Irene A. Stafford, MD, MS, MPH

Biography

Irene A. Stafford, MD, MS, MPH, is an associate professor in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and associate program director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. She is board-certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine, and she specializes in high-risk pregnancies complicated by infectious diseases, with a particular focus on congenital syphilis.

Dr. Stafford is internationally recognized for her research on infectious diseases in pregnancy. She serves as principal investigator for several major NIH, CDC, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and institutional global grants, including a $3.9 million NIH R01 grant, Modernizing Perinatal Syphilis Testing, and the UTHealth Global Grant project Spotting Syphilis: A Dual Point-of-Care Syphilis Screening Initiative in a Low-Resource Healthcare Setting, which investigates sonographic markers for congenital syphilis and evaluates point-of-care syphilis tests. She is also the principal investigator on a Texas Developmental Center for AIDS Research (Texas D-CFAR) pilot grant titled Implementation of an Opt-Out Testing and Rapid Diagnostic Strategy for Syphilis and HIV in Pregnant Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department, which tests pregnant women in the ED for HIV and syphilis and examines barriers to PrEP uptake in those who are HIV negative. In addition, she has led innovative clinical trials to improve rapid diagnostic testing and serves as a co-investigator on the NIH-funded Bio4S international syphilis biorepository, which supports global diagnostic development.

She has published more than 38 peer-reviewed articles and presented over 50 abstracts at national and international meetings, including the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the CDC STD Prevention Conference. Her work has appeared in leading journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She is a contributing author to the CDC’s 2025 STD Treatment Guidelines and authored the syphilis in pregnancy section for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services HIV Opportunistic Infections Guidelines.

Dr. Stafford plays an active role in multiple national and international initiatives advancing the care and treatment of congenital infections. She serves on the U.S. Congenital Syphilis Syndemic Task Force, the Texas Department of Health and Human Services Syndemic Task Force, and multiple professional society committees. Her expertise has been sought internationally, including invited lectures at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the Pediatric Academic Societies, and the International Conference for Congenital Syphilis Diagnostics.

As a dedicated educator, Dr. Stafford has been recognized with the UTHealth Excellence in Teaching Award in 2022 and 2023, and the 2025 Champion of the Clinical Learning Environment Award for her commitment to advancing student education. She mentors medical students, residents, and fellows, guiding research projects that have earned national recognition, including multiple awards at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. She also serves on dissertation committees and lectures regularly for the UTHealth School of Public Health.

Through her clinical expertise, prolific research, and leadership at the regional, national, and international levels, Dr. Stafford continues to shape best practices in maternal-fetal medicine. Her work is advancing the prevention, diagnosis, and management of congenital infections, improving outcomes for mothers and infants across Texas, throughout the United States, and around the world.