Latha Palaniappan, M.D., M.S., received her M.D. degree from the University of Michigan in 1996 and went on to receive her M.S. degree in epidemiology from Stanford University in 2001. She worked with Doctors Without Borders from 1999 to 2000 treating East Timorese refugees.

Dr. Palaniappan is currently an assistant investigator with the Palo Alto Medical Foundation's (PAMF) Research Institute and faculty member at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Her research interests include ethnic differences in insulin metabolism as it affects the incidence of metabolic syndrome, diabetes and coronary heart disease. She has explored this thesis in large national cohorts including the National Health and Nutrition Examination III (NHANES III), the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC) and the Insulin Resistance in Atherosclerosis Study (IRAS), as well as the California mortality database. She has published extensively in the area of cardiovascular disease prevention, and has been elected a fellow of the American Heart Association.

She has recently completed a study examining the effects of weight loss on insulin resistance in South Asian Indian women (South Asian Indian Women Weight Loss Study). Her clinical interests include preventive cardiology, particularly raising awareness of cardiovascular disease risk in South Asians.