Dr. Stafford has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Southern California, and obtained her medical degree from the University of Minnesota in 1999. She did her general surgery internship at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, where she was on trauma call during the events of 9/11. Dr. Stafford is in the process of earning a Master’s in Public Administration from USC. She wants to focus her medical career on public policy because policies have the potential to save lives en masse. As a primary care and addiction medicine physician, Dr. Stafford wants to apply her intersectional knowledge of healthcare, public policy, and the legal system in curbing the rise of chronic disease. As a Champion Fellow based out of Lemoore (an agricultural community where nearly one in five people live in poverty), she will work with Central Valley communities to ensure increased access to primary care, and to campaign for preventative healthcare policies.