Maya Adam, MD

Dr. Maya Adam is the Director of Health Media Innovation and a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine. Her research focuses on measuring the impact of innovative, video-based entertainment-education approaches to global health communication. She produces short, animated films and online courses on topics related to maternal child health, nutrition, mental health, and disease prevention. She has designed and produced online educational content for the Stanford School of Medicine for use in their preclinical programs, continuing medical education programs, and global health promotion efforts.

She is the Faculty Lead for the Global Child Health Media Initiative and Associate Director of the Center for Digital Health at Stanford. She is also the lead instructor of eight massive open online courses reaching more than a million learners around the world. Dr. Adam is the principal investigator on two randomized-controlled trials investigating the impact of digital global health education interventions on health-promoting behaviors. Her research is conducted in collaboration with the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health in Heidelberg, Germany. She is a Faculty Fellow at the Center for Innovation in Global Health and the author of "Food, Love, Family: A Practical Guide to Child Nutrition."

Dr. Adam spent numerous summers working in a community health care clinic in South Africa and was the recipient of an African Service Fellowship/Amy Biehl Fellowship from Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service. She received her medical degree from the University of British Columbia and her bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from Stanford University. Before her medical studies, she spent almost 10 years as a professional ballet dancer in Germany.