Celebrating Katie Kan’s NIH K23 Award and Welcoming Jessie Ge as Our Newest KUReS (K12) Scholar
Stanford Urology congratulates Kathleen Kan, MD, on receiving an NIH K23 Career Development Award, and welcomes Jessie Ge, MD, as our newest KUReS (K12) scholar
Kan, an assistant professor of urology, studies pediatric lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), a common but under-recognized condition affecting up to one in five school-aged children. Her research focuses on how school environments and individual factors influence children’s bathroom use, with the long-term goal of developing behavioral interventions that reduce LUTS and improve bladder health at a population level. She has received an NIH K23 Career Development Award to advance this work, which will use a community-engaged approach to partner with elementary schools in designing and piloting interventions. Kan will be mentored by Anisha Patel, MD, and Korey Hood, PhD.
Jessie Ge, a Urologic Oncology Fellow at Stanford Urology, is studying how chitosan, a biocompatible cationic polymer, induces urothelial exfoliation and regeneration. Impaired urothelial regeneration is a central factor in the persistence of urologic conditions such as recurrent urinary tract infections and interstitial cystitis, which affect millions of individuals and cause significant morbidity and diminished quality of life. Her project focuses on studying chitosan's mechanism of action and using it to develop a tunable, non-inflammatory model of bladder injury and repair. In parallel, she will investigate chitosan’s therapeutic role in enhancing urothelial healing and interrupting the cycle of chronic injury that drives these debilitating conditions. Her long-term goal is to build an independent research program focused on engineering new treatments for urothelial disease. Her mentors include Joseph Liao, MD and Kris Prado, MD.
