A Career of Compassion and Connection: Celebrating Elena Hopkins

Longtime nurse practitioner and program coordinator Elena Hopkins reflects on a career devoted to children with craniofacial conditions and their families.

For families whose child is born with a craniofacial condition, care may involve numerous specialists, multiple procedures and years of follow-up. Elena Hopkins, RN, MS, CPNP, has spent her career helping families navigate that journey—connecting clinical teams, explaining what comes next and ensuring that each child receives thoughtful, comprehensive care.

Hopkins, a program coordinator and nurse practitioner with the Cleft and Craniofacial Center at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, is retiring following a career defined by compassion, collaboration and an unwavering commitment to patients and their families.

“Elena is a superstar nurse practitioner, an extraordinary cleft and craniofacial coordinator, a leader in cleft care locally and nationally, a teacher, mentor, trusted colleague and, most importantly, an all-around wonderful human being,” said H. Peter Lorenz, MD, professor of surgery and director of the Craniofacial Surgery Fellowship.

Hopkins’ path to nursing began after two years of premedical study. Encouraged by several nurses in her family, she decided to pursue nursing and discovered a profession that combined her interests in medicine, service and personal connection.

While attending nursing school, she worked as a medical assistant at Stanford Hospital, where she met plastic surgeon Donald Laub, MD. Hopkins told Laub that she hoped to join the Peace Corps after graduation. He shared the story of Interplast (now ReSurge), an organization he founded that provides free reconstructive surgical care and medical training in developing countries, and encouraged her to contact him after completing nursing school. That connection ultimately led Hopkins into craniofacial care. She went on her first Interplast trip the month after graduation and has since then been on over 60 trips with Interplast and similar groups such as Operation Rainbow, Plasticos, ConnectMed, LEAP, and Operation Smile. 

Hopkins began her nursing career at Stanford in General Pediatrics and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. She later moved to Boston for her husband’s training, earning her master’s degree and pediatric nurse practitioner certification while working nights in the emergency department at Boston Children’s Hospital. Those experiences prepared her for a career caring for children with complex medical needs and supporting families during some of their most difficult moments.

At Stanford’s Cleft and Craniofacial Center, Hopkins’ responsibilities have varied according to the needs of the clinic and its patients. As a provider, she evaluates and treats patients, but she also serves as an essential link among the many specialties involved in craniofacial care.

“I try to be the liaison between all specialties, ensuring that patients are thoroughly assessed, that families understand the comprehensive care plan and that the plan is then put into action,” Hopkins said.

Her ability to translate complex plans into coordinated care has made Hopkins someone her colleagues consistently turn to for guidance.

“Elena is the person we turn to whenever there is a problem,” Lorenz said. “She understands how to navigate both the ambulatory and inpatient systems better than almost anyone at Packard. When the rest of us cannot figure out how to get something done, Elena usually knows whom to call, what to ask and how to make it happen.”

Hopkins’ clinical and research interests have included critical airway care, Pierre Robin sequence and patients’ perceptions of care. Throughout her career, she has witnessed craniofacial care become increasingly multidisciplinary and coordinated, with greater collaboration among specialties and across medical centers.

Hopkins said Stanford’s approach is distinguished by its incorporation of research findings into clinical care, its willingness to consult experts from other specialties and institutions, and its commitment to solving complex problems collectively. The center’s diverse patient population has also helped cultivate a deep awareness of the cultural, emotional and practical challenges families may experience.

For Hopkins, the most meaningful part of the work has always been the children and families at the center of that care.

“The strength and resilience of a child born with a facial difference has inspired me greatly,” Hopkins said. “I am consistently in awe of how they accept the surgeries, treatments and challenges they face.”

That admiration has shaped the philosophy she has brought to every patient encounter. Her goal has been not only to help coordinate excellent clinical care, but also to make an often complex and unfamiliar experience feel more understandable and manageable for families.

“My hope is that, in every encounter with a patient or family, I am able to decrease their stress or anxiety, explain or clarify something, reduce their pain, connect them with the appropriate services or, in some way, help celebrate each child for who they are beyond their facial difference,” she said.

“One of Elena’s greatest attributes is her commitment to our patients and their families,” Lorenz said. “She is one of the strongest patient advocates I have ever known. Her patients truly become part of her family, and she cares deeply about every one of them.”

Hopkins’ contributions have been recognized with three ROSE Awards and recognition as a New York Times Nurse of the Year. Yet she describes her career not in terms of individual honors, but through the relationships she has formed and the lessons she has learned from those around her.

“Not a day has gone by that I have not learned something new from the surgeons, residents, nurses, medical assistants, support staff and, often, the patients,” she said.

As she prepares for retirement, Hopkins said it is difficult to name just one thing she will miss about Stanford.

“There are too many things to list,” she said. “It has been such an honor and privilege to work with so many brilliant, extraordinary and caring individuals.”

Her colleagues share that sense of gratitude.

“Elena has been a dedicated and passionate member of our Pediatric Plastic and Craniofacial Surgery team,” said Rohit K. Khosla, MD, FACS. “She has played so many roles over the years with the utmost professionalism. She is a trusted colleague everyone relies on, and she always puts patients’ interests first.”

“Elena has made an indelible impact on our team that will be difficult to replicate,” Khosla added. “I am extremely grateful to have worked with her for so many years.”

Hopkins leaves behind a legacy reflected not only in the care she provided, but also in the connections she strengthened among clinicians, patients and families. Her career demonstrates that exceptional craniofacial care is more than the work of any single specialty or procedure. It is a long-term partnership built through coordination, trust and compassion.