Dr. Ala Stanford honored with Philadelphia Magazine's 2021 Trailblazer Award

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- For the 17th year, Philadelphia Magazine is honoring a local trailblazer whose accomplishments and contributions epitomize the word 'excellence.'

This year's nominee has been called a leader, fighter, and hero.

"A trailblazer is a pioneer, someone who is willing to take risks and take a path that isn't already there," Dr. Ala Stanford said during her acceptance speech, "and blaze a path for others to follow."

Since April 2020, Dr. Stanford and her group, the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, led the charge in Philadelphia's minority and underserved neighborhoods.

LINK: Information on getting COVID-19 vaccines, testing from Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium

Leading by example, compassion, and care, they focused on communities with low vaccination rates and high positivity rates.

On Wednesday, she humbly accepted this award on behalf of her team.

"It's surreal," Stanford said. "I'm not used to all of this. When you look back at the last year and a half, we've given over 51,000 vaccinations and over 25,000 tests, and so I'm proud of that."

Allison Bassman from Penn Interactive won the Luminary Leader award. During the pandemic, she helped grow the online arm of Penn National Gaming.

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