ALA STANFORD, MD is a pediatric surgeon, founder of the Black Doctors Consortium, The Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity, and a national leader in health equity. Dr. Stanford gained international recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic using the infrastructure of her pediatric surgery practice to create a grassroots organization focused on education, testing, contact tracing, and vaccination in communities lacking access to care and resources. She was named a CNN Hero, one of Fortune Magazine’s “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders,” and one of Forbes’s Most Influential Women. She received the George H.W. Bush Points of Light Award in 2021. Her memoir”Take Care of Them Like My Own: Faith, Fortitude, and a Surgeon’s Fight For Health Justice will bepublished on August 6, 2024. dralastanford.com