Dr Margaret Aranda Ferrante
Dr. Margaret is an ordained minister trained in both anesthesiology and critical care, a Fellow and PhD in Forensic Science and author of multiple books including No More Tears: A Physician-turned-Patient Inspires Recovery and Guidebook to Low Back Pain: Diagnosis and Treatment.
In addition, Margaret is a podcaster, influencer, artist and a passionate advocate for people with invisible disabilities. Her unique perspective comes from having a near-death experience that included a conversation with God, and being a traumatic brain injury survivor who was bedridden for twelve years.
Board Vice-Chair
Margaret Aranda Ferrante, MD, PhD, FACFE, CPT has over 30 years’ experience as an academic physician who trained at Stanford and USC, later serving as Assistant Professor at UCLA, and as Chief of Anesthesiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia VA Medical Center. She served on the UPenn Ethics Committee, the Pharmacology Committee at the Philadelphia VA, UCLA’s Medical School, training many medical students, interns, residents, and Fellows in anesthesiology and critical care.
In 2006, Dr. Margaret was in a major car accident causing multiple chronic illnesses and injuries including Dysautonomia and Traumatic Brain Injury. She was unable to walk and unable to talk, and for over three years, she lived on IV Fluid. In 2011, Dr Margaret received the Perseverance Award from IDA and she was chosen based upon her amazing perseverance and inspiration as she lived each day with the devastating results of the car accident.
After a long and arduous recovery from her traumatic brain injury recovery, Dr. Margaret founded Aranda MD Enterprises. Dr Margaret now leads Aranda MD Enterprises PMA, a nonprofit, faith-based organization, where she serves as a Certified Tribal Practitioner.
With a Bachelor of Arts in Cellular and Molecular Biology, she graduated California State University, Northridge Cum Laude, awarded with the President’s Award and after serving on the Student Health Advisory Committee and President of the Sepulveda VA Medical Center’s Pre-Med Club. She attended the Schools of Medicine at Oral Roberts University on a Healing Team Scholarship, later graduating from USC School of Medicine with her medical degree. She finished seven years of service at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, completing medical school, internship, and a year of anesthesiology residency. She then transferred to Stanford, completing both anesthesiology and a critical care fellowship.
When I was too sick to speak up for myself, I started writing my first book, No More Tears. It was disarticulated and it rambled, but I didn’t care because that’s the way my brain worked. Today, I have a new addition coming out fully 10 years later. It is precise, a testimony of what God was able to heal.
When I learned how to fight back, I wrote The Rebel Patient, a book that teaches people how to fight to get the right diagnosis, because without the correct diagnosis, one cannot get the proper treatment. Both go hand-in-hand, and there are ways to use the medical system to accomplish what needs to be done for your own survival.
Dr. Margaret is currently Vice Chair of IDA’s Board, where she has served since 2019, and so she can help forward its cause. With many more disabilities being recognized early in their presentation, like myocarditis, she strives to empower patients to obtain the correct diagnosis for their invisible disabilities and illnesses so in turn they may seek the proper care.
