Bio
Ruby E. Reed ("Lillie") (any pronouns) is a medical student and Masters in Epidemiology & Clinical Research student from Greenville, North Carolina. Lillie aims to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist, focusing on trauma and trauma-related disorders. Passionate about psychotherapy, community health work, writing and the humanities, Lillie sees storytelling and the importance of empowerment as the threads between her interests. She hopes to build a career that empowers people and communities to own and tell their stories for healing, strength and community good.
Prior to medical school, Lillie had a career in global health, focused largely on gender-based violence, mental health, and youth empowerment in low-income urban communities. Lillie's has worked on clinical and community health projects in Colombia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Rwanda, South Africa, the United States and Zambia, as well as with the World Health Organization Office of the Americas on global and regional policy projects on mental health and violence against women and children.
At Stanford, Lillie's research has focused on gender-based violence (GBV), and she has led two large research projects focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on gender-based violence. One such project examined GBV among adolescent girls in Kenya, while the other focused on domestic violence survivors in Santa Clara County Latino communities. Lillie was also Community Outreach Manager of one of Stanford's Cardinal Free Clinics, and created and implemented the first social needs screening and referral system for the clinics, which remains in use. She has also partnered extensively with local organization Next Door Solutions, a domestic violence organization in San Jose, helping with numerous projects, including helping to launch their Teen Club program, and conducted her Masters thesis doing a community-partnered project with this organization. Lillie has also advocated for social justice and health equity initiatives as the lead of Stanford's Underrepresented Minority Medical Alliance, or SUMMA, and as the co-lead and advocacy chair of Medical Students with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses and LGBTQMeds, respectively. Lillie has been very involved in the arts and humanities at Stanford, including sharing stories at numerous events and showcases, TA-ing a writing workshop, co-leading TalkRx (a student oral storytelling program), and participating in Oasis -- a Pegasus Writing Group for students from underrepresented and marginalized communities. Lillie was an inaugural Global Health Medical Student Research Fellow, and spent a research year working with Dr. Xin She and nestglobal on a community-partnered participatory intervention within refugee shelters in Tijuana. Lillie also worked with local staff to develop an arts and storytelling program in the shelters, and volunteered with Refugee Health Alliance providing psychological first-aid in the refugee shelters.
Clinically, Lillie is focused on psychiatry. Her continuity clinic spanned 2 years providing therapy under the supervision of Dr. Hilit Kletter, PhD in the Stress and Resilience Clinic, a pediatric PTSD clinic. She also worked with Dr. Debra Kaysen, PhD, and Diana Arenas, MS (Refugee Health Alliance) to provide Written Exposure Therapy (WET) within refugee shelters in Tijuana.
