Diana Farid

Bio

Diana Farid MD, MPH is a physician, award-winning author, poet, and filmmaker. She is a staff physician at the Stanford Vaden Health Center and Clinical Associate Professor in the Stanford Department of Medicine. She holds a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from Berkeley, with a concentration in public health, socio-economic development, and human rights. She was awarded a fellowship by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be a Child and Family Health Leadership Fellow at UCLA, where she also earned a Masters in Public Health focused on community health, health communications, and story as a means for health behavior change.

She creates and amplifies stories to foster the health and human connections needed to create a better world.

As a physician consultant for The Media Project, Advocates for Youth, Diana consulted for writers and producers for TV shows such as GREY’S ANATOMY and STRONG MEDICINE, to promote adolescent health through entertainment. Her debut feature length documentary film production, AMERICAN RHYTHMS (2008) (americanrhythmsmovie.com/), celebrates the positive impact of music on elementary school students.

As the first Assistant Director of Stanford School of Medicine’s Program in Bioethics and Film, she produced film screenings and panel discussions with producers, directors, field experts, Stanford faculty, students, and the community, exploring films with vital bioethical implications. She established the first Stanford Film and Medicine Interest group for medical students to study film as a health promotion tool and has mentored medical student film projects. She was a lead producer of the 2018 Stanford Frankenstein@200 year-long cross campus film screening series and panels on the cultural, social, and bioethical impact of medical research, technology, and healthcare through the lens of story in film.

Diana’s poems have been presented in anthologies, journals, gallery exhibits, and live story telling events, including The Nocturnists. Her poem, Dear Medicine, is part of the seminal 2019 report by the National Academy of Medicine, “Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout”. She is an Editorial Board member of the medical humanities journal, The Pharos.

Her multi-awarding winning picture book, WHEN YOU BREATHE, melds respiratory science with poetry. Her novel WAVE, noted as “Raw and powerful…Rich, layered and heart-rending” — Kirkus, has won numerous awards including the Cybils Award for Poetry Novel and was named a Best Middle Grade Book of 2022 by the School Library Journal. WAVE highlights the power of poetry and music on wellbeing. She has two books publishing in 2024, THE LIGHT OF HOME (Scholastic) and ALREADY ALL THE LOVE (Simon & Schuster).

Clinical Focus

• Family Medicine
• College Student Health
• Adolescent Health

Academic Appointments

• Clinical Associate Professor, Medicine - Vaden Health Center

Administrative Appointments

• Stanford Arts Prescribing Program Partner, Stanford Vice President for the Arts (2024 - Present)
• Affiliated Faculty, Medical Humanities & the Arts (Medicine & the Muse), Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (2016 - Present)
• Assistant Director of the Program in Bioethics and Film, Medical Humanities & the Arts (Medicine & the Muse), Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (2017 - 2019)

Honors & Awards

• Louisiana Young Readers Choice Award Nominee, WAVE, Louisiana State Library (2025)
• MISelf in Books Selection, WAVE, Michigan Association of Media in Education (2022)
• California Department of Education Recommended Reading List, WAVE, CA Department of Education (2023)
• A Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, 2022, WAVE, Bank Street College of Education (2023)
• Middle East Book Award Honoree, WAVE, Middle East Outreach Council (2023)
• Northern California Book Award Nominee, Best Middle Grade Book, WAVE, Northern California Book Reviewers (2023)
• SLJ Best Middle Grade Books Honor, WAVE, School Library Journal (2022)
• Cybils Award for Poetry Novel, WAVE, Children's and Young Adult Book Lovers' Literary Awards (2022)
• Golden Poppy Award Finalist, Middle Grade, WAVE, California Independent Booksellers Alliance (2022)
• Golden Poppy Award Finalist, Mirrors and Windows, WAVE, California Independent Booksellers Alliance (2022)
• JLG Gold Standard Selection, WAVE, Junior Library Guild (2022)
• EUREKA! Nonfiction Children’s Book Gold Award, WHEN YOU BREATHE, California Reading Association (2021)
• Illustration Awards Shortlist, WHEN YOU BREATHE, Communication Arts (2021)
• Notable Poetry Book, WHEN YOU BREATHE, National Council of Teachers of English (2021)
• Maternal and Child Health Leadership Fellowship, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2003-2005)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Editorial Board, The Pharos, Medical Humanities Journal (2023 - Present)
• Member, Women In Medicine Working Group, Stanford Department of Medicine (2021 - 2021)
• Member, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Stanford Department of Medicine (2020 - Present)
• Member, Clinician Educator Advisory Committee, Stanford Department of Medicine (2020 - 2023)
• Member, Finance Strategy Committee, Medicine & the Muse, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (2018 - 2019)
• Member, Steering Committee, Medicine & the Muse, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (2017 - 2020)
• Member, The Pegasus Physician Writers at Stanford (2016 - Present)
• Film Series Producer and Steering Committee Member, Frankenstein@200 Steering Committee, Medical Humanities & Arts (Medicine & the Muse), Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics (2016 - 2018)
• Associate Member, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (2013 - Present)

Professional Education

• Fellowship: UCLA-Child and Family Health Leadership Training Program (2005) CA
• Residency: UCLA-Santa Monica (2003) CA
• Internship: University of California San Diego (2001) CA
• Medical Education: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (2000) IL
• Masters in Public Health, UCLA, Public Health, Community Health, Health Communications (2005)
• Board Certification: American Board of Family Medicine, Family Medicine (2003)