Who We Are
Here at Stanford, we are dedicated to finding and fostering innovation. STEPP is a structured system for sourcing, evaluating, and executing innovative partnership between the Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine and innovators like you. Whatever it is you do, we can work with you to make it better.
EMERGENCY MEDICINE FACULTY
DR. RYAN RIBEIRA
ADULT EM MEDICAL DIRECTOR
Dr. Ryan Ribeira is an assistant professor in Emergency Medicine at Stanford School of Medicine where he also serves as Medical Director of the Adult ED, fellowship director for Innovation, and as director of the Stanford Emergency Medicine Partnership Program. He is a former board member for the American Medical Association, the California Medical Association, and CALPAC. He previously served as program manager for health search at Google, and serves currently as founder and CEO of SimX, the first and largest VR medical simulation platform.
DR. FRAN RILEY
CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Dr. Fran Riley is a physician engineer and Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University. With a background in electrical engineering (University of Waterloo) and computer science (Johns Hopkins), she has developed technologies like a Da Vinci robot motor controller. Formerly a product manager at Microsoft, she led EMR analytics projects later acquired by GE Healthcare. During medical school, residency, and fellowship, she mentored startups entering the clinical space. She now serves as operations lead for the Stanford Emergency Medicine Partnership Program and researches AI tools to detect wall motion abnormalities for diagnosing Acute Cardiac Syndrome.
DR. GABRIELLE BUNNEY
CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Dr. Gabrielle Bunney is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Stanford University, focused on using AI to enhance emergency care. She has led projects from model design to clinical implementation and is currently developing a tool to equitably identify patients needing early ECGs.
She holds an MS in Biomedical Data Science from Stanford and an MBA from Kellogg, with a focus on finance. As part of Stanford’s Emergency Medicine Partnership Program (STEPP), she helps bridge academia and industry to advance health tech innovation, translating AI into practice through strategic, financial, and operational insight.
DR. NICK ASHENBURG
CLINICAL ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Dr. Nicholas Ashenburg is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Stanford's Department of Emergency Medicine, specializing in point-of-care ultrasound and innovative care delivery. He earned his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his emergency medicine residency at Maine Medical Center. Dr. Ashenburg has completed fellowships in point-of-care ultrasound at the Medical University of South Carolina and Biodesign at Stanford. Board-certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine, he has been faculty at Stanford since 2018, directing emergency point-of-care ultrasound education and advancing emergency care through clinical practice, research, and industry collaborations.
EMERGENCY MEDICINE FELLOWS
DR. RANA KABEER
INNOVATION AND DESIGN FELLOW
Rana Kabeer MD, MPH is an Innovation and Design fellow at Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine, dedicated to advancing healthcare through digital health and medical education. His research is focused on investigating and creating curricula regarding Innovation-themed topics for physician learners as well as ways to implement LLMs within EM. When he's not cooking with his partner or playing a never-ending game of fetch with their dog, he is working toward an MBA to further expand his knowledge of healthcare management and startups.
DR. DHEERAJ DUGGINENI
ADMINISTRATIVE FELLOW
Dr. Dheeraj Duggineni is a Clinical Instructor and Administrative Fellow at the Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine. Board-certified in Emergency Medicine, he has extensive experience implementing operational improvements across diverse hospital systems, offering valuable insight into the real-world challenges of integrating new technologies into emergency care. As former Chief Resident at the University of Pennsylvania, he led quality improvement initiatives, developed ED-specific pathways recognized across the health system, and managed departmental operations during periods of significant growth. A co-founder of an international NGO and current Wharton MBA candidate, Dr. Duggineni is passionate about bridging the gap between innovation and clinical practice to deliver patient- and system-focused solutions that advance care delivery.
EMERGENCY MEDICINE STAFF
JOYCE MACALALAD
ADULT EM PROJECT COORDINATOR
Joyce graduated with highest honors from UCLA with a degrgee in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology.
She has a proven track record in healthcare, design-thinking, research, and project management.
Her research experience encompasses translational research, community health research, population health research.
EMERGENCY MEDICINE FELLOWS
DR. RANA KABEER
INNOVATION AND DESIGN FELLOW
Rana Kabeer MD, MPH is an Innovation and Design fellow at Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine, dedicated to advancing healthcare through digital health and medical education. His research is focused on investigating and creating curricula regarding Innovation-themed topics for physician learners as well as ways to implement LLMs within EM. When he's not cooking with his partner or playing a never-ending game of fetch with their dog, he is working toward an MBA to further expand his knowledge of healthcare management and startups.
DR. DHEERAJ DUGGINENI
ADMINISTRATIVE FELLOW
Dr. Dheeraj Duggineni is a Clinical Instructor and Administrative Fellow at the Stanford Department of Emergency Medicine. Board-certified in Emergency Medicine, he has extensive experience implementing operational improvements across diverse hospital systems, offering valuable insight into the real-world challenges of integrating new technologies into emergency care. As former Chief Resident at the University of Pennsylvania, he led quality improvement initiatives, developed ED-specific pathways recognized across the health system, and managed departmental operations during periods of significant growth. A co-founder of an international NGO and current Wharton MBA candidate, Dr. Duggineni is passionate about bridging the gap between innovation and clinical practice to deliver patient- and system-focused solutions that advance care delivery.
EMERGENCY MEDICINE STAFF
EMERGENCY MEDICINE FELLOWS
JOYCE MACALALAD
ADULT EM PROJECT COORDINATOR
Joyce graduated with highest honors from UCLA with a degrgee in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology.
She has a proven track record in healthcare, design-thinking, research, and project management.
Her research experience encompasses translational research, community health research, population health research.
