Kemia M. Sarraf, MD, MPH, CCC, TIPC
President & CEO
The arc of Dr. K's 25+ year career includes patient care, medical education, public health programming, nonprofit & leadership development, and executive coaching. Dr. K founded Lodestar in 2016, responding to a growing need for advanced leadership development and subspecialty coaching for professionals who were reporting high levels of severe burnout, vicarious trauma and moral injury.
Dr. Kemia Sarraf (“Dr. K” to both students & colleagues) is a physician, public health expert, and global thought leader on the impact of traumatic stress exposure on professionals and first responders. She is internationally recognized for developing and deploying leading-edge programs and actionable skills to disrupt the impact of traumatic stress exposure and harm, restore resilience, and realign organizational cultures. Dr. K is a highly sought leadership strategist whose work sits at the intersection of neuroscience, education, narrative, and organizational transformation.
Trained in Public Health and Internal Medicine, first at the University of Utah and then at Washington University in St. Louis, her 25+ year career spans patient care, public health programming & policy, medical education, nonprofit creation and leadership, state and national advisory roles, and the founding of Lodestar, a professional development consultancy specializing in advanced leadership development and culture alignment strategies.
Her keynotes—equal parts rigorous science and human story—equip audiences to confront burnout, traumatic stress exposure, moral injury, and systemic dysfunction with clarity, courage, and practical tools for repair.
Known for unflinching honesty, incisive storytelling, quick humor and deep compassion, Dr. K serves as adjunct faculty at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and has been honored nationally for her vision and impact.
Kemia and her physician-husband have been married for more than twenty-five years, and the couple currently reside on a working farm in Central Illinois with their four “semi-feral sons” and too many critters to count.