Dr. Stek completed a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine (MFM). Her research and clinical interests are primarily in the field of HIV in pregnancy and HIV in women. She has been conducting clinical research in these areas since starting her MFM Fellowship. Dr. Stek has been active in the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group for over 12 years, where she serves on the Perinatal RAC, the Obstetrics Subcommittee and the AACTG Womens Health Committee. She is a member of eight PACTG and AACTG protocol teams and is co-chair and vice-chair of several protocols. She is also a member of the local WIHS team.

Dr. Steks current research, both in the multicenter research organizations and in the MCA Centers own projects, focuses on the use of antiretroviral medications in pregnancy. Dr. Stek, in collaboration with PACTG pharmacologists in Boston, San Diego, and San Francisco, and locally with Dr. Michael Neely and the USC School of Pharmacy, is studying the pharmacokinetics, and safety and efficacy (collaborating with PACTG, AACTG, and MCA internists and pediatricians) of the medications used to prevent perinatal HIV transmission and for maternal health. Together with a pathologist at Baylor University, she is studying placental pathology in women using antiretrovirals during pregnancy. She collaborated with the USC pathology/lo aboratory medicine department and MCA pediatricians in designing and implementing a rapid HIV testing program for women in labor, and is currently evaluating this program with the USC pathology/laboratory medicine department and an MCA epidemiologist. Other collaborative research projects in the PACTG and AACTG include a comprehensive project to collect data on HIV-infected pregnancies, an evaluation of postpartum virologic and immunologic changes, and a trial of a therapeutic HPV vaccine in HIV-positive adolescents. In addition to these research activities, Dr. Stek provides clinical care for MCAs pregnant patients, and teaches at Womens and Childrens Hospital, USC Keck School of Medicine, and occasionally at USC main campus, as well as outside the university both in the local community and outside of Los Angeles.