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I'm Sam Brigger sitting in for Terry Gross.
Our guest today, doctor Ayla Stanford, has done life saving work in the operating room and on the streets of Philadelphia, where she grew up as a pediatric surgeon.
She performed thousands of operations on children, including babies born prematurely.
Her hours in the operating room took a toll on her hands, and a shoulder injury from a car accident curtailed her work as a surgeon.
But she found another life saving calling as an activist, providing medical help for black people in underserved Philadelphia neighborhoods.
While hundreds of people were dying during the early stages of the COVID epidemic, Doctor Stanford founded the Black Doctors Covid-19 consortium, which provided Covid tests and vaccines to tens of thousands of people in Philadelphia.
After Covid became less deadly, the consortium expanded its services by setting up clinics in black communities around the city.
Ayla Stanford has written a new memoir called take care of them like my own.
Faith, fortitude and a surgeon's fight for health justice.
She spoke with Terry earlier this week.
Doctor Ayla Stanford, welcome to Fresh Air.
It's really an honor to have you on our show.
I live in Philly, so I know some of the amazing work that you've done here that really kind of created a national model.
So welcome to fresh AIR.
Thank you for having me.