UCSF Fresno’s success and growth are a direct result of the dedication and inspiration of our faculty, staff, residents, fellows, students, alumni, partners, donors and friends. In each issue of Focus, we introduce you to the people who contribute to the greatness of UCSF Fresno through informal interviews.
In this issue, we feature married faculty at UCSF Fresno, Claire Gibson, MD, and Joe Sanford, MD. Drs. Gibson and Sanford share their passion for healing, teaching and community.
Dr. Gibson is a UCSF Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Fresno regional campus and an Inspire Heath pediatrician. Dr. Sanford is a UCSF Assistant Professor of Neurology in Fresno, UCSF Fresno Neurology Clerkship site director, and medical director of the UCSF Fresno Ambulatory Care Neurology Clinic.
Dr. Gibson is a native of Fresno with deep family roots in the city, and Dr. Sanford is a native of Dallas, Texas. They have been married for 10 years. They met while attending Stanford University for their undergraduate education. Both earned medical degrees from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, and did residency training at UCSF. Dr. Sanford also completed a fellowship in Epilepsy at UCSF.
The couple decided to come to UCSF Fresno after completing their medical training. Both looked forward to providing care in a region needing physicians. They also were drawn to academic medicine — training resident physicians and teaching medical students in the UCSF San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education (SJV PRIME), a tailored track at UCSF for medical students who are committed to high-quality medical care to improve health in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
Dr. Sanford jokes that he is in Fresno because he is married to Dr. Gibson, but he led the way to UCSF Fresno, accepting a position in 2022 at the regional campus before Dr. Gibson joined him a few months later. Dr. Sanford is a member of the Haile T. Debas Academy of Medical Educators and an assistant director of UCSF SJV PRIME.
He knew before he went to medical school that he wanted to be an educator. “I was finishing up my training in San Francisco, this opportunity presented itself, to come and teach Neurology to medical students and also to really try to fill what I discovered was a tremendous need for neurologists in the Central Valley.”
Teaching expands what he can accomplish, Dr. Sanford says. “I can only see so many people (as a clinical neurologist), but if I can train other folks to be excellent doctors, whether they are neurologists or other types of doctors, or other types of health care professionals, the impact can be spread so much wider.”
In addition to her general pediatrics practice, Dr. Gibson is curriculum director of the Newborn Service at Community Regional Medical Center. She finds teaching trainees at UCSF Fresno both rewarding and challenging. She says that it requires a complete understanding of concepts to explain and teach them, which “I actually think that makes me a better clinician.” She also appreciates “the challenge of staying current in the latest in my field … but also sometimes learning from my trainees because they’re getting exposed to facets of medicine that I may not be otherwise.”
Dr. Gibson is enthusiastic about SJV PRIME and the opportunity to help build a path for students to complete all their medical education and training in the Valley. “That’s truly not something you can do right now,” she says.
One of Dr. Gibson’s inspirations for returning to the Central Valley and practicing medicine was her grandparents, Lewis and Virginia (Stammer) Eaton, who both cared deeply about Fresno. Dr. Stammer left Fresno in 1940 for Stanford University, where she earned a degree in Biology with honors in three years. She graduated from USC Medical School in 1946 at age 23 as the only woman in her class. She completed an internship and residency in pediatrics at Los Angeles Children’s Hospital. Dr. Stammer returned to Fresno and worked as a pediatrician in private practice. She married Lewis S. Eaton in 1950 and continued to practice, doing home visits and well-baby clinics in the foothills for years. She ultimately finished her career working at the Central Valley Regional Center, which helps diagnose developmental delays and supports children and families with developmental differences.
Dr. Stammer died in September 2022 at age 99, passing away just two weeks after Dr. Gibson moved back to Fresno. “I was proud she knew I was back, and she knew I was starting to work at UCSF Fresno, and I got to share that with her,” Dr. Gibson says.
While Drs. Gibson and Sanford have busy clinical and teaching roles, they take time to enjoy Fresno. Hiking with their 5-year-old Corgi, Minnie, is a favorite pastime. A favorite local hike is Clouds Rest in Yosemite National Park. “Neither of us has ever hiked Half Dome, but we actually think that we have a better way to look at Half Dome,” Dr. Gibson says.
Dr. Sanford has grown to appreciate Fresno and the San Joaquin Valley. “It’s a tremendous privilege to get to go through the training that we’ve been through and to get to walk with people in some of the hardest times of their lives. And being able to do that in a place where you feel like you’re making an impact is meaningful. So, you get a lovely place, and you get to feel like you’re making a difference in the work you’re doing. That’s pretty lucky.”
UCSF Fresno is an amazing place to work, the couple say. “It’s the people – it’s like a work family.”
