Book Review: Take Care of Them Like My Own: Faith, Fortitude, and a Surgeon’s Fight for Health Justice
By Dr. Ala Stanford, M.D.
Review by Sophie Hockran
“It should have been enough. Saving Lives, children’s lives, should have been enough. For a long time, it was.” This is the opening line of Dr. Ala Stanford pediatric surgeon, founder of R.E.A.L concierge medicine, and the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium’s captivating “memoir-meets-manifesto” as actor Will Smith described. Throughout the book, Dr. Stanford depicts personal and professional stories that have guided her career in pediatric surgery and highlights the importance of her outlook on patient care by treating each individual like her family.
Early in the book, Dr. Stanford recounts the story of her mother, who was just 14 years old when she gave birth in an emergency room. From there, she reflects on her childhood in North Philadelphia, sharing the difficulties she faced as a young Black woman and the doubts others had about her potential. Dr. Stanford also opens up about the sexual assault she endured as a child, an experience whose lasting impact she continues to explore throughout the book. She details her journey as a pre-med student at Penn State, facing numerous obstacles and disadvantages. Even during medical school interviews, she was questioned about why she wasn’t considering law school, with one interviewer suggesting she seemed “more of an activist type” than a physician. Despite these challenges, she was eventually accepted to both Jefferson Medical College and Penn State College of Medicine, ultimately choosing the latter.
Dr. Stanford goes on to discuss her medical training, highlighting the difficulties of medical school. She points out the inequities in the field that weren’t always evident on the wards but were clear in the classroom. As one of only a few Black medical students in her class, she faced challenges such as limited access to study materials, biased assumptions from classmates, and strained relationships with preceptors. At the time, Black students made up only one-tenth of the medical school population, a statistic that has remained unchanged for decades to come. These challenges persisted as she advanced in choosing her specialty, with primary care often seen as the only viable option for Black doctors. This bias became more apparent over time. Dr. Stanford also discusses her experience with PTSD during her training and the early stages of her healing journey.
In a chapter titled "If You're Not in the Hospital, You'd Better Be in the Hospital," Dr. Stanford reflects on the well-worn sentiment that many residents (past and present) can relate to. She talks about the struggles of her residency, particularly the constant doubts she faced and the pervasive "you're not good enough, you don't belong here" mindset. In addition to the technical challenges of learning to be a surgeon, she had to navigate the hidden curriculum of relationship management, self-expectations, and her growing awareness of medical inequities. During this time, Dr. Stanford met Dr. Henri Ford, a mentor who helped guide her toward her dream of becoming a pediatric surgeon.
Dr. Stanford’s journey took another turn when she moved residencies to begin a research year with Dr. Ford. Despite the continued doubts about her intelligence, her path to surgery, and her seemingly unshakeable joy, “no one can be that joyful,” people would say. Dr. Stanford leaned on her mentors, including Dr. Ford and Dr. Eddie Hoover, to help her navigate the pediatric surgery match process. With their support, she found the strength to persevere, and despite the obstacles she faced, she successfully matched in pediatric surgery, proving the naysayers wrong and overcoming significant challenges along the way.
While discussing the continued challenges that faced her in her young attending career she shifts her focus to a calling, what felt like an obligation, to give back to the community that shaped her. She describes the tension between fulfilling that calling by using her surgical skills to save children in need and being involved in other important causes. The beginning of her concierge medicine career added another layer of responsibility, stretching her physical and mental capacity even further. Alongside these challenges, she grappled with personal illness, which brought her closer to God and deepened her understanding of faith. Despite it all, Dr. Stanford’s continued advocacy work, including writing papers that many dismissed as false due to biases and prejudice, speaks to her determination. She dove into her career and advocacy with such commitment that it created personal dilemmas in her relationships, marriage, and overall life. These experiences pushed her, but through her strong relationship with God, she developed a "Bring it on. I got this" attitude that propelled her forward. She persevered, achieving moments of recognition, finding new relationships, and addressing deep emotional trauma. All of this led to the COVID-19 pandemic, which, for the Black community, served as another stark example of inequities and unjust harm.
Dr. Stanford discusses the pandemic initially through the research and discoveries that led her to continue to serve overlooked communities. I would be remiss to try to summarize Dr. Stanford's work during the COVID-19 pandemic. I encourage you to read this book cover to cover, as it sheds light not only on the challenges of facing a public health crisis but also on the politics surrounding it. She highlights how the traditional "triage" model in medicine was replaced by a more selective approach, neglecting communities with the highest death rates. She states, "America was failing Black people" and recounts transforming a church parking lot into “my new OR” to provide testing for those who were being turned away elsewhere. When the vaccine became available, she shifted her advocacy, focusing on gaining trust in the community. She gathered surveys to highlight both the distrust and the strong desire for a solution. While facing resistance and false narratives about Black communities rejecting the vaccine, she created a portal to show immediate demand and pushed for vaccine access. Her efforts finally gained attention from the federal government, and with their support, her team received some of the resources they needed. This is just the beginning of the story of her organization, the Black Doctors COVID-19 Coalition, and the work it undertook.
Dr. Stanford concludes her book with two chapters titled “The Social Determinants of Health” and “We Know What's Broken. Now Let’s Fix It.” Both chapters reflect on the lessons learned from her career in medicine and advocacy, offering a manifesto for reforming the American healthcare system. She discusses the challenges faced by advocates, the resistance from the system, and pathways to move forward. This is a must-read for any physician, resident, medical student, premed, politician, or anyone who wants to look that much deeper at the system around us.
At the time of Dr. Stanford’s COVID-19 work, I was a doe-eyed pre-med student living in Philadelphia, applying to become the first doctor in my family. I had heard of the incredible work Dr. Stanford was doing in a community just down the road from my own. I heard stories of a remarkable female surgeon providing testing out of her van to those who couldn't get it elsewhere. She transformed the outlook on medicine for many in that community, and she also reshaped my understanding of what it means to be both a surgeon and a fierce advocate. Dr. Ala Stanford has had an immense impact on me and many other aspiring surgeons. As I apply to surgical residency, my application is filled with advocacy work and a commitment to fighting for causes that many surgeons overlook thanks to her. Dr. Ala Stanford, thank you for your work, your courage, your passion, and for this book. It has cast a wide net to inspire the next generation of surgeons and advocates.
Reviewer: Sophie Hockran
Sophie Hockran is a fourth-year medical student at Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Lillington, North Carolina. Sophie is originally from the small town of Andover in Northeast Ohio and received her undergraduate degree at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia while competing as a collegiate athlete. Sophie has a deep passion for international and domestic service. She travels to West Africa annually to promote healthcare partnerships and lead medical teams to villages and hospitals in need. While in the States, Sophie has a profound interest in promoting rural surgery and providing access to those in resource-limited areas. She hopes to become a dedicated rural surgeon improving health care access to a population in need, domestically or abroad. Sophie is currently serving as the AWS National Medical Student Committee's Social Media and Marketing chair and has spent time as co-chair of the AWS Instagram Sub-Committee. Her research interests include global surgery, West African surgical access, impacts of social determinants of health, and trauma-informed care. In her free time, you can find Sophie training as an Olympic weightlifter, traveling to a new place, or spending quality time with her cat Penny.