The Catalyst Way™: Creative Strategies for Women in Medicine to Flourish

“If you can create better boundaries to just slow down a little bit, it is crazy how everything else will feel so much more amazing,” shares Stephanie Fusnik, nutrition coach. Stephanie saw through her medical schooling and career that there were large gaps in the way the healthcare system approaches physical rehabilitation, chronic disease, and weight loss. In particular, her older female clients...

“I define codependent thinking as a mindset and a somatic way of relating to the world in which we chronically, unintentionally, and habitually source our sense of wellness, worth, and value from everything in the world other than ourselves,” explains Victoria Albina, Master Certified Somatic Life Coach, Nurse Practitioner, Meditation Guide, and Host of The Feminist Wellness podcast with over 20 y...

“I really need to understand how food is impacting the Krebs cycle and methylation and all that. So that's where culinary medicine can get a little bit more scientific versus just looking at it from a macro point of view,” explains Shefaly Ravula, PA-C. Shefaly spent 20 years as a board certified physician’s assistant and then shifted over into the functional medicine world. After her father, who...

“I ultimately feel like doctors should be judged by how we get people off medications,” explains Jennifer Roelands, MD. Jennifer is the CEO and Founder of Well Woman MD. As an OBGYN with integrative medicine training and over a decade of women’s health experience, Jennifer is a catalyst for change within the healthcare community. She believes that women’s health requires a team based, integrative...

“The best thing you can do is find out a person's experience first before you start coming up with solutions,” explains Ashok Bhattacharya, MD, FRCP. Dr. Bhattacharya has been a psychiatrist for over 36 years and is the founder of The Empathy Clinic, a private psychiatric clinic that focuses on the use of empathy to diagnose and treat a variety of mental illnesses in both individuals and couples....

“There's so many wonderful things that have happened as a result of science and civilization,” says Aviva Gold, MFA, MPS, LCMSW. Aviva has over 35 years of experience working in art medicine inspiring others to heal through the creation of art and connecting with the magic of the universe. She shares ways to incorporate shamanism, or ancient wisdom, into healing and how to embrace creating art wit...

“In front of trauma or adversity, you need to decide what is your next step. Are you planning to complain about how unlucky you are? Or are you planning to take advantage of the situation, take responsibility for your actions and your emotions, and do something?”, shares Dr. Miriam Zylberglait, also known as Dr. Z. Dr. Z. is a triple time board certified physician in internal medicine, geriatrics...

“We are really excited to flip the narrative on midlife women's health. Women deserve more and we deserve to enjoy this part of our lives to the fullest and rock menopause,” shares Dr. Polly Watson, functional medicine OBGYN and menopause specialist. Dr. Polly was inspired to work in women’s health after witnessing her mother’s frustrating care experiences with her own OBGYN when she went into ear...

“Even as adults, I think a lot of people really want to be published, but it's such a journey, and you have to enjoy it,” shares Natalie Rompella, middle school teacher and children’s author. Natalie’s Masters in Education and background in science combined with her love of teaching children took her down a path to publishing more than 60 children’s books. Her chemistry professor encouraged Natali...

“Creativity gets pooh-poohed a lot, but it's just a different way to process. Some people don't have words,” explains Cheryl Paswater, Certified Holistic Health Coach and Functional Wellness Practitioner. Cheryl knew she wanted to be an artist from early in her childhood, and her creative mind opened her up to seeing the world differently. When she became sick, she realized that none of her doctor...

“One person can't make a difference, but many can. And so what I'm doing is I'm trying to not only give doctors a voice, but I'm trying to give them the fuel they need to feel empowered to continue building up their brand,” explains Dana Corriel, MD. Dana is the founder and CEO of SoMeDocs, a social media hub for physicians to get recognized and hired for their talents outside of healthcare throug...

“Not only do you solve loneliness in the groups, but you actually create a structure whereby new behaviors can be implemented as a norm within the group,” shares James Maskell, Creator of The Functional Forum and Author of The Community Cure. James created a community system for functional medicine practitioners and patients with chronic diseases that is virtual, accessible, and provides group-bas...

“We need to remember to leave room for the magic,” shares Dr. Holly MacKenna, board certified psychiatrist. Dr. MacKenna has 20 years of experience working as an integrative trauma-informed psychiatrist in New Orleans helping patients through a mixture of traditional Western practices and Eastern influences like reiki and acupuncture. She formed her approach through learning about integrative medi...

“What I learned after being in these trauma classes is how much it is a massage for the nervous system, through muscle tissue,” explains Marelda Rodrigues, Certified NeuroMuscular Therapist and Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach. Marelda is a massage therapist and wellness educator and the founder of Grief Massage and Wellness. She created the grief massage after a client came to her for h...

“I realized that with functional medicine, a lot of this truly is an educational experience for the patient. As opposed to a pill that I give you, it's an education,” explains Amy Drab, MPAS, PA-C. Amy is a Physician’s Assistant turned Functional Medicine Practitioner with her own practice, Awaken Functional Medicine. She adds value to her practice by including educational programming for her clie...

“What unmet need are you trying to fill with this behavior or by doing this?”, asks Heather Fork, MD, MCC. Heather is a former dermatologist turned ICF Master Certified Coach. She provides career coaching for physicians at the crossroads of change through her company Doctor’s Crossing. Heather helps physicians strategize and figure out what path they truly want to take with their careers.    Heath...

“My pathway was finding gratitude, being more present, and really being grateful for the little things that we often take for granted,” shares Carina Hopen, MD, MS, DipABLM. Carina is a board certified doctor of family and lifestyle medicine and started her private functional medicine practice after being inspired by a desire to better help her community. There is a large military presence in her...

“Every time you learn something, you acquire a new life,” shares Dr. Marwa Hazzah, functional medicine practitioner. Marwa started off her career in internal medicine and her passion for helping women with autoimmune conditions ultimately led her to pursue functional medicine. She was determined to learn everything she could to help improve the lives of her patients who were dealing with chronic i...

“We're all doomed if we cannot understand our own flow blockers and learn to avoid them,” explains host Dr. Lara Salyer. Flow blockers are anything that causes you to become distracted or that trigger imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome can keep you from catalyzing to your full potential by causing you to feel overwhelmed and burned out, even about things you are usually passionate about.    Dr....

“Art is such a valuable self care tool,” explains Amelia Hutchison, Artist and Art Therapist. Amelia works with clients all over the world through Zoom and at her anti-hustle art studio in British Columbia. She helps professionals learn to express their creativity and ease burnout symptoms through artistic mediums.     According to Amelia, people often don’t think they can pursue art therapy becau...

“Somebody’s told us for so long how and why we are this way, that we forget that we have agency,” shares Lynn Joselyn, PA-C. Lynn spent 20 years working in conventional medicine before experiencing her own series of catalytic moments that led her to opening her own functional and holistic medicine focused food and spirit clinic. Now, Lynn leads group visits to help people find healing through the...

“The key to avoiding burnout is finding things that you can control,” explains host Dr. Lara Salyer. When you create a catalyst culture in your workplace, everyone benefits. When your culture is aligned with your core values, it will be easier to defend yourself against burnout. In order to build your own catalyst culture, it is crucial that you understand the 12 principles involved.    Dr. Salyer...

“We’re really working on health by using coaching as a means of helping people move forward and improving their health and wellbeing,” explains Catherine Willows, healthcare practitioner turned health coach. When COVID-19 hit, Catherine decided to start her own business and created Willows Coaching and Consulting where she works with both individual clients and practitioners to revolutionize healt...

“Our mission has always been to add just 1% improvement to healthcare and make life better for clinicians,” shares Professor Shahram Yousefi, PhD. As an experienced professor and healthcare entrepreneur, Professor Yousefi designed a program called Mesh AI to improve the healthcare field by automating scheduling.    When healthcare workers are burnt out, mistakes get made that impact health outcome...

“We can't have the light without the dark. And the sooner you can recognize and learn to play with your self sabotages, the better you will be not only as a clinician, but as a friend, as a family member and a citizen of this world,” shares host, Dr. Lara Salyer. In this week’s episode of The Catalyst, Dr. Salyer talks about how to make self-sabotaging behaviors work for you instead of against you...