Dr Thakor is an adult and pediatric-certified Interventional Radiologist at Stanford University. He is pioneering the emerging field of Precision Delivery by developing techniques, technologies and approaches for the targeted delivery of advanced therapies (i.e. drug, gene, cell, cell-free and thermal therapies).

Dr Thakor directs the translational center called Interventional Radiology Innovation at Stanford (IRIS) www.stanfordiris.com and runs an NIH-funded laboratory for advancements in Precision Delivery www.stanfordprecisiondelivery.com. His research team develops novel approaches in the field of Interventional Regenerative Medicine, specifically investigating how to optimally deliver mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and their extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs), to injured tissues given their ability to restore cellular health and function. To prime these therapies, as well as modulate the tissue microenvironment, his team has been developing and optimizing a novel technology called pulsed focused ultrasound (pFUS), with high resolution genomic and proteomic profiling data showing that soundwaves can change the phenotype of both cell therapies and tissues.

In the clinical setting, Dr Thakor leads targeted delivery efforts, especially in children, using image-guided endovascular (i.e. within blood vessels), percutaneous (i.e. through the skin), endoluminal (i.e. within the bowel, respiratory or urinary system), and device implantation (i.e. bioscaffolds, stents) procedures. By ensuring therapies can reach target cells, this overcomes any potential side effects, and risks, associated with systemic delivery, which includes: first-pass drug metabolism, off-target side effects, lung entrapment of cellular therapies and liver/spleen entrapment of nano or micro scale cell-free and gene-vector therapies.  He also performs islet transplantation and has been instrumental in the establishment of both the adult and pediatric programs at Stanford.

As a physician-scientist, Dr Thakor works to ensure that these innovations (i.e. technologies, therapies and devices) are effectively translated from the benchtop to the beside.  To that effect, he is a PI and Co-I on several clinical trials, a successful entrepreneur, and advisor to biotech start-ups and larger established companies.