Ala Stanford

A little over a year ago, pediatric surgeon Stanford publicly called out the Biden administration — and her activism paid off in an unusual way. When the pandemic began, Stanford founded the Black Doctors Covid-19 Consortium to provide free tests and vaccinations in Philadelphia communities hit hardest by the disease. In December 2021, she posted an Instagram video of hundreds of people lined up for these services at her North Philadelphia clinic. Her caption asked the White House for supplies, support, money, and personnel. Soon after, she recalled at a recent NAACP event, “I got a call and an email from the White House saying, ‘What do you need, Dr. Stanford?’” And in April, Biden appointed Stanford to head HHS’s mid-Atlantic regional office, where she can extend her efforts to the rest of Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.