BodyWise Health MD

02/11/2026

Today I had my first MRI! 🏥 despite ordering many of them for patients and knowing what it involved, it was still a very jarring experience. I’m doing this in addition to mammograms because of my increased risk for breast cancer due to family history. If you are a woman with 20% or higher lifetime breast cancer risk, you may want to talk with your physician to see if you qualify for additional screening with a breast MRI in addition to mammograms.
Factors that increase your lifetime risk include:
- Extremely dense breast tissue (check your mammogram report to see if this is mentioned)
- BRCA 1/2 gene variant (start age 25-30yo)
- Untested first degree relative of BRCA carrier
- A history of radiation to chest before age 30
- Ashkenazi Jewish heritage

You can calculate your lifetime risk using the Tyrer-Cuzick model in guiding your conversation with your provider.

This information is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider

02/10/2026

What an amazing and welcoming community Bethesda has been so far. I can’t wait to meet my neighbors and other local businesses at my open house next week, and share the passion I have behind my work to keep people healthy.

Come help welcome our newest commercial resident Bodywise Health to the community on Feburary 18th at 4pm. We look forward to seeing you all there! BodyWise Health MD

01/27/2026

I’ll be giving out samples of my go to hot and spicy “healthy tonic” for a cold day on Sunday. You’ll have to join us to find out what it is! We’ve got a great lineup of locally and women owned small businesses offering busy moms services here to help lighten our loads for 2026.

BodyWise Health is offering busy moms compassionate, comprehensive and personalized attention for safe medically-supervised weight loss care. We’re doing body composition scans at the event, and for the raffle we’re giving away a free one-hour medical consultation for two (so you can come with a best friend, sibling, partner, etc for moral support and do this together)

Hope you’ll stop by, say hello, and learn more. It will be completely worth leaving your home. I promise.

Sunday February 1 from 3-5pm at Pink Moon

7610 Old Georgetown Road Plaza Level (2nd Floor), Bethesda, MD 20814

01/17/2026

Last year I decided to get the HPV vaccine before I turned 45.

❓ Did you know? The most common cancer caused by HPV is no longer cervical cancer. It’s oropharyngeal cancer.

The Gardasil 9 vaccine (which came out in 2016) can prevent more than 90% of cancers caused by HPV and ge***al warts. (Cervical, pe**le, a**l, vulvar, oropharyngeal) It is most effective when given before a person is exposed to the virus, which is why we give it to boys and girls at ages 11-12. Over 80% of sexually active people (no matter your gender or sexual orientation) will be infected with HPV at some point and usually we are able to clear the infection with no symptoms.

Yet every year in the US, HPV causes about 36,000 cases of cancer in both men and women. There is no screening for oropharyngeal cancer and it typically occurs in the back of the throat with no soreness. Seek medical attention if you have persistent issues like a lump in the neck, difficulty swallowing, or voice changes. The best prevention is VACCINATION.

If you missed your chance to get vaccinated against HPV, you may decide to get the HPV vaccine after speaking with your doctor about your risk for new HPV infections and the possible benefits of vaccination for you (before age 26 recommended, up to age 45 possible). I’m of the belief that nothing in life is predictable, so I chose to take my shot while I still met the age cutoff.

Also of historical significance, this vaccine discovery was made possible by an immortal cell line derived from cells taken—without her consent—from a young mother, Henrietta Lacks, while she was being treated for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins. The HeLa cell line has provided this life saving vaccine for millions around the world.

📚

01/16/2026

#2016 The year I became a mom of two. Cut open a second time. Mom guilt over maternity leave being too short but also too long (for my patients). Feeling like my body wasn’t my own (pregnant and nursing back to back). Never feeling caught up at work or at home. Longing for the built in security of having parents that could be reliable grandparents. Survival mode. We are capable of so much ❤️

12/29/2025

Making new holiday traditions

11/17/2025

Fat is more than just an annoying connective tissue. It’s also an organ that contains nerve cells, blood vessels and communicates with other organs using hormone signals.

It stores energy, and releases it when we need it. It insulates us from cold and can generate heat. It helps cushion and protects our soft organs from trauma.

For most adults, a healthy body fat percentage is:
Women: 20–29%
Men: 12–24%

 It secretes a variety of hormones and cytokines—including leptin, adiponectin, and inflammatory mediators. These factors regulate appetite, insulin sensitivity, glucose and lipid metabolism, inflammation, and even reproductive function, impacting distant organs such as the brain, liver, and muscle.

Dysregulation of adipose tissue function contributes to metabolic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Excess fat in obesity creates a chronic state of inflammation that can increase our risk of developing 13 types of cancer.

10/10/2025

When they just don’t understand the concept 😂