Manisha Desai

Manisha Desai, PhD, Kim and Ping Li Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Biomedical Informatics; Professor, Departments of Biomedical Data Science and of (by courtesy), Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University School of Medicine 

Research Description: Dr. Desai is the founder and director of the Stanford Quantitative Sciences Unit (QSU), a biostatistical unit created in 2009 of over 25 faculty, PhD-, and Masters-level staff to provide the statistical infrastructure for large-scale research projects at the School of Medicine. The group maintains a portfolio of over 150 projects. Prior to her appointment at Stanford, Dr. Desai was a member of the faculty in the Department of Biostatistics at Columbia University from 2000 to 2009, where she advised students, mentored junior faculty and collaborated with investigators in the design and analysis of studies. In her position at Stanford, she co-leads the Clinical & Translational Core for the Stanford Diabetes Research Center (SDRC). In addition to her leadership in the SDRC, she leads the Biostatistics Shared Resource for the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Biostatistics Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) for the Clinical and Translational Science Award. Additionally, she leads the statistical component on a variety of medical studies that pose methodological challenges. The areas of her expertise include missing data, clinical trial design, and methods for generalizing trial findings to the real world. Dr. Desai collaborates with multiple SDRC members. Dr. Desai will serve as Director of the Clinical & Translational Core starting in 2022, and oversee biostatistical and data management consulting in the CTC Advanced Analytics Support.

Selected relevant publications (Stanford DRC Members in BOLD):

  1. Prahalad P, Yang J, Scheinker D, Desai M, Hood K, Maahs DM. Hemoglobin A1c Trajectory in Pediatric Patients with Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2019 Aug;21(8):456-461. doi: 10.1089/dia.2019.0065. PMID: 31180244; PMCID: PMC7001422. 

  2. Gardner CD, Trepanowski JF, Del Gobbo LC, Hauser ME, Rigdon J, Ioannidis JPA, Desai M, King AC. Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults and the Association With Genotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion: The DIETFITS Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA. 2018 Feb 20;319(7):667-679. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.0245. PMID: 29466592; PMCID: PMC5839290. 

  3. Zhou Z, Jardine M, Perkovic V, Matthews DR, Mahaffey KW, de Zeeuw D, Fulcher G, Desai M, Oh R, Simpson R, Watts NB, Neal B. Canagliflozin and fracture risk in individuals with type 2 diabetes: results from the CANVAS Program. Diabetologia. 2019 Oct;62(10):1854-1867. doi: 10.1007/s00125-019-4955-5. PMID: 31399845; PMCID: PMC6731200.

  4. Saquib N, Brunner R, Desai M, Allison M, Garcia L, Stefanick ML. Association between physical health and cardiovascular diseases: Effect modification by chronic conditions. SAGE Open Med. 2018 Jul 11;6:2050312118785335. doi: 10.1177/2050312118785335. PMID: 30013784; PMCID: PMC6041849.  

  5. Zaharieva DP, Addala A, Prahalad P, Leverenz B, Arrizon-Ruiz N, Ding VY, Desai M, Karger AB, Maahs DM. An Evaluation of Point-of-Care HbA1c, HbA1c Home Kits, and Glucose Management Indicator: Potential Solutions for Telehealth Glycemic Assessments. Diabetology (Basel). 2022 Sep;3(3):494-501. doi: 10.3390/diabetology3030037. Epub 2022 Sep 13. PMID: 37163187; PMCID: PMC10166120. 

  6. Prahalad P, Ding VY, Zaharieva DP, Addala A, Johari R, Scheinker D, Desai M, Hood K, Maahs DM. Teamwork, Targets, Technology, and Tight Control in Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes: Pilot 4T Study. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2021 Nov 28:dgab859. doi: 10.1210/clinem/dgab859. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34850024. 

  7. Robinson TN, Matheson D, Haydel KF, Flora J, Desai M. Packaging and Scaling the Stanford Pediatric Weight Control Program: A Family-Based, Group, Behavioral Weight Management Program for Children with Obesity and Their Families: Background, Rationale, and Design of the Stanford CORD 3.0 Project. Child Obes. 2021 Sep;17(S1):S86-S92. doi: 10.1089/chi.2021.0166. PMID: 34569840; PMCID: PMC8574198. 

  8. Hedlin H, Garcia A, Weng Y, He Z, Sundaram V, Bunning B, Balasubramanian V, Cunanan K, Kapphahn K, Gummidipundi S, Purington N, Boulos M, Desai M. Clinical trials in a COVID-19 pandemic: Shared infrastructure for continuous learning in a rapidly changing landscape. Clin Trials. 2021 Jun;18(3):324-334. doi: 10.1177/1740774520988298. Epub 2021 Feb 3. PMID: 33535821; PMCID: PMC8172421. 

  9. Addala A, Ding V, Zaharieva DP, Bishop FK, Adams AS, King AC, Johari R, Scheinker D, Hood KK, Desai M, Maahs DM, Prahalad P; Teamwork, Targets, Technology, and Tight Control (4T) Study Group. Disparities in Hemoglobin A1c Levels in the First Year After Diagnosis Among Youths With Type 1 Diabetes Offered Continuous Glucose Monitoring. JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Apr 3;6(4):e238881. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.8881. PMID: 37074715; PMCID: PMC10116368. 

  10. Zaharieva DP, Ding VY, Addala A, Prahalad P, Bishop F, Hood KK, Desai M, Wilson DM, Buckingham BA, Maahs DM. Diabetic Ketoacidosis at Diagnosis in Youth with Type 1 Diabetes Is Associated with a Higher Hemoglobin A1c Even with Intensive Insulin Management. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2024 Mar;26(3):176-183. doi: 10.1089/dia.2023.0405. PMID: 37955644; PMCID: PMC10877392. 

  11. Prahalad P, Scheinker D, Desai M, Ding VY, Bishop FK, Lee MY, Ferstad J, Zaharieva DP, Addala A, Johari R, Hood K, Maahs DM. Equitable implementation of a precision digital health program for glucose management in individuals with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Nat Med. 2024 Jul;30(7):2067-2075. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-02975-y. Epub 2024 May 3. PMID: 38702523; PMCID: PMC11847559. 

  12. Addala A, Ritter V, Schneider-Utaka AK, Alamarie SA, Pang E, Balistreri I, Shaw B, Bishop FK, Zaharieva DP, Prahalad P, Desai M, Maahs DM, Hood KK; 4T Team. Psychosocial outcomes in a diverse sample of youth and their families who initiated continuous glucose monitoring within the first year of type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2025 Feb;27(2):933-943. doi: 10.1111/dom.16093. Epub 2024 Nov 27. PMID: 39604317; PMCID: PMC11700754.