PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Roxana Rose Daneshjou

Also known as Roxana Daneshjou

Roxana Rose Daneshjou is a Stanford dermatologist and AI researcher whose work tests how medical models perform across skin tones and handle race in medicine. Born in Lewisville, Texas, to immigrants from Iran, she studied bioengineering at Rice University and completed Stanford's MD/PhD program in 2016, earning an MD and a PhD in Genetics with Russ Altman; she held the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans from 2014 to 2016. Her research includes the Diverse Dermatology Images dataset and a 2023 study of race-based medical misconceptions in large language models; she received the American Academy of Dermatology's Young Investigator Award in 2024. In 2026, she joined Treehub's leadership and received Rice360's Alumni Leadership Award; she is an assistant professor at Stanford whose team is preparing prospective trials with Memorial Sloan Kettering and testing SkinSentry.

Works
195
Citations
7,908
h-index
36
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. By 2016

    Rice and Stanford training

    Born in Lewisville, Texas, to immigrants from Iran, she studies bioengineering at Rice University before entering Stanford's medical scientist training program. She completes the MD/PhD at Stanford School of Medicine in 2016, with a PhD in Genetics under Russ Altman, and holds the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans from 2014 to 2016.

  2. 2017–2020

    Stanford residency and Fox award

    She completes an internal medicine internship at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara in 2017. She receives the Everett C. Fox Memorial Award from the American Academy of Dermatology in 2019. At Stanford, she completes a research-track dermatology residency and earns certification from the American Board of Dermatology in 2020.

  3. 2022

    The Diverse Dermatology Images dataset

    She completes a postdoc in Biomedical Data Science with James Zou, who is among her coauthors. In 2022, she is first author of a Science Advances paper introducing the Diverse Dermatology Images (DDI) dataset, the first publicly available, expertly curated, pathologically confirmed image dataset with diverse skin tones. State-of-the-art dermatology AI models show substantial limitations on it, particularly for dark skin tones and uncommon diseases.

  4. 2023

    Race-based medicine in language models

    In 2023, she coauthors an npj Digital Medicine study that tests four commercially available large language models against race-based medical misconceptions. All four models produce responses that perpetuate race-based medicine, and their answers vary when a question is repeated.

  5. 2024

    A Young Investigator Award

    The American Academy of Dermatology selects her as its Young Investigator Award recipient in 2024 for her research advances in the science and practice of dermatology.

  6. April 2026

    Joining Treehub's leadership

    In April 2026, Treehub launches as a Los Altos residency program backed by the AI Health Fund that scouts early-stage AI and health founders from academic labs. Daneshjou joins its leadership alongside Alexander Ioannidis and advises OpenEvidence and Pear VC.

  7. 2026

    Rice360's Alumni Leadership Award

    She receives Rice360’s Alumni Leadership Award at the 2026 Global Health Technologies Minor graduation breakfast.

  8. As of October 2026

    Stanford faculty and SkinSentry

    As of October 2026, she is an assistant professor of biomedical data science and of dermatology, and by courtesy of radiology, at Stanford, and a faculty affiliate of Stanford's Human-centered Artificial Intelligence and AI in Medicine and Imaging centers. In May 2026, her team partners with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to launch large-scale prospective trials to study AI's effect on clinician behavior. She tests a prototype for SkinSentry, a low-cost imaging project developed with the Canary Center at Stanford School of Medicine.

Career

  1. Since 2017Stanford UniversityDermatology Resident
  2. From 2026Treehub
  3. Until 2017Kaiser PermanenteIntern

Education

  1. 2016Stanford UniversityMD
  2. Rice University

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Data-Driven Prediction of Drug Effects and Interactions2012 · Science Translational Medicine · 935 citationsWith Russ Altman
  2. Checklist for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging (CLAIM): 2024 Update2024 · Radiology Artificial Intelligence · 594 citationsWith Anant Madabhushi and Maryellen Lissak Giger
  3. The TRIPOD-LLM reporting guideline for studies using large language models2025 · Nature Medicine · 580 citations
  4. Disparities in dermatology AI performance on a diverse, curated clinical image set2022 · Science Advances · 535 citationsWith James Zou
  5. How medical AI devices are evaluated: limitations and recommendations from an analysis of FDA approvals2021 · Nature Medicine · 487 citationsWith Daniel E. Ho and James Zou

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Stanford University. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.
  2. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Stanford University. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Stanford University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Stanford University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Roxana Daneshjou, MD, PhD's Profile | Stanford Profiles profiles.stanford.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Roxana Rose Daneshjou - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Roxana Daneshjou Begins Chairship of The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans' Fellows Association (PDSFA) – Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans pdsoros.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Large language models propagate race-based medicine nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. DBDS' Roxana Daneshjou was selected as 2024 recipient of the American Academy of Dermatology Young Investigator Award - Stanford - Department of Biomedical Data Science dbds.stanford.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Treehub launches with Tim Draper and Anne Wojcicki to back the next wave of AI health founders - SiliconANGLE siliconangle.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Stories | Where are they now? Roxana Daneshjou '09 | Rice360 - Institute for Global Health Technologies | Rice University rice360.rice.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Revolutionizing melanoma detection through AI and diversified data | Stanford Cancer Institute med.stanford.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.