Dr. Staunton received her undergraduate education from Vanderbilt University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She remained at Vanderbilt where she received her medical degree in 1988. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Albert Weinstein Award for Internal Medicine. She completed her internal medicine internship and residency training at the University of California, San Francisco. Before moving to Mission Viejo with her family in 1995, Dr. Staunton practiced Internal Medicine in the San Francisco Bay Area for four years.
Dr. Staunton has been active on the hospital staffs of various hospitals with which she has been affiliated, serving on the Infection Control Committee, Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, Medical Executive Committee, and Intensive Care Unit Committee.
Dr. Staunton has been practicing internal medicine with Mission Internal Medical Group since 1995. She is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and is on staff at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center where she has served as Chair of the Department of Medicine for 2005 and 2006. She is currently on the Board of Trustees at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center.