Dr. Stafford will serve Stephens County two days a week at the Breckenridge Medical Center and will provide extended hours of the clinic in order to see more patients.

Dr. Stafford grew up in Hamlin, Texas. She graduated from Abilene Christian University and volunteered for the medical missions of Guatemala, and served as a medical assistant "to one of the most brilliant physicians I ever knew. He taught me to be very practical and to meet the needs of the people."

Dr. Stafford fell in love with the health of the world, spending almost ten years as a medical assistant serving in areas such as Egypt and South Africa. "I contracted sleeping sickness and saw how preventable it was with simple health measures. This all contributed to my entering medical school at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth to become a physician."

Dr. Stafford pursued a surgical residency and received a grant to spend a year in breast cancer research and to publish the results. "I still wanted to do the kind of medicine that reached the most people and did the most good." She switched residencies and specialized in family medicine at the University of Tennessee.

She returned to Texas to practice in various locations as a hospitalist, in emergency rooms, and working in trauma medicine. She also served in Afghanistan.

Realizing the importance of health prevention in Africa motivated Dr. Stafford to return to UNTHSC to study for a Master's degree in Public Health. She has just returned from a time in Togo, West Africa applying what she is learning.

For Dr. Stafford, preventative care is uppermost. Medicines used properly reach the most people and have the most beneficial effect. Good diet and good nutrition extend the quality of life. For Dr. Stafford, preventing systemic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension in the United States is her lesson learned in all her travels. She brings it here to serve Stephens County.