2007-2008 New Chief Residents

Dr. Conner with her daughters, Layne (l) and Drew (r).

Chief Resident Karen Conner, MD, MBA, has a close connection to Stanford; she was born at Stanford Hospital and grew up in Los Altos and Sunnyvale with a brief stint in Boulder, Colorado. For her undergraduate degree, she returned to Boulder, Colorado, to attend the University of Colorado at Boulder, graduating in 1989. For several years after college, she worked in biotech research, primarily medical diagnostics, and was a project manager at a start-up company just before entering medical school at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). While at UCLA, Dr. Conner did research in women's imaging, graduating from the joint MD/MBA program in 2004. She then completed her internship at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, where she and her family took advantage of the skiing opportunities. Dr. Conner is a full-time single parent of two great teenage daughters, Drew and Layne, and their activities have become her second job. Drew loves rowing crew, and Layne is into competitive soccer and is starting lacrosse. In her free time, Dr. Conner loves to surf, ski, travel, and do anything outdoors. She is looking forward to her year as chief, and she hopes to make a positive difference in the radiology residency program.

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

Like Dr. Conner, Chief Resident Tom Efird, MD, is a Californian. He grew up in Fresno, California, and attended Stanford University, earning his BA in English literature. After college, Dr. Efird lived in Hermosa Beach, California, for two years and worked for Geffen Records for a short time before becoming the manager of a startup software company in Beverly Hills, California. He obtained his medical degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he also completed his internship in internal medicine. While at Tulane, he met his wife, Arianne Ferguson, MD, who was one of his medical school peers. They married a little over a year ago, and she is now an R2 at Stanford in psychiatry. Although they do not have children yet, they enjoy playing with their Jack Russell Terrier, Riley. When he is not working, Dr. Efird also golfs, travels, and skis, as well as plays guitar and reads novels. He is really enjoying his residency, and he is looking forward to a great year.