I provide critical care to newborns who are sick or premature and I am the associate medical director of the neurological intensive care nursery. I also have a research role studying brain injuries in babies. I knew I wanted to be a neonatologist in high school, where I learned about the transition from fetal life to birth, and I am interested in studying brain injuries because I see this is an opportunity to change the path for a baby if we can reduce the risk of disability or cognitive delay.  

I enjoy caring for families when they are in crisis. Most of the time when I work with families, they were not anticipating the need for critical care. I like that the baby is my patient—but the family is my patient too. I hope that my work can potentially help the child have a better life.

I like the sense of community here at Stanford—my division is truly like a family. I would advise junior faculty coming to Stanford to pursue your passions—academic medicine and research can be very challenging—so if you are not passionate about your work, it becomes really difficult to keep moving forward. In addition, you cannot say yes to everything. If so, you run out of time, start doing a bad job, and burnout. Mentorship is really important, especially in academic medicine. Mentors can set positive examples for you and show you it is possible to pursue certain lines of work. In my undergraduate studies, I had a professor who helped me develop my interests. This professor helped me realize I could go to medical school—it was important for someone to affirm that I could do this and help me along the way. 

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