Stanford IM HEARs is a residency-based initiative dedicated to nurturing empathetic internists who are committed to the care of underserved communities within the United States. Our comprehensive program integrates clinical experiences, mentorship, advocacy, and leadership to arm future physicians with the essential skills needed to champion health equity and bridge gaps in healthcare disparities.
Working Towards a More Equitable Future in Healthcare
Our mission is to develop physicians who are committed to the care of disadvantaged and vulnerable populations within the United States and to train future physicians to have the tools to be leaders and experts in addressing health disparities. There are four main objectives of the program:
- Clinical exposure to domestic health inequities and provide tools that will allow the best clinical care for vulnerable patients.
- Mentorship by faculty that have careers focused on addressing healthcare disparities.
- Scholarship and research focused on disadvantaged populations.
- Development of leadership and advocacy skills for underserved populations.
Clinical Exposure
Learning from Vulnerable Populations
As participants in the Stanford IM HEARs program, residents will have dedicated clinical rotations devoted to care for underserved populations. They will gain first-hand knowledge of the barriers these patient populations face in obtaining adequate health and learn the resources and tools currently available to overcome them. Example clinical rotations include addiction medicine, VA vulnerable populations, social medicine, and rotations at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. We are also in the process of creating rotations that will include clinical time in prison medicine, LGBTQ+ health, and refugee populations.
Advocacy and Leadership
In addition to facilitating mentorship, the IM HEARs program aims to equip residents with concrete advocacy and leadership skills. Speakers and didactic sessions include training in a variety of advocacy skills. We encourage residents to take on initiatives within our program, hospital, and broader community that build their leadership skills while simultaneously enacting positive change.
Mentorship
Exposure to Leaders in the
Health Equity Field
We believe that exposure to mentors who have made health equity a significant component of their careers is important for fostering future leaders in this field. All participating members are paired with a faculty mentor who is a leader in the health equity field. Mentor pairings are based on residents’ areas of interest and are facilitated by the resident leaders. Events throughout the year bring in speakers to provide another avenue through which participants can meet and learn from leaders in this field.
Research and Scholarly Work
Using Research and Scholarship to
Reduce Health Inequities
Program participants are required to participate in some form of scholarly work that address health disparities. Examples include research, curriculum development, and community projects.
Resident Leadership
Megan Galan, MD
Capstone Course Lead
Maria Hanna, MD
Newsletter Lead
Maria grew up in the Chicago suburbs and stayed in the area for medical school at Northwestern before moving out to California for residency. Her interests in medicine lie in combating More structural inequalities that lead to healthcare disparities both locally and globally. She plans to focus her career on advocating for vulnerable patients and partnering with communities to drive policy level change.
Sunil Joshi, MD
Recruitment & Community Building Chair
Sunil was born and raised in the California Bay area and completed his undergraduate schooling at UC Berkeley where his zest for a career in medicine revealed itself. He went on to complete his MD/PhD training at Oregon More
Health & Science University with a focus on cancer biology. Sunil has a deep-seated passion for empowering and advocating for patients from underserved and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities through medicine (e.g., addressing health disparities, improving access to clinical trials), scientific research, and health literacy. This past year, he served as the Graduate Medical Education Professional Chair for the Office of Diversity in Medical Education and as a scholar in the Stanford Leadership Education in Advancing Diversity (LEAD) Program. This academic year, Sunil was selected to serve as an Internal Medicine Class Representative for the Committee on Residency Reform and will serve as the Recruitment and Community Building Chair for IM HEARs. Through all these opportunities, Sunil hopes to continue drawing attention to the idea of inclusive excellence.
Marilyn Ndukwe, MD
Education Lead
Hoda Sayegh, MD
Capstone Course Lead
Faculty Leadership
Christine Santiago, MD MPH
Co-founder and Faculty Director
Christine Santiago, M.D., M.P.H., is a dedicated physician and public health advocate based in Stanford, CA, with a deep commitment to improving healthcare access and equity. More
Dr. Santiago earned her M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School and completed an M.P.H. in Health Policy and Management at the University of California Berkeley. Currently, she serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford University in the division of Hospital Medicine. Throughout her career, Dr. Santiago has actively engaged in various leadership roles and initiatives, such as co-founding Stanford HEARs, a resident-led program aimed at addressing healthcare disparities. She also had the privilege of serving as Chief Resident, where she supported educational activities and mentored fellow residents. With a strong focus on diversity and inclusion, Dr. Santiago has been involved in multiple professional associations, including the American College of Physicians and the California Medical Association, to promote diversity within healthcare. Additionally, she has contributed to curriculum development, mentorship programs, and research activities, all in the pursuit of advancing healthcare and improving patient outcomes.
Dr. Santiago remains dedicated to her mission of making a more equitable healthcare system for all.
Alexandria Blacker, MPH
Community Engagement Faculty Advisor
Director of the Department of Medicine’s Community Partnership Program. For Stanford Health Care. As a public health professional, Alex has worked in breast cancer behavioral research, primary care redesign, More community health, healthcare worker well-being, and program implementation. In her current role, she focuses on building bi-directional, equitable, and sustainable partnerships between the Department of Medicine and community partners to advance local health equity. Alex is currently pursuing her PhD in Translational Health Sciences with research focused on understanding the complexity of interprofessional healthcare teams including teaming behaviors and contextual influences.
Jonathan Shaw, MD, MS
Community Engagement Faculty Advisor
Dr. Shaw is a family physician who has dedicated his career to working in the ’safety-net’. His clinical and research passion is improving care for historically under-served patient populations. He is a PCP at Ravenswood More Clinic, a FQHC serving East Palo Alto, and within Stanford works to develop sustained academic-community partnerships to promote health equity. Since 2022 he has served as inaugural Associate Chair of Community Partnership. He is also a health services researcher within Stanford’s Evaluation Sciences Unit which promotes implementation science and healthcare redesign. His research interests include psycho-social determinants of health, women’s health, and the impact of health policies on historically under-served populations.
Wendy Caceres, MD
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Caceres is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine in Primary Care and Population Health at Stanford University. She serves as one of the Associate Program Directors for the Stanford Internal Medicine Residency program More and had been the Co-Medical Director of Pacific Free Clinic and Cardinal Free Clinics from 2015-2020. From 2020 she has been one of the Associate Chairs for Diversity and Inclusion for the Department of Medicine. Her main interests are in diversity in medical education and clinical care of vulnerable populations. Her clinical scholarly activity has been focused on reducing health disparities through quality improvement at the point of care.
Nancy Fang Liu, MD
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Liu completed her residency at Stanford. She started her interest in underserved populations and global health while as a college student studying rural medicine access in India More and was able to complete a rotation at the Indian Health Service during medical school. She is excited to tailor her medical training in a way that values cultural understanding and equity in the setting of healthcare.
Natasha Steele, MD
Faculty Advisor
Natasha Steele is Stanford-trained internal medicine physician interested in innovative approaches to health equity, community partnerships, and complex care delivery.
Emily Woods, MD, PhD
Faculty Advisor- Research
Emily Woods completed her MD and PhD degrees at Emory University (2012-2020) and Internal Medicine residency at Stanford (2020-2023). She was one of the resident co-leads for the HEARs program in 2022-2023. More She is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow in the Bogyo lab at Stanford. She is available as a near-peer resource for HEARs residents doing research during residency and/or interested in research-based careers and can be reached at emilywoods@stanford.edu.
Faculty Mentors
Participating HEARs residents are matched with mentors who share common interests and serve as career guides. Current mentors include:
Dr. Neera Ahuja
Dr. Wendy Caceres
Dr. David Chang
Dr. Andrea Jonas
Dr. Yeuen Kim
Dr. Benji Laniakea
Dr. Nancy Liu
Dr. Manali Patel
Dr. Cybele Renault
Dr. Christine Santiago
Dr. Grant Smith
Dr. Natasha Steele
Dr. Kristin Walsh
Dr. Samantha Wang
Program Alumni
Since its inaugural year in 2021-2022, graduates of the IM HEARs program include:
- Gabriela Spencer-Bonilla: 2021, HEARs Co-founder, Chief Resident 2021-2022, Stanford Cardiology Fellow
- Christine Santiago: 2022, HEARs Co-founder, Chief Resident 2022-2023, Stanford Hospitalist
Mayuri Chandran: 2022, Hospitalist
Nivetha Subramanian: 2022, Stanford Nephrology Fellow
Nancy Liu: 2023, Stanford Hospitalist
Keon Pearson: 2023, Kaiser Hospitalist
Emily Woods: 2023, Researcher
Natasha Steele: 2023, Stanford Hospitalist
Caitlin Parmer-Chow: 2023, Stanford Hospitalist
Ashima Chadha: 2024, Nephrology Fellow (Mass General Brigham)
Alex Hasty: 2024, Heme-Onc Fellow (UT Austin)
Kelly Hu: 2024, Stanford Gastroenterology Fellow
Natasha Mehta: 2024, Duke Hospitalist
- Nicole Thomason: 2024, UCSF Hospitalist