Bio

Ruby E. Reed ("Lillie") (any pronouns) is a medical student and Masters in Epidemiology & Clinical Research student from Greenville, North Carolina. Lillie aims to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist, focusing on trauma and trauma-related disorders. Passionate about psychotherapy, community health work, writing and the humanities, Lillie sees storytelling and the importance of empowerment as the threads between her interests. She hopes to build a career that empowers people and communities to own and tell their stories for healing, strength and community good.

Prior to medical school, Lillie had a career in global health, focused largely on gender-based violence, mental health, and youth empowerment in low-income urban communities. Lillie's has worked on clinical and community health projects in Colombia, India, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Rwanda, South Africa, the United States and Zambia, as well as with the World Health Organization Office of the Americas on global and regional policy projects on mental health and violence against women and children.

At Stanford, Lillie's research has focused on gender-based violence (GBV), and she has led two large research projects focusing on the impact of COVID-19 on gender-based violence. One such project examined GBV among adolescent girls in Kenya, while the other focused on domestic violence survivors in Santa Clara County Latino communities. Lillie was also Community Outreach Manager of one of Stanford's Cardinal Free Clinics, and created and implemented the first social needs screening and referral system for the clinics, which remains in use. She has also partnered extensively with local organization Next Door Solutions, a domestic violence organization in San Jose, helping with numerous projects, including helping to launch their Teen Club program, and conducted her Masters thesis doing a community-partnered project with this organization. Lillie has also advocated for social justice and health equity initiatives as the lead of Stanford's Underrepresented Minority Medical Alliance, or SUMMA, and as the co-lead and advocacy chair of Medical Students with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses and LGBTQMeds, respectively. Lillie has been very involved in the arts and humanities at Stanford, including sharing stories at numerous events and showcases, TA-ing a writing workshop, co-leading TalkRx (a student oral storytelling program), and participating in Oasis -- a Pegasus Writing Group for students from underrepresented and marginalized communities. Lillie was an inaugural Global Health Medical Student Research Fellow, and spent a research year working with Dr. Xin She and nestglobal on a community-partnered participatory intervention within refugee shelters in Tijuana. Lillie also worked with local staff to develop an arts and storytelling program in the shelters, and volunteered with Refugee Health Alliance providing psychological first-aid in the refugee shelters.

Clinically, Lillie is focused on psychiatry. Her continuity clinic spanned 2 years providing therapy under the supervision of Dr. Hilit Kletter, PhD in the Stress and Resilience Clinic, a pediatric PTSD clinic. She also worked with Dr. Debra Kaysen, PhD, and Diana Arenas, MS (Refugee Health Alliance) to provide Written Exposure Therapy (WET) within refugee shelters in Tijuana.

Honors & Awards

  • Art+Justice Award, Stanford Arts (2023-2024)
  • Global Health Medical Student Research Fellowship, Center for Innovation and Global Health (Stanford University) (2023-2024)
  • Community Impact Award, Stanford University Alumni Association (2022)
  • Marjorie Lozoff Prize for Scholarship Furthering Women’s Development, Clayman Center for Gender Studies (2022)
  • Stanford Queer Activist Award, Stanford University School of Medicine (2022)
  • Graduate Community Health Research Fellowship, Stanford University Haas Center (2021)
  • Knight-Hennessy Scholarship, Stanford University (2019-2025)
  • Global Health Corps Fellowship, Global Health Corps (2015-2016)
  • William J. Griffith University Service Award (Nominee), Duke University (2014)
  • Phi Beta Kappa, Duke University (2013)
  • Psi Chi Psychology Honor Society, Duke University (2012)
  • Benjamin Newton Duke Scholarship, Duke University (2010-2014)

Education & Certifications

  • Certificate, Johns Hopkins University, Post-Baccalaureate Pre-Medical Certification (2017)
  • BS, AB, Duke University, BS Psychology AB Global Health Minor, Biology - Genetics & Evolution (2014)

Contact

  • Academic
    rereed@stanford.edu
    University - Student Department: Epidemiology and Population Health Position: Graduate
    University - Student Department: School of Medicine Position: Graduate, Medicine

Additional Info

Links

Research Projects

  • Examining The Effects Of Gender-Based Violence On Health Outcomes Among HIV+ Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Western Kenya (MedScholars Project)

All Publications

  • Giant. Palliative & supportive care Reed, R. E. 2024: 1-2

    View details for DOI 10.1017/S1478951523001980

    View details for PubMedID 38251456

  • Qualitative perspectives on COVID-19, interpersonal violence, and interventions to improve well-being from adolescent girls and young women in Kisumu, Kenya. Frontiers in reproductive health Reed, R. E., Omollo, M., Odero, I., Awuonda, E., Ochere, P., Ondeng'e, K., Kang, J. L., Altamirano, J., Barsosio, H. C., Sarnquist, C. 2023; 5: 1236588

    Abstract

    Introduction: Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) face a high burden of gender-based violence (GBV) worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated policies led to global increases in GBV, decreased access to resources, and disruptions of pathways to care. We aimed to understand the effects of COVID-19 on AGYW affected by GBV in Kisumu, Kenya, as well as to identify possible interventions to mitigate those effects.Methods: Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with AGYW aged 15-25 with a history of exposure to GBV. AGYW were split into age-matched groups; aged 15-19 for younger groups and 19-25 for older groups. Discussions focused on how COVID-19 affected experiences of GBV, access to care services, economic and social outcomes, and opportunities for interventions to mitigate negative impacts of COVID-19 and violence.Results: Five FGDs with 46 AGYW were completed in June-September 2021. AGYW described increases in all types of GBV, particularly sexual abuse and intimate partner violence. Early marriage and subsistence transactional sex also increased. AGYW described violence as both a cause and effect of poor economic, social and health consequences related to the pandemic. Notably, AGYW emphasized stress, lack of mental health support and increased substance use as risk factors for violence, and discussed the deleterious mental health effects of violence-particularly in the wake of disruption of mental health services. COVID-19 disrupted referrals to violence-related services, and reduced access to both medical services and psychosocial services. AGYW believed that interventions focused on improving mental health as well as economic empowerment would be the most feasible and acceptable in mitigating the negative effects of COVID-19 and related exacerbations in violence.Discussion: AGYW reported increases in almost all forms of GBV during the pandemic, with related exacerbation in mental health. Concurrently, AGYW endorsed decreased access to care services. As there is no evidence that violence and mental health challenges will quickly resolve, there is an urgent need to identify and implement interventions to mitigate these negative effects.

    View details for DOI 10.3389/frph.2023.1236588

    View details for PubMedID 38107484

  • PROTECTION, PAIN, AND PRIDE: PARENTING AND BUILDING MOTHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIPS AMID DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN A PRIMARILY LATINO COMMUNITY Reed, R. E., Bruce, J., Villa, E., Peralez-Dieckmann, E. ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. 2022: S166

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jaac.2022.09.094

    View details for Web of Science ID 000873567900553

  • Distance Learning with Virtual Cased-Based Collaborative Learning: Adaptation and Acceptability of Clinical Cases from an American Academic Medical Center for Education at an African Medical School Creative Education Emily, T. 2022; 13 (4)

    View details for DOI 10.4236/ce.2022.134082

  • The COVID-19 Pandemic as an Opportunity for Operational Innovation at 2 Student-Run Free Clinics. Journal of primary care & community health Ruiz Colón, G. D., Mulaney, B. n., Reed, R. E., Ha, S. K., Yuan, V. n., Liu, X. n., Cao, S. n., Ambati, V. S., Hernandez, B. n., Cáceres, W. n., Charon, M. n., Singh, B. n. ; 12: 2150132721993631

    Abstract

    The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent county shelter-in-place order forced the Cardinal Free Clinics (CFCs), Stanford University's 2 student-run free clinics, to close in March 2020. As student-run free clinics adhering to university-guided COVID policies, we have not been able to see patients in person since March of 2020. However, the closure of our in-person operations provided our student management team with an opportunity to innovate. In consultation with Stanford's Telehealth team and educators, we rapidly developed a telehealth clinic model for our patients. We adapted available telehealth guidelines to meet our patient care needs and educational objectives, which manifested in 3 key innovations: reconfigured clinic operations, an evidence-based social needs screen to more effectively assess and address social needs alongside medical needs, and a new telehealth training module for student volunteers. After 6 months of piloting our telehealth services, we believe that these changes have made our services and operations more robust and provided benefit to both our patients and volunteers. Despite an uncertain and evolving public health landscape, we are confident that these developments will strengthen the future operations of the CFCs.

    View details for DOI 10.1177/2150132721993631

    View details for PubMedID 33615883

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3413-4520