Lorraine Stanfield, MD, Dies at 56

COM Lorraine StanfieldLorraine D. Stanfield, MD, assistant professor of medicine, director of the Introduction to Clinical Medicine 2 (ICM-2) course, director of our Clinical Skills and Simulation Center, student advisor, and CCHERs instructor for more than 20 years, died Sept. 13 from breast cancer. She was 56.

A member of our community since 1991, Dr. Stanfield was loved, admired and respected by students, faculty and staff alike.

In 2013 she received the Committee on Faculty Affairs Educator of the Year Award in Preclinical Sciences as well as the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award for her clinical excellence, compassionate delivery of care and respect for patients, their families and healthcare colleagues. In 2015 she received the Stanley L. Robbins Award for Excellence in Teaching, our highest teaching honor.

A graduate of Princeton University with a BA in biochemistry, Dr. Stanfield received her MD from Harvard Medical School in 1988. During her third year of medical school she was named an Albert Schweitzer Fellow and spent three months at the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, Gabon. After completing an internal medicine residency at Brown University’s Rhode Island Hospital, she became a primary care provider at Dorchester House in 1991. Lorraine then became interested in a program to teach medical students in community health centers, and volunteered at BU School of Medicine. She was a natural teacher and by 1993 became the director of ICM-2. Dr. Stanfield also served as an advisor and mentor in what was then called our Academies program.

Throughout her illness, she continued to see patients at Dot House and work here at BUSM. Dr. Stanfield’s patients never experienced anything less than the best care, even when she was receiving treatment herself. Words cannot accurately describe her strength and character.

Lorraine is survived by her husband Burns and their three children Liz, Nathan, and Grace; her mother Ruth Bowie Dudley; sisters Susan Dudley (Brian Mannix) and Jeanne White (Geoffrey White).