Two Sisters Return to the Bay Area to Work Together in the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services

In honor of National Sisters Day, Drs. Daphne and Kelly Darmawan reflect on their journey to become fellows at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford

Daphne Darmawan, MD, MBS, remembers the first time she watched Kelly Darmawan, MD, perform a cesarean delivery at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. “This is wild,” she recalls thinking, feeling a mix of disbelief and pride. “That’s my sister.”

Following the delivery, Kelly handed the baby to Daphne, who was standing by at the infant warmer with the neonatology care team. “We’re so lucky in our jobs,” Kelly exclaims. “As an obstetrician, I’m the first person to help bring the baby into the world. It’s amazing that the second person is sometimes my sister, who is training to become a neonatologist.”

In honor of National Sisters Day on Aug. 4, Daphne and Kelly recently shared more about how they came to work together in the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, where obstetric, neonatal, and developmental medicine care are offered all in one place.

The Darmawan sisters are currently pursuing advanced, specialized training at the Stanford School of Medicine—Kelly is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) fellow physician in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Daphne is a Neonatology fellow physician in the department of Pediatrics. At Packard Children’s, both are integral members of the care team.

While more senior doctors are ultimately responsible for overseeing all patients, fellows like Daphne and Kelly are skilled physicians who regularly interact with families. Fellows also engage in research and are actively involved in teaching other clinicians, namely residents.

Melissa Scala, MD, Neonatology Fellowship Program director, clinical professor of neonatology at Stanford University, and director of the Neonatal Neurodevelopmental Nurture Program at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, is thrilled to have such excellent young physicians as Daphne and Kelly on the Stanford Children’s care team. “We believe that in order to learn how to be an attending physician, you need lots of direct patient contact and responsibility. We closely supervise our fellows, offering them extensive training and feedback, but simultaneously acknowledge that they are critically important to the high-quality care we provide our babies and families,” Dr. Scala says.

Bay Area roots and choosing medicine

Daphne, Kelly, and their younger brother grew up in Silicon Valley. Both their parents immigrated from Indonesia to pursue higher education opportunities in the United States; neither did anything related to medicine. When the siblings were young, Daphne had assumed that everyone grew up to become a software engineer.

Daphne is three years older than Kelly, and the two became closer during high school and college. They both attended a prestigious university in Southern California and majored in biology. While their undergraduate studies didn’t overlap, Daphne still introduced Kelly to the research laboratory on campus where she worked, as well as extracurricular activities she was involved in, like water polo and volunteering for one of the local children’s hospitals. “She followed a bit of my path, but also carved out her own,” Daphne says of her sister.

Kelly felt drawn to improving health equity in medicine from a young age. During her childhood, she attended doctor’s appointments with her grandparents, who mainly spoke Chinese and Indonesian. She witnessed how her parents or uncle often stepped in as interpreters. “That experience was influential in realizing that cultural competence is such an important part of health care, and that was a part of what made me want to go into medicine,” she says.

Sharing in providing comprehensive maternal, fetal, and neonatal care at Stanford Children’s

Today, Daphne and Kelly are part of the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services care teams that help ensure the best possible outcomes for expectant mothers and their babies. Our center is made up of world-class doctors, nurses, and staff, and our teams leverage the expertise of more than 30 medical and surgical subspecialists at Stanford Children’s, including pediatric radiology, surgery, cardiology, nephrology, and more.

“We have such a wide network of multidisciplinary specialists who are interested in helping our patients,” Kelly says.

Kelly was the first of the Darmawan sisters to join the care team at Stanford Children’s. From 2020 to earlier this summer, she was an obstetrics and gynecology resident.

Kelly is passionate about reproductive health. She recognizes that the education people receive about their health differs, largely depending on cultural context, and she wants to ensure that everyone is informed about their body and their choices.

This August, Kelly begins her fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. “I’m really excited as a fellow to be teaching hands-on skills to residents, and also to take more time to think about the nuances and complexities of each patient’s care,” she says. A large part of her work will involve counseling families with high-risk pregnancies, whether about the results of perinatal diagnostic tests or contraceptive options, as appropriate.

The care that Kelly provides as a maternal-fetal medicine specialist goes hand-in-hand with what Daphne does as a neonatologist. Notably, they are both involved in the Fetal and Pregnancy Health Program at Stanford Children’s, coordinating care for both mom and baby before, during, and after birth.

“I get calls from Kelly and other obstetrics residents and maternal-fetal medicine fellows about any anticipated premature or complex deliveries for which they need us to talk to the parents prenatally to give them an idea of what to expect during the delivery and hospitalization in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). We’re also there for any deliveries where the baby may need to be resuscitated,” explains Daphne, who started as a Stanford fellow in 2023.

Daphne finds satisfaction in caring for infants who spend days, weeks, or even months in the NICU. Working in an inpatient setting allows her to build trust and rapport with families. “I really enjoy that in-depth relationship, seeing a family every day and getting to know them while figuring out how to support them through a challenging time,” she says.

Sharing with her sister in caring for some of the same families in the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services is something Daphne never anticipated, yet now enjoys.

“Because we are both so busy, we may not see one another except in handing off a patient during a delivery. Still, we look out for one another, and it’s comforting to know that she understands what I’m going through,” Daphne says. “The best part is being able to support each other through our medical training.”

Kelly adds, “Because the fields of obstetrics/maternal-fetal medicine and neonatology are closely intertwined, it is nice to get Daphne’s perspective as a neonatologist and my older sister, whether it is related to clinical care, research, or my life outside of work.”

Learn more about our obstetrics and neonatal care at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health >