Ustadha Dr. Rania Awaad

Ustadha Rania pursued classical Islamic studies in Damascus, Syria and holds certifications (ijaza) in Qur’an, Islamic Law and other branches of the Islamic Sciences. Parallel to pursuing her Islamic credentials, Dr. Awaad also pursued medical studies and later psychiatric training at Stanford. Today, she is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine where she is the Director of the Stanford Muslim Mental Health Lab, Associate Chief of the Division of Public Mental Health and Population Sciences, and Co-Chief of the Diversity and Cultural Mental Health Section. She is very passionate about addressing mental health care in the Muslim community and researching the deep historical roots of mental wellbeing in Islam. In the local Bay Area community she serves as the Director of the Rahmah Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching Muslim women and girls traditional Islamic knowledge. In this capacity, she also heads the Murbbiyah Mentoring Program which trains young women on how to teach and mentor Muslim girls and teens. Dr. Awaad is a nationally recognized speaker, award-winning teacher, researcher and author in both the Islamic and medical sciences.