Dr. Ala Stanford, the first Black female pediatric surgeon entirely trained in the United States, announced Wednesday morning that she will run for the 3rd Congressional District as a Democrat next year.
Stanford has become one of the area’s most prominent physicians and medical health experts. During the pandemic, she led the effort to ensure communities of color had access to COVID-19 vaccines and to eliminate disparities in distribution.
Her work helped establish the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium and inform policy on the public response to the disease. Recognition for these efforts led to her receiving USA Today’s Woman of the Year award in 2022 and being named one of CNN’s Top 10 Heroes in 2021.
“We’re going to fight for the future of our country because Donald Trump and his crew are not just about politics,” Stanford said, referencing the government shutdown as part of her reasoning to run. “They are about power, division, and control. They send the military into communities, they flood the airwaves with lies, and those lies cost lives.”
Stanford was born in the city’s Germantown section, received support from community leaders growing up, and has always been active in the city. […]