Ala Stanford

Ala Stanford (born December 1970) is an American pediatric surgeon. She founded Philadelphia's Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium. She is also the first African-American female pediatric surgeon to be trained entirely in the United States. 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.

Stanford was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district in the 2026 election, having been endorsed by retiring incumbent Dwight Evans. She was defeated by state representative Chris Rabb in the primary.

Early life and education Stanford was born in Germantown, Philadelphia. 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. Stanford subsequently became the first African-American female pediatric surgeon to be trained entirely in the United States.

Medical career 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, In 2008, Stanford was recognized with the Shirley Chisholm Award from the Philadelphia Congress of the National Congress of Black Women. 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. Stanford also established Stanford Pediatric Surgery, LLC.

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. She was also honored by the Philadelphia Flyers who teamed up with the BDCC. In 2021, Stanford was named to Fortune Magazines 50 Greatest Leaders (number 23) of the year and and in 2021 was recognized as a Top 10 CNN Hero.

In October 2021, Stanford opened the Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity, which offers primary care and behavioral health services to adults and children. Later that month, she removed her name from consideration to be Philadelphia's next health commissioner. She then served as director of region three at the United States Department of Health and Human Services from 2021 to 2024. 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. She was also the recipient of an honorary degree from Haverford College.

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.

Political career

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

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.

Following Stanford's involvement in COVID-19, she is now actively advocating for immigrant communities impacted by ICE.

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?" but reporting by Ryan Grim of 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. On April 29, Stanford withdrew from a debate hosted by WHYY-FM hours before it was scheduled to begin.

In May, 314 Action was reported to have pulled TV ads in support of Stanford. According to two anonymous sources who spoke to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the decision was made after the organization commissioned a poll showing that Stanford's support among voters had declined significantly following "a series of campaign missteps". In a poll taken from April 30 to May 2, 39% of respondents named Israel or AIPAC as a negative association with Stanford, and 38% identified Stanford as the AIPAC-supported candidate.

On May 19, Stanford lost the primary to state representative Chris Rabb, a political progressive considered to be running to Stanford's left. The Philadelphia Award in 2021 The Harris Wofford Active Citizenship Award in 2021 One of USA Today's Women of the Year for 2022 Top 10 CNN Hero of 2021