Diversity & Inclusion

Our Commitment to Diversity

Diversity is a core value at Stanford School of Medicine. Our goal is to draw from people with a variety of backgrounds and life experiences to reach a new level of innovation in teaching, research and caring for patients. Innovative programs ensure diversity is reflected in our programs, culture and leadership.

Our residency program is committed to informing, recruiting, and supporting prospective candidates who identify as underrepresented in medicine based on factors such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, abilities, sexual orientation, and gender identity. We are committed to creating a culture of openness, acceptance, and celebration of our collective differences and experiences.  

As members of communities traditionally underrepresented in medicine, our goal is to recruit and train a diverse group of innovative leaders committed to and passionate about decreasing health disparities among children.  As clinicians, researchers, advocates, and teachers, we hope to diversify the face of pediatrics.   

Vision: To educate and empower the next generation of medical leaders to carry forward the mission of diversity and inclusion.

The LEAD program is a voluntary, 10-month longitudinal program, for residents and fellows to provide leadership training and mentorship in creating scholarly works around diversity and inclusion topics. Founded in the Department of Pediatrics in 2017, the LEAD Program has now expanded across all Stanford School of Medicine residencies and fellowships. Learn more about the LEAD Program and annual diversity and inclusion forum.  

Pediatrics Diversity Committee

In alignment with the goals of the American Academy of Pediatrics, we seek to “increase the awareness of the importance of diversity; and to encourage the incorporation of the principles of cultural competence into all aspects of pediatric education, training, and practice.” This is done through various activities, including:

Goals:

  1. Recruitment of a diverse group of residents 
  2. Build community through fostering inclusion and collaboration across Stanford and among the greater pediatric community 
  3. Education, specifically around diversity and inclusion, social justice and health disparities
  4. Community Engagement 

Resources

The +OUTlist is a resource supporting Stanford Medicine LGBTQ+ individuals in community-building, mentorship, and visibility.

Stanford pediatric resident Mehreen Iqbal: Her passion for healing

Exploring how physicians can handle discrimination by patients

Microaggressions in medical training: Understanding, and addressing, the problem

How to combat impostor syndrome: Lessons from the Diversity & Inclusion Forum

Committee Members

Support Staff

Please feel free to contact us at any time with questions or if you would like to contact members of the committee directly.

Michelle Brooks (Residency Coordinator)

E-mail: pedsres@stanfordchildrens.org
Mail: 725 Welch Road, Palo Alto, CA  94304
Phone (650) 497-8979
Born: San Jose, CA
Work: Stanford since 2005
Interests: Intersectionality in medicine, LGBT curriculum development

Residents

Monique De Araujo, MD, MPH

Born: São Jose dos Campos, São Paulo, Brasil
College: UNC- Chapel Hill
Medical school: UNC-School of Medicine
Interests: Travelling, learning about different cultures, experimental cooking, trying new foods, advocacy, global health

Kamaal Jones, MD

Born: White Plains, NY
College: Cornell University 
Medical School: Loyola University Chicago
Interests: Health equity, hip-hop, reading, writing, gun safety, criminal justice reform, hospitalist medicine

Salma Dali, MD

Born: Sudan, Africa
College: Yale
Medical School: Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
Interests: Cake decorating, running, plant propagating

Ria Pal, MD

Born: Newark, NJ. Grew up in San Luis Obispo, CA
College: University of Rochester
Medical School: University of Rochester
Interests: Reading/writing, cooking/eating, street art from graffiti to murals, social justice

Bradford Nguyen, MD

Born: Sacramento, CA
College: Stanford University
Medical School: UC San Diego School of Medicine
Interests: LGBTQ Health and advocacy, medical education

Vania Joyeux Singleterry, MD

Born: San Francisco, California
College: University of San Francisco
Medical School: Meharry Medical College
Interests: I am a bay area native, but Caribbean girl who loves food (cooking/restaurant hunting), movies and shows, spending time with family and friends, traveling, and a sports fanatic!

Clarice Nguyen, MD 

Born: Orange County, CA
College: Stanford University
Medical School: UCSF
Interests: Underrepresented in medicine, mentoring, medical education, pain and palliative care, cooking, live music

July Lee, MD

Born: Mexicali, Baja California (Mexico)
College: Stanford University
Medical School: UCSD
Interests: underserved medicine, general pediatrics, infants, global medicine, faith, photography, and tennis

Alexander Ball, MD MPH

Born: Reading, UK
College: UC Irvine
Medical School: Stanford School of Medicine
Interests: General pediatrics, community medicine, going to the beach and the mountains, drinking coffee, live music, travel

Nancy Rivera, MD, MS

Born: Modesto, CA
College: UC Davis
Medical School: UC Davis
Interests: Social determinants of health, global health, mentoring, cooking, and exploring the outdoors 

Faculty

Carrie Rassbach, MD, MA

Program Director, Pediatrics Residency Program
Clinical Associate Professor, Pediatric Hospital Medicine
Born: Walnut Creek, CA
College: UC Berkeley
Medical School: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Interests: medical education, coaching autonomy, patient-centered care

Carmin Powell, MD 

Clinical Instructor, Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Watsonville Community Hospital

Born: Monterey, CA
College: Stanford University, Biomechanical Engineering
Medical School: Ohio State University
Training: Stanford
Interests: pediatric hospitalist medicine, innovation in medical education and actively involved with leading diversity programs.

Baraka Floyd, MD, Msc

Clinical Assistant Professor, General Pediatrics
Born: Indianapolis, Indiana
College: Pepperdine University
Medical School: Morehouse School of Medicine
Training: Stanford 
Interest: Social determinants of health, parenting, behavior, and mental health

Becky Blankenburg, MD, MPH

Clinical Associate Professor, Hospital Medicine. Associate Chair of Education, Department of Pediatrics
Born: Sacramento, CA
College: Caltech
Medical School: University of Chicago
Training: University of California, San Francisco (Residency and Chief Residency), University of California, Berkeley (MPH)
Interests: Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Innovation in Medical Education, How learners learn in the clinical environment, Communication with patients and families

Lahia Yemane, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor, General Pediatrics, Associate Program Director for Advising and Career Development
Born: Dallas, TX
College: University of Texas at Austin
Medical School:  University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 
Training: Stanford
Interests: primary care, medical education, working with underserved populations and advocacy

Fernando Mendoza, MD/MPH

Professor, General Pediatrics and Associate Dean of Minority Advising and Programs at Stanford Medical School
Born: San Jose, California
College: San Jose State University
Medical School: Stanford School of Medicine
Training: Stanford (Residency), Robert Wood Johnson/Stanford (Fellowship), Harvard (MPH)
Interests: Research in areas of health disparities, particularly involving Hispanic and immigrant children, diversity in the pediatric workforce, increasing URM faculty in medical schools.

Laura Bachrach, MD

Professor, Pediatric Endocrinology
Born: Boston, MA
College: Harvard
Medical School: Tufts Medical School
Training: UCSF/Stanford (residency), Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto (fellowship)
Interests: Pediatric endocrinology, mentoring, resident wellness, and improving continuity of pediatric care in chronic disease. Facilitator of SCORE (URM visiting medical student program).

Recent Alumni

Ashley Landsman, MD

Born: San Antonio, Texas
College: Texas A&M University
Medical School: Texas A&M University
Specialty: General pediatrics

Luisa Fernanda Valenzuela Riveros, MD 

Born: Bogotá, Colombia
College: Merced College, UC Davis
Medical School: UC Davis
Speciality: Endocrinology

Hannah Valino, MD, MPH

Born: Manila, Philippines
College: UCLA
Medical School: UC Davis
Specialty: General Pediatrics

Myrna Mungal, MD 

Born: Born in Bay Area, hometown Cupertino
College: Santa Clara University
Medical School: UCSF
Specialty: General pediatrics

Jayme Congdon, MD, MS

Born: Phoenix, AZ
College: Arizona State University
Medical School: UC Berkeley – UCSF Joint Medical Program
Specialty: Academic General Pediatrics  

Ezinne Emeruwa, MD

Born: Riverside, CA
College: Princeton University
Medical School: Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Specialty: Cardiology

Alejandro Borquez, MD

Born: Tijuana, Baja California
College: Dartmouth
Medical School: UC Davis
Specialty: Cardiology

 Amanda G. Sandoval Karamian, MD

Born: South Pasadena, CA 
College: Yale University 
Medical School: University of Southern California 
Specialty: Neurology

Alejandra Barrero-Castillero, MD, MPH

Born: Mexico City, Mexico
Medical School: Anahuac University School of Medicine, Mexico
Graduate School: Boston University, MPH in International Health and Biostatistics
Specialty: Neonatology

Alexis Toney, MD 

Born: Walnut Creek, CA
College: UC San Diego
Medical School: UC San Francisco
Specialty: Hospitalist

Autumn Ivy, MD, PhD

Born: Los Angeles, CA
College: California State University, Los Angeles
Medical School: University of California, Irvine
Specialty: Neurology

Chinyelu Nwobu, MD/MPH 

Born: Houston, TX      
College: Florida State University
Graduate School: Tulane University School of Public Health
Medical School:  University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 
Specialty: Hospitalist

Jessica Marie Valdez, MD

Born: Washington, DC
College: University of New Mexico
Medical School: University of New Mexico
Specialty: Hematology & Oncology

Deborah Holland, MD

Born: Wichita, KS 
College: Notre Dame
Medical School: University of Kansas 
Specialty: Hospitalist

Catharyn Turner, MD

Born: Colorado Springs, CO/ Washington D.C. 
College: Bryn Mawr College
Medical School:  University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine 
Specialty: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Claudia Algaze, MD 

Born: Santiago, Chile. Grew up in Puerto Rico.
College:  UCLA 
Medical School: Universidad Central del Caribe School of Medicine in Puerto Rico 
Specialty: Cardiology

Monica Eneriz-Wiemer, MD

Born: San Fernando Valley, Southern California
College: Stanford University
Medical School: Stanford, active member of Latino and Native American student organization
Specialty: Academic General Pediatrics

Alyssa Honda, MD 

Born: Honolulu, HI
College: Santa Clara University
Medical School: University of Hawaii
Specialty: General pediatrics

Mabel Peinado Fabregat, MD

Born: Mexico City 
College: Universidad Anahuac
Medical School: Universidad Anahuac
Specialty: Academic General Pediatrics

Helen Pu, MD 

Born: Flushing, NY
College: Bowdoin College
Medical School: Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Specialty: General Pediatrics

Antonio Jose Escobar, MD 

Born: Boyle Heights, CA 
College: University of Southern California 
Medical School: Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Specialty: Cardiology

Chisom Agbim, MD

Born: Denver, CO
College: University of Denver
Medical School: University of Colorado School of Medicine
Specialty: Emergency Medicine

Maria Castellanos, MD 

Born: Ocotal, Nicaragua
College: University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Medical School: Howard University
Specialty: Hematology-Oncology

Dennis Spencer, MD, PhD

Born: Baltimore, MD
College: Morehouse College
Medical School: Cornell University (MD/PhD)
Specialty: Gastroenterology

Melissa Martin, MD 

Born: Los Angeles, CA
College: Stanford
Medical School: UC San Francisco
Specialty: Gastroenterology

Anjali Deshmukh, MD, JD

Born: Ann Arbor, Michigan
College: Dartmouth
Medical School: Vanderbilt
Specialty: General Pediatrics

Kaitlyn Le, MD 

Born: Vietnam
College: University of Utah
Medical School: UCLA
Specialty: Hospitalist

Rachel Goldstein, MD 

Born: New York, NY (grew up in Brooklyn)
College: Muhlenberg college (yay small liberal arts)
Medical School: University of California San Francisco
Specialty: Adolescent Medicine

Jenna Nolan, MD

Born: San Diego, CA
College: University of California, San Diego
Medical School: Harvard Medical School
Specialty: General Outpatient Pediatrics

Abi Pitts, MD

Born: Washington State. Raised in Los Angeles, CA            
College: Stanford University 
Medical School:  UCSF School of Medicine
Specialty: General Outpatient Pediatrics

Marissa Aillaud, MD

Born: Mexico City, Mexico 
College: San Diego State University
Medical School: Stanford University 
Specialty: General Outpatient Pediatrics

Elizabeth Mannino Avila, MD

Born: San Diego, CA 
College: Davidson College
Medical School:  Duke University School of Medicine 
Speciality: Hospitalist

Mauricio Palau, MD 

Born: Palo Alto, CA 
College: Duke University
Medical School: Case Western Reserve Medical School 
Specialty: Neonatology

Sidharth Mahapatra, MD, PhD

Born: Bangkok, Thailand 
College: Knox College
Medical School:  Rosalind Franklin Univeristy - MD/PhD
Specialty: Critical Care