Fatima Cody Stanford facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Fatima Cody Stanford
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Stanford in 2022
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Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
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| Known for | Obesity medicine |
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| Institutions | Harvard Medical School |
Fatima Cody Stanford is a doctor from America. She specializes in obesity medicine, which means she helps people who have obesity. She is also a professor at Harvard Medical School. Many other scientists look at her work because she is very important in the field of obesity. She helped change how people around the world think about obesity, showing it's a long-term health condition, not just about weight.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Fatima Cody Stanford grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. She went to public schools there. She was the top student at Benjamin E. Mays High School. She was also a finalist in the International Science and Engineering Fair.
College and Medical School
She earned a special scholarship, the Martin Luther King Scholarship, to study at Emory University. There, she got two degrees: one in science and another in public health. She is also a long-time member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Dr. Stanford then went to the Medical College of Georgia for her medical degree. She was the first Black student to be class president there. After medical school, she completed her residency at the University of South Carolina. She then did a special training program in obesity medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Advanced Degrees
She continued her education, earning a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She also completed an Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Quantic School of Business and Technology.
Career and Research
Dr. Stanford has held many important roles in medical groups. She worked with the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians. She also served on committees for the American Academy of Pediatrics and The Obesity Society. These roles show her dedication to improving health care.
She helps lead research at the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard (NORCH). She also works with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her work helps make sure more people from different backgrounds can join medical research.
Key Research Areas
Dr. Stanford's research focuses on several important topics:
- How medicines for obesity work after bariatric surgery.
- The results of bariatric surgery for teenagers.
- The use of medicines to treat obesity.
- How effective calorie counting is.
- Whether body mass index (BMI) is the best way to measure health.
- How to better train doctors in obesity care.
She has also published research on how COVID-19 affected different groups of people.
Media Appearances
Dr. Stanford is often asked to share her knowledge with the public. She has been interviewed by major news outlets like the New York Times, USA Today, and Time. She has also appeared on 60 Minutes and Oprah Daily.
On 60 Minutes in 2023, she explained that obesity is a chronic disease. She also talked about how doctors can sometimes treat people with obesity unfairly. She has spoken out against judging people based on their weight. In an interview with Sanjay Gupta for his CNN podcast, she used the term "street corner medicine." This means people often judge others' health just by looking at their size, without knowing their actual health numbers like blood pressure or cholesterol.
In 2024, Dr. Stanford was a key speaker at the NY Times Deal Book Summit. She discussed new medicines for obesity treatment.
Other Contributions
Dr. Stanford was also an editor for the journal Contemporary Clinical Trials. In 2018, she faced a difficult situation on a Delta Airlines flight. She tried to help a sick passenger, but flight attendants did not believe she was a doctor, even after she showed her medical license.
In 2023, the United States Department of Health and Human Services and United States Department of Agriculture chose Dr. Stanford to join a special committee. This committee helps create the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. She is one of 20 experts on nutrition and public health.
In 2025, Dr. Stanford and over 55 international experts proposed a new way to define and diagnose obesity. This work, published in The Lancet, aims to help doctors better understand and treat obesity.
Books
- Facing Overweight and Obesity: A Complete Guide for Children and Adults (2019)
- Deja Review: Behavioral Sciences, 1st Edition (2006)
Honors and Awards
Dr. Stanford has received many awards for her important work:
- 1995: International Science and Engineering Fair Finalist
- 1996: Emory University Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar
- 2001: United States Congressional Award
- 2005: American Medical Association Foundation Leadership Award
- 2013: American College of Physicians Joseph E. Johnson Leadership Award
- 2014: Harvard University Zuckerman Fellow
- 2015: Fellow, The Obesity Society
- 2016: National Minority Quality Forum Top 40 under 40 in Minority Health
- 2017: Harvard Medical School Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award
- 2017: Massachusetts Medical Society Women's Health Award
- 2017: Emory University Top 40 Under 40
- 2019: Massachusetts Medical Society Suffolk Community Clinician of the Year
- 2020: The Obesity Society Clinician of the Year for Excellence in Clinical Management of Obesity
- 2021: American Medical Women's Association Fellow
- 2021: Massachusetts Medical Society Grant V. Rodkey Award for Outstanding Contributions to Medical Education
- 2021: Harvard Medical School Young Mentor Award
- 2021: American Medical Association Pride of the Profession Award
- 2021: Emory Rollins School of Public Health Distinguished Alumni Award
- 2022: National Academy of Medicine Scholar in Diagnostic Excellence
- 2023: Dietary Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee
- 2024: Royal Society of Medicine Fellow
- 2024: Sigma Xi Member
- 2024: Walgreens Clinical Trials Award
- 2024: National Medical Association Meritorious Achievement Award
- 2024: American College of Physicians Mastership
