Ala Stanford

Stanford was born in Germantown, Philadelphia.^[3] Following high school, Stanford enrolled at Pennsylvania State University for her undergraduate degree and medical degree. Upon graduating from the Penn State University College of Medicine, Stanford finished her residency at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.^[4] Stanford subsequently became the first African-American female pediatric surgeon to be trained entirely in the United States.^[5]

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Following her fellowship at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Stanford joined the faculty at Temple University in September 2006. A year later, she became director of the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities at Temple University School of Medicine,^[5] where she partnered with the Allegheny West Foundation.^[6] In 2008, Stanford was recognized with the Shirley Chisholm Award from the Philadelphia Congress of the National Congress of Black Women.^[7] She eventually left Temple University to become the director of pediatric surgery at Abington Memorial Hospital. While there in 2010, she performed life-saving surgery on a baby from Haiti.^[8] Stanford also established Stanford Pediatric Surgery, LLC.^[9]

During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanford recognized racism in medicine amongst the distribution of vaccines. She left her role as a pediatric surgeon to work full time to address health disparities in Black communities during the pandemic. This led to the establishment of the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium (BDCC), which combined a group of around 200 healthcare professionals.^[10] She was also honored by the Philadelphia Flyers who teamed up with the BDCC.^[11] In 2021, Stanford was named to Fortune Magazine's 50 Greatest Leaders (number 23) of the year and ^[12] and in 2021 was recognized as a Top 10 CNN Hero.^[13][14][15]

In October 2021, Stanford opened the Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity, to offer primary care and behavioral health services to adults and children in North Philadelphia.^[16] Later that month, she removed her name from consideration to be Philadelphia's next health commissioner.^[17] She then served as director of region three at the United States Department of Health and Human Services from 2021 to 2024.^[18] In 2024, Stanford joined the University of Pennsylvania as a professor of practice in the Department of Biology, and as director of Community Outreach for research activities in the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation.^[19] She was also the recipient of an honorary degree from Haverford College.^[20]

A 2026 review of tax documents by the Philadelphia Inquirer found that the Black Doctors Consortium failed to accurately report Stanford's salary for multiple years, totaling $962,000. The nonprofit's lawyer claimed that it was an "inadvertent omission", and that they are working to correct it with the Internal Revenue Service. In 2024, Stanford drew a salary of at least $400,000, paid for by the city of Philadelphia.^[21]

Stanford declared her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district in the 2026 election on October 1, 2025.^[22] She immediately received the endorsement of the seat's retiring incumbent, Dwight Evans.^[22]

Her campaign was found to have used generative AI when responding to a candidate questionnaire in April 2026. Kellan R. White, a senior adviser to Stanford who edited the questionnaire, claimed that they only used Claude to edit for brevity.^[23]

In March 2026, Stanford said of the Gaza genocide, "I know when you use the G-word how hurtful it is to a group of people. It's like someone saying the N-word around me. I don't want to hear that. And every time you shout that from the rooftops, how many people are you hurting?"^[24][25] In April, she doubled down on her statement, saying, "For Israelis who've been accused of committing it, it's hurtful for them."^[25]

Stanford has denied taking campaign contributions from AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby group,^[26] but reporting by Ryan Grim in Drop Site News detailed that the organization has supported her with funds routed through 314 Action, a super PAC. 314 Action has spent a total of $2.6 million on Stanford's campaign as of April 21, 2026. Although the exact amount originating from AIPAC will not be known until future campaign finance disclosures, $500,000 has already been linked to a known AIPAC shell organization.^[25]

• Honorary Degree from Haverford College in 2024^[20]
• The Shirley Chisholm Award from the Philadelphia Congress of the National Congress of Black Women in 2018^[7]
• The Philadelphia Award in 2021^[27][28]
• The Harris Wofford Active Citizenship Award in 2021 for her work fighting COVID-19^[29]
• The 2021 Dare to Understand award^[30]
• USA Today's Women of the Year for 2022^[31]
• Top 10 CNN Hero of 2021^[13]

Stanford married Byron Drayton on March 30, 2020. The couple have five sons and one daughter from previous marriages, the oldest born in 1984 or 1985 and the youngest in 2009 or 2010.^[32]