San Diego in 1998. He completed his general surgery residency at Harbor-University of California, Los Angeles in 2004. During his residency he spent one year working under the tutelage of Dr. Rodney White at the St. John's Cardiovascular Institute testing various endovascular devices in animal models. He is board-certified in vascular surgery after completing his vascular surgery fellowship at Stanford University in 2006.
Dr. Lee serves as an Professor of Surgery at Stanford University. He is also the program director of the Vascular Surgery Residency/Fellowship Program and on staff at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
Dr. Lee's research interests include outcomes of catheter-based interventions compared to open surgery, functional outcomes after thoracic outlet decompression, imaging surveillance after endovascular aneurysm repair, and the application of endovascular technologies to thoracic and thoracoabdominal aneurysms.
Specialties: endovascular treatment of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms, carotid angioplasty/stenting, open abdominal revascularization for aortic pathology, percutaneous interventions for upper and lower extremity arterial and venous peripheral vascular disease, thoracic outlet syndrome, vascular reconstruction for high-performance athletes
Shipra Arya, MD, SM, FACS
Associate Professor of Surgery
Chief, Vascular Section, VA Palo Alto Health Care System
Dr. Arya is a board certified vascular surgeon with an appointment as Associate Professor of Surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine and section chief of vascular surgery at VA Palo Alto healthcare system. She has a Master’s degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health with focus on research methodology and cardiovascular epidemiology. She completed her categorical general surgery residency at Creighton University Medical Center followed by a Vascular Surgery Fellowship at University of Michigan. Most recently, Dr. Arya previously worked as an Assistant Professor of Surgery and of Epidemiology at Emory University and Director of Vascular Lab and Endovascular Therapy at the Atlanta VA Medical Center.
Her research is focused on improving quality of care and outcomes in older adults undergoing surgery. She recently completed an American Heart Association (AHA) grant on risk prediction of cardiovascular outcomes and limb loss in Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) patients. She is currently funded by the NIH/NIA GEMSSTAR grant studying the impact of frailty on quality of surgical care in PAD and aortic aneurysm patients. The accumulated evidence from her research all points to the fact that frailty is a versatile tool that can be utilized to guide surgical decision making, inform patient consent and design quality improvement initiatives at the patient and hospital level. The field of frailty research in surgical population is still relatively nascent and her current work focuses on streamlining frailty evaluation, and implementation of patient and system level interventions to improve surgical outcomes and enhance patient centered care.
Specialties: Open and endovascular treatment of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms/dissections, Open and endovascular treatment as well as medical management of peripheral artery disease, intestinal circulation disorders, carotid angioplasty/stenting, vascular trauma, dialysis access, thoracic outlet syndrome, venous disease and pediatric vascular disease.
Nicholas Leeper, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery
Chief, Vascular Medicine/Vascular Surgery
Director, Vascular Surgery Research
Dr. Leeper holds degrees with honors from the University of Chicago in chemistry (1999) and medicine (2003). He completed his categorical internal medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco in 2005 and subsequently joined the Clinical Investigator Pathway (CIP) in cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University. Dr. Leeper served as the chief cardiology fellow in 2007 and then took advanced training in vascular medicine through the NIH K12 program at Stanford University. Dr. Leeper joined the faculty at Stanford in 2009 and was promoted to assistant professor in 2011, holding appointments both in the Department of Surgery and the Department of Medicine.
Dr. Leeper performs translational research in vascular biology, and aims to understand the genetic causes of atherosclerosis and aneurysmal disease. His NIH-funded laboratory investigates the molecular biology of inherited genetic variants that promote smooth muscle cell dysfunction and lead to clinical events such as heart attack or aneurysm rupture. Dr. Leeper also is interested in vascular regeneration and performs clinical trials studying methods to grow new blood vessels for those with peripheral artery disease (PAD).
Dr. Leeper focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to these conditions with an emphasis on risk factor management. He serves as an investigator for several early phase clinical trials for patients with PAD, including studies of stem cell therapy for subjects with arterial insufficiency.
Specialties: Vascular Medicine and Cardiology including the diagnosis and non-invasive management of peripheral vascular disease, aortic aneurysms, carotid atherosclerosis, deep venous thrombosis, pre-operative risk stratification, and general cardiovascular risk factor reduction
Matthew W. Mell, MD
Associate Professor of Surgery
Director of Vascular Clinic and Laboratory
Co-Chairperson of the Clinic Advisory Council
Vice Chair for Clinical Affairs
Dr. Mell earned his medical degree at Harvard University Medical School in 1987 and is board certified in both vascular surgery and general surgery. He completed his residency at Stanford Hospital & Clinics in 1992 and his fellowship at the University of Wisconsin in 2006. Since 2010, Dr. Mell has served as co-chair of the Clinic Advisory Council at Stanford and director of Stanford Vascular Laboratory.
Specialties: Management of complex thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm disease, thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair, visceral and renal artery repair, walking problems, venous disease, and cerebrovascular disease.
OIiver Aalami, MD
Clinical Associate Professor
Vascular Surgeon, VA Palo Alto Health Care System
Dr. Aalami earned his bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from the University of California, San Diego in 1994. He then graduated from Boston University School of Medicine in 1998. Dr. Aalami completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University researching transplantation immunology with Dr. Randall Morris and tissue engineering with Dr. Michael Longaker from 2001 to 2003. He completed his general surgery residency at the University of California, San Francisco-East Bay in 2005, and subsequently his vascular surgery fellowship at Northwestern University in 2007. During his fellowship, he spent one year performing translational research in Dr. Melina Kibbe’s lab evaluating the effects of nitric oxide on neointimal hyperplasia.
Dr. Aalami is a clinical assistant professor of surgery at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS). He serves as the medical director of the vascular laboratory at the VAPAHCS and is the education site director.
Dr. Aalami’s research interests include the development of minimally invasive vascular surgical devices and techniques, medical information technology and biology of neointimal hyperplasia.
Specialties: Vascular and endovascular treatment of abdominal and thoracic aortic aneurysms, dissections, vascular trauma, peripheral vascular disease, and dialysis access. Advancement of patient care through the development of innovative medical devices and health information technology.
Venita Chandra, MD, FACS
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery
Co-Medical Director of the Stanford Wound Care Center
Vascular Surgery Fellowship Associate Program Director
Dr. Chandra earned her B.S. degree, Summa Cum Laude, in Genetics and Cell Biology from the University of Minnesota in 1999. In 2004, she received her medical degree from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. Dr. Chandra completed her General Surgery residency at Stanford in 2011 and is a graduate of the Stanford Biodesign program. She continued on to the Stanford Vascular Surgery Fellowship and finished in June 2013.
Dr. Chandra currently is a clinical assistant professor of vascular surgery at Stanford University. She is also the co-director of the Stanford Wound Care Center (opening May 2014) and the Vascular Surgery Medical Student Clerkship Director.
Dr. Chandra's research interests include women’s vascular health, radiation safety, technology development and treatment optimization for complex open and endovascular treatment of peripheral vascular and aneurysmal disease.
Specialties: Women’s vascular health, traditional and percutaneous treatment of critical limb ischemia and peripheral vascular disease, complex aortic pathologies including aneurysm and dissection, vascular trauma, dialysis access and cerebrovascular disease.
Tina Desai, MD, FACS
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery
Dr. Tina Desai earned her MD (1991) from the Brown University Medical Education Program in Providence, Rhode Island. She then completed a surgical residency in General Surgery at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, including a 2-yr research fellowship. She completed her Vascular Surgery Fellowship training at the University of Chicago Hospitals (1999). Dr. Desai has additionally completed a year-long fellowship in Medical Ethics at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago (2008). Dr. Desai has previously served on the surgical faculty at the University of Chicago as Assistant Professor of Surgery and Director of Endovascular Services until 2010, and as Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago after joining NorthShore University HealthSystem in the Division of Vascular Surgery until 2015. In July 2015, Dr. Desai joined the faculty of Stanford University Division of Vascular Surgery and maintains a primary practice at Marin General Hospital.
Dr. Desai is certified by the American Board of Surgery in both General and Vascular Surgery.
Dr Desai has a special interest in endovascular and surgical treatment of abdominal and thoracic aortic pathology, carotid artery occlusive disease, and peripheral vascular disease. She also has an interest in visceral ischemic syndromes and thoracic outlet syndrome. Dr. Desai’s research interests include mesenteric ischemia, vena cava filters in deep vein thrombosis, medical ethics, and the development of structured clinical documentation systems. She maintains a strong interest in resident and fellow education.
Specialties: endovascular and surgical treatment of abdominal and thoracic aortic pathology, extra-cranial cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral vascular disease, visceral ischemic syndromes, thoracic outlet syndrome, venous disease, and medical ethics.
Dr. Desai will be seeing patients at the Sirona Vascular Clinic at Marin General Hospital (MGH).
The address and contact information for scheduling appointments at the Sirona Vascular Center is:
1100 S. Eliseo, Suite 2A
Greenbrae, CA 94904
sironavascular@gmail.com
Tel: (415) 464-5400
Fax: (415) 464-5413
Website: http://www.sironavascular.com/
Manuel Garcia-Toca, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery
Dr. Garcia-Toca earned his medical degree at the Universidad Anahuac in Mexico. He received his general surgery training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brown University in 2008. He then completed a Vascular Surgery fellowship at Northwestern University in 2010.
Dr. Garcia-Toca joined Brown University as an Assistant Professor of Surgery and served as the Surgery Clerkship Director for the Medical School. Dr. Garcia-Toca is board certified in both vascular surgery and general surgery.
Dr. Garcia-Toca joined the Stanford University, Division of Vascular Surgery on March 1, 2015 as a Clinical Associate Professor of surgery. His research interests include new therapeutic strategies and outcomes for the management of vascular trauma, cerebrovascular diseases, aortic dissection and aneurysms.
Specialties: Open and endovascular management of vascular trauma, aortic dissection, complex thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm disease, critical limb ischemia, extracranial cerebrovascular disease and dialysis access.
Neelima Katragunta, MD, FACS
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery
Dr. Katragunta earned her medical degree at the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, India
Following her internship in general surgery at The Western Pennsylvania Hospital (2007) she completed her general surgery residency at East Tennessee State University (2011). Dr. Katragunta completed her fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Tennessee (2013). Dr. Katragunta previously served on the faculty at University of Iowa as a clinical assistant professor of vascular surgery and staff vascular surgeon at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Iowa City.
Dr. Katragunta is board certified in both general surgery and vascular surgery by the American Board of Surgery.
In October 2017, Dr. Katragunta joined the Stanford University Division of Vascular Surgery as a Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery. Her research interests include carotid stenting, hemodialysis access, aortic aneurysms, and peripheral arterial disease.
Specialties: Aortic aneurysms, aortic dissection, peripheral arterial disease, carotid stenosis, mesenteric vascular disease, hemodialysis access, and complex venous disease.
Ehab Sorial, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery
Dr. Sorial graduated from medical school in Egypt. He completed his general surgery residency from Harbor–UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles and Western Reserve Care system in Youngstown, Ohio. He completed his fellowship training in Vascular Surgery at the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 2007.
Dr. Sorial is board certified in both vascular surgery and general surgery.
Dr. Ehab Sorial is a staff surgeon at the Valley Medical center in San Jose CA.
Specialties: Open vascular and endovascular surgery, aorto-iliac occlusive disease, open and minimally invasive repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms, open and minimally invasive repair of thoracic and thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysms and aortic dissection, thoracic outlet syndrome, carotid, vertebral, subclavian and extra-cranial cerebrovascular arterial disease, carotid angioplasty/stenting, mesenteric, renal and visceral ischemia, lower and upper extremity arterial occlusive disease and venous insufficiency.
Jennifer Avise, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery
Dr. Avise earned her BS degree Magna Cum Laude in biology and psychology from the University of Georgia in 2005. She received her medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine in 2009 and completed her general surgery residency at Emory University School of Medicine in 2014. She is board certified in general surgery. She joined the Stanford Vascular Surgery department as a clinical assistant professor in 2016 following a fellowship in vascular surgery at Wake Forest Medical Center in North Carolina. Her research interests there were focused on improved outcomes through increased patient involvement in medical decision making and personalized healthcare treatment.
Specialties: open and percutaneous treatment of peripheral vascular disease including management of claudication and limb salvage techniques, vascular trauma, dialysis access, treatment of venous disease, aortic disease including aneurysm and dissection, and management of carotid artery disease.
Eri Fukaya, MD, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery
Dr. Fukaya received her Ph.D. (2009) and M.D. (1999) from Tokyo Women’s Medical University in Japan, where she also completed her Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery training. Following her move to the United States, Dr. Fukaya completed her postdoctoral research studies in evaluating tissue viability with Dr. Harriet Hopf and lower extremity vascular imaging with Dr. David Saloner at the University of California, San Francisco. She then completed her Internal Medicine residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and Lankenau Medical Center in Pennsylvania and subsequently her vascular medicine fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania prior to joining Stanford University in 2015. She is board certified in Vascular Medicine and Internal Medicine in the United States and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Japan.
Dr. Fukaya’s principal research interest includes interventions to increase physical activity and walking in patients with peripheral artery disease and utilizing mobile health with information technology to diagnose, treat and prevent disease.
Specialties: Vascular Medicine including chronic venous insufficiency, varicose veins, deep vein thrombosis, post thrombotic syndrome, assessment and medical management of peripheral vascular disease, carotid artery disease, cardiovascular risk evaluation, rare vascular disease, lymphedema, arterial/venous/diabetic ulcers, acute and chronic wound care, pressure ulcers and burns.
Dr. Fukaya will be seeing patients at the Stanford Advanced Wound Care Center (AWCC) in Redwood City as part of the Department of Surgery wound care team.
The address and contact information for scheduling appointments at the Advanced Wound Care Center (AWCC) is:
450 Broadway St., Pavilion B17, MC 6216
Redwood City, CA 94063
Tel: (650)721-8805
Website: https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-clinics/advanced-wound-care-center.html
Karthik Mikkineni, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery
Dr. Mikkineni earned his medical degree at the Guntur Medical College, Guntur, India in 2010. He then completed his internship at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center followed by his integrated vascular surgery residency at Allegheny General Hospital, Temple and Drexel College of Medicine (2017).
In October 2017, Dr. Mikkineni joined the Stanford University Division of Vascular Surgery as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery. Research interests include aortic aneurysm and pharmacological and bio-mechanical analyses in treatment of aneurysm, rupture risk prediction and vascular conduits.
Specialties: Percutaneous, Endovascular treatment of Vascular diseases including management of claudication, limb salvage techniques, aortic pathology including aneurysms and dissections, thoracic outlet syndrome, carotid artery disease management, dialysis access, venous disorders and varicose veins, vascular trauma.
Jordan R. Stern, MD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery
Dr. Stern earned his Bachelor of Medical Sciences from The University of Western Ontario (2004), then completed his medical degree (2008) at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Stern then competed a two-year research fellowship in Translational Systems Biology Medicine (2012) and his General Surgery Residency (2015) at The University of Chicago Medicine. He completed his Vascular and Endovascular Fellowship (2017) at New York-Presbyterian Hospital (Columbia University Medical Center/Weill Cornell Medicine).
In August 2017, Dr. Stern joined the Stanford University Division of Vascular Surgery as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery and maintains a practice at both Stanford Healthcare and the Palo Alto Veteran’s Hospital. Research interests include contemporary practice patterns and outcomes from endovascular and open surgical interventions, novel treatment strategies for complex aneurysm disease, and genetics of vascular disease
Specialties: Open and percutaneous treatment of peripheral vascular disease including management of claudication and limb salvage techniques, vascular trauma, dialysis access, treatment of venous disease, aortic disease including aneurysm and dissection, and management of carotid artery disease.
Dr. Cheng earned his B.S.E. degree in Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering from Duke University in 1998. He then earned his M.S. (2000) and Ph.D. (2002) in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, focused on cardiovascular biomechanics. Dr. Cheng is currently CEO of Koli, Inc., an early-stage medical device company developing a percutaneous solution to gallstone disease. Dr. Cheng is also the Director of the Vascular Intervention Biomechanics & Engineering Lab at Stanford (vibelab.stanford.edu).
Dr. Cheng’s academic research focuses on hemodynamics and vascular structure mechanics, with an emphasis on disease research and device interactions with the body. In his industry experience, Dr. Cheng has worked on early- to late-stage medical device design, coordinated manufacturing and mechanical evaluation activities, managed pre-clinical animal trials, and has advised the FDA regarding device fatigue, simulation, biomechanics, animal testing, and MRI safety/compatibility.
Specialties: Vascular biomechanics, medical imaging and image processing, geometric modeling, interaction between devices and vasculature, medical device design and evaluation, entrepreneurship
Cornelius Olcott, IV, MD
Professor of Surgery Emeritus
Christoper K. Zarins, MD
Professor of Surgery Emeritus
Division Chief Emeritus