In The Ladies' Room With Dr. Donnica

Dr. Faubion is the Professor and Chair of the Department of Medicine at Mayo Clinic and the Director of their Center for Women’s Health. Stephanie is the Medical Director of The North American Menopause Society. She has come up with her own version of “the talk”. No, not an awkward conversation between you and your parents talking about menstruation and sex. Dr. Stephanie Faubion has developed a new version of “the talk” to get women information about menopause. She goes over everything from the definition of menopause to what to expect from it. Stephanie encourages women to talk to their doctors in their 40s to prepare for what’s going to happen during menopause. She has found that a lot of women are not even aware of some of the symptoms of menopause beyond hot flashes. The more informed women are when going into menopause, the better equipped they can be to work with their doctor to be ready for it. She goes over different options women have to combat symptoms that may come from menopause. For more informa

Dr. Padmini Murthy is a Professor and Global Heath Director at New York Medical College School of Health Science and Practice. She is an obstetrician and gynecologist, as well as an activist. She has practiced medicine for over 30 years in several countries. She holds an MPH and an MS in Management from New York University. Dr. Murthy serves as the Medical Women’s International Association NGO representative to the United Nations as well as the Global Health Lead of American Medical Women’s Association. With many states still struggling to deal with COVID, Dr. Donnica and Dr. Murthy talk about how everyone is able to step up and help in the pandemic. They discuss the importance of blood donation, social distancing, and wearing a mask. Some people are afraid to go out and give blood, but Dr. Murthy debunks those fears! Taking small steps can make a big difference in making your community a healthier place. Padmini talks about helping women who don’t have access to feminine hygiene products. All over the world,

In the ladies’ room today, we have US Congressional Candidate, Cathy Kunkel, who is running as a Democrat in West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. Cathy has defended West Virginians against monopoly electric utilities, analyzed the economic and financial impact of natural gas drilling and pipelines in the region, researched absentee land ownership in West Virginia, and fought electric utility corporate bailouts. She’s is the co-founder of Advocates for a Safe Water System in the aftermath of the January 2014 Freedom Industries chemical spill. She is the co-founder of Rise Up WV, an organization that advocates for healthcare for quality public education, better services for those suffering from addiction, and many other issues we’ve discussed on this podcast.   Cathy discusses her stance on healthcare. Specifically, in West Virginia, the coal industry that is now leaving and shrinking because of financial and environmental reasons has left a lot of former coal workers with black lung disease. Even though

Dr. Dani Jackson is a first-generation college student finishing her final year of residency at the Yale Department of Psychiatry. Now she is working to address healthcare inequity and social justice of the unmet health needs of the black community due to systemic racism and structural vulnerability. She is the co-director of the Social Justice and Health Equity Curriculum for the Department of Psychiatry at Yale. She is also a recipient of the National Medical Association’s Top Health Care Providers Under 40 Award for 2020.   She enters the ladies’ room to talk about being a little girl who loved to learn and want to learn more about diseased directly affecting her family. This prompted her to go to medical school. Dani and Donnica talk about racial inequality in the health care system and also in medical school. Many people can go through elementary school, high school, and even into college without a black teacher. Even more never see a black doctor. The more representation there is in healthcare, the more

Candice is an Anesthesiologist/Pain Physician and musician from Los Angeles. Her passions from making quality music and spreading joy through live performance, writing, producing, and singing started during her childhood when she said she wanted to be a doctor and a musician when she grew up. After completing her medical education, she began studying piano, which led to her passion for R&B and jazz. Her nickname is KeyBoard Doc, which pays homage to her transition from being a physician to a musician, writer, and producer. Candice and her husband Keith are the co-founders of Backstage Consultants - a company that offers full-service live music support, in-person and virtual instruction in piano and drums, and support organizations wishing to improve the administration of their music departments.   She talks about her experience of feeling like an “other” often being the only woman in her classrooms. She was able to spin that experience into a positive for herself by learning about many other cultures as s

Today we welcome comedy legend, Vicki Lawrence, back on the show. Vicki is best known for her iconic characters on Mama’s Family and The Carol Burnett Show, and she recently co-starred in “The Cool Kids” on Fox. Now she’s using her voice to share her personal experience with chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). She is partnering with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America on their national education and awareness program called “CIU & You”.   Most people haven’t heard of CIU, but it affects approximately 1.6 million people in the United States. Vicki talks about her experience dealing with this extremely uncomfortable feeling in their skin. Vicki spent 6 weeks dealing with hives and having discomfort but not understanding what was going on with her body. Finally, her doctor diagnosed her with CIU.   When people break out in hives, people often suspect it’s something they’ve done wrong. People try to change their diets, their detergents, and even give up their wine, when in actuality, this is a diseas

Happy Women in Medicine Month! We’re celebrating by talking with super doc Dr. Kamala Tamirisa, a cardiologist super specialist in Cardiac Electrophysiology & Advanced Cardiac Imaging at Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia. She completed her training in Internal Medicine and served as Chief Resident at St. Louis University in Missouri. After she completed General Cardiology, Cardiac Electrophysiology, and Cardiac MRI fellowships at the University of Michigan. She then joined a large cardiology group (ProMedica Physicians Cardiology) in Ohio where she serves as the Director of The University of Toledo.   She talks about her journey into medicine, which started with her father walking into her classroom trying to get her to stop studying medicine. Kamala and Donnica discuss how even though everyone is tired of talking about politics, politics plays a crucial role in our healthcare system. Kamala talks about her personal experience of working with patients who refuse to wear a mask during the pandemic. If Kamala could

Shahada Karim is an influential wellness and fitness expert behind the organic bath and body brand Habibi. Today she’s here to share her philosophy on intuitive nutrition as the world continues to stress eat during the coronavirus pandemic. She shares her journey from journalism to yoga and learning to let go of expectations.   She talks about bringing balance into her clients’ diet. When she started her journey as a wellness and fitness expert, she learned quickly that no one who created nutritional plans knew how to cook. A lot of people begin health journeys to lose weight rather than feel better. She encourages her clients to love their whole selves. A lot of women spend time cooking three separate meals for their families. Her company Habibi builds a community for people who are all seeking to find wellness. You can find out more about her program on her website: www.habibibodysport.com.

Dr. Casperson attended medical school at the University of Minnesota and moved to Denver for a six year urology residency. She specializes in urogynecology including urological conditions specific to female patients, such as stress urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, vaginal atrophy related to menopause, sexual health, and other health concerns. She’s an expert in InterStim therapy and Botox injections for bladder leakage, urinary incontinence, and incomplete bladder emptying, as well as vaginal laser therapy treatment for genitourinary symptoms of menopause. She also hosts her own podcast “You Are Not Broken.”   Dr. Casperson tells us about the joy she has discovered with telemedicine in the pandemic. She has been able to treat many of her patients via video calls. Kelly and Donnica talk about the pelvic area including a lot of confusion about the labeling of the female anatomy. They even go into waxing your vulva — not vagina!     When women hit their 50s, the labia minora begins to dissolve withou

Ariel Meadow Stallings became internet famous at the OffBeat Bride and is now the author of a nuanced self-help book “From Sh!tshow to Afterglow: Putting Life Back Together When It All Falls Apart”. She wrote the books after dealing with her own medical crisis, divorce, and business setbacks that left her life in shambles. Today, she’s joining us from the home recording studio inside her closet!   Ariel talks about how her identity as an “offbeat bride” then added another aspect of complication to her divorce. In the midst of feeling like she was falling apart, she turned to BDSM therapy. Through her traditional therapy, she talked through a new sexual exploration she wanted to go on after her divorce. This experience allowed her to grapple with the ideas of resistance and surrender with her issues. Ariel talks about her journey into this new world of BDSM and teaches Donnica what a glory hole is!

Dr. Sophia Yen is the CEO and Co-Founder of Pandia Health, a women physician founded and led birth control delivery company, which has a sterling credentialed Board of Directors of ten physicians — all but one are women! Dr. Yen graduated from MIT, UCSF Medical School, and UC Berkely’s MPH program. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford Medical School in the Division of Adolescent Medicine and serves on the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics’s Section on Adolescent Health. She has co-founded three non-profit projects to improve the lives of women:  The Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women, SheHeroes.org, and fffl.com. She is a mother and wife of a feminist. Her goal is to be the first surgeon general to be able to say masturbation without being fired.   Dr. Yen joins Dr. Donnica to have a discussion on sexual education for teenagers. There’s a lot of misinformation about sex for teenage girls. Often teen pregnancies happen when girls have sex because they feel

Dr. Arabia Mollete is an emergency medicine physician and health expert in the South Bronx, NY. She was one of the frontline workers in the Emergency Department in New York City at one of the hardest hit hospitals, which she describes as a “war zone”. You can hear more from her on her own podcast “The Visit with Dr. Arabia Mollette.”   Dr. Arabia Mollete talks about her experience with youth and domestic violence before and after the pandemic. She comes from a family that suffered from substance abuse, depression, domestic violence, suicide attempts, poverty, and homelessness. She has been able to turn these experiences into the strength that led to her becoming a doctor.   Dr. Arabia discusses the racial and institutional disparates she saw first hand during the start of the pandemic. Certain zip codes were getting more initial funding than hospitals in more affluent zip codes. Now health insurance has become more of a business than part of health care which has been hurting patients.   There are big changes

Dr. Geeta Nayyar is a rheumatologist, an assistant professor at Florida International University, a nationally recognized leader in healthcare information technology, an Executive Medical Director for Salesforce, and an author. If that wasn’t enough, she has also been named one of the “Top 26 Smartest People in Health IT” by Becker’s Report, ranked one of the “Top 25 Minority Healthcare Executives” by Modern Health care, and is recognized by the Med City News as one of the “Top 12 Powerful Women Voices in Healthcare Innovation and on Twitter.”   Geeta and Donnica talk about what people can do to actually prevent coronavirus, and they discuss false information and “cures” that are being talked about. While there isn’t a magic pill you can take for the virus, there are a ton of basic things you can do to be safer. They debunk other myths that have been circulating about coronavirus.   They talk about issues in the healthcare system. Often doctors are not allowed to step in until it’s too late. Rather than being

In the ladies' room today, we have some breaking news! Our guest, Dr. Hiral Tipirneni, just won the Democratic primary in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District! Hiral is an emergency medicine physician, cancer research advocate, and on the board of directors of the Maricopa Health Foundation.   She discusses the coronavirus and mistakes states have made along the way. They also go into detail on the steps states and government officials can take to get more testing and help lower the spread of the virus.   Hiral talks about what inspired her to run for office and how she saw a need to help her country. Hiral and Donnica talk about the history and importance of having doctors in Congress. Hiral goes over her plan to improve healthcare in America and the fight going on right now to stop people from getting healthcare. She believes that a public healthcare option is essential to create a better system for Americans. She talks about her personal experience watching family members suffer from a failed healthcare sy

Dr. Becky Kaufman Lynn is back to talk about what you’ve all been asking about: how to have safe sex during the pandemic. Dr. Lynn is just the person to talk to about his. She is the Director of the Evora Center for Menopause and Sexual Health. She’s a board-certified gynecologist, sexual medicine specialist, a trained Sexual Counselor, a Certified Menopause Provider, and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at St. Louis University School of Medicine. If you haven’t heard her on episode #59 “Becoming Cliterate”, go back and listen!   She answers your questions about what’s allowed when your partner tests positive for COVID-19. Becky and Donnica go into the types of conversations you should be having with your children about safe sex in the pandemic. And they discuss how to go about being single and deciding to mingle right now. Overall, it’s almost impossible to be completely safe if you’re engaging in sexual activity without quarantining with the person. But Becky and Donnica give some

Dr. Sara Winokur is an accomplished molecular geneticist, researcher, and novelist. She has earned a master’s degree in cytogenetics and a Ph.D. in molecular genetics. She was on the team that discovered the genes associated with Dwarfism, Muscular Dystrophy, and Huntington’s Disease. She is an ovarian cancer survivor and thriver.   Sara discusses how the coronavirus is mutating. Unlike the flu virus, coronavirus isn’t mutating at as quickly of a rate. This means that vaccine research should be able to keep up with how the virus is changing.   She talks about her experience with ovarian cancer. Sara was lucky in that she was able to catch ovarian cancer at stage one. Unfortunately, many women do not get diagnosed until stage two or three because there are so few symptoms. While Sara was recovering, she spent her time writing her new novel “Double Blind: The Icelandic Manuscript Murders” which is out now.

Dr. Nicole Christian-Braithwaite is a psychiatrist as well as the Founder and CEO of Well Minds Psychiatry & Consulting. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and complete her psychiatry resident training at Massachusetts General/McLean Hospital Residency Program.   Nicole and Donnica talk about postpartum depression and explain what it feels like for new moms. Nicole discusses the details of her experience with postpartum depression and not being able to do basic tasks or feel good enough to be a mom. When she reached out to a a psychiatrist and her support system to find out that postpartum is very common for new moms. From there, she realized she needed to share her story so other women wouldn’t feel ashamed by their feelings.   Over 40% of black women in America experience postpartum depression, but unfortunately, it is often diagnosed too late. They talk about what leads to the percentage of black women being more susceptible to postpartum depression than white women.

Dr. Tsion Firew is an emergency physician at Columbia University, where she’s an assistant professor of Global Health. She’s served as a medic in the Iraq War. She’s also become a huge advocate for COVID testing for front line workers after she tested positive herself.   Tsion joins Dr. Donnica and talks about when it’s necessary to call 911 and take an ambulance or drive to the hospital. Often people will decide to bring their loved ones to the hospital on their own, but calling an ambulance will give them extra time to be treated before they get there. They discuss the experience of working in the hospital during the pandemic and what that means for health care workers who are constantly being exposed to COVID positive patients.   Tsion discusses the racial disparities she has seen in the pandemic. During her time at medical school, Dr. Firew consistently noticed that there were very few women of color in her classes. And now she’s seeing similar racial issues for patients. Unfortunately, the outcome of man

Latham Thomas is a Celebrity Doula, one of Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul 100, and a Maternity Wellness Expert. Latham works with women to embrace their optimal wellness and spiritual growth to empowerment. She’s the founder of Mama Glow, a global women’s health and education brand. A new version of her book “Own Your Glow:  A Soulful Guide to Luminous Living and Crowing the Queen” is out this summer!   She tells us about the experience of being a virtual doula in the times of coronavirus. She’s been teaching her methods online during these times. She goes through what a doula is and how a doula can be a helpful third party in the birth to feel supported and empowered in the process. The rules of the hospitals have changed during the pandemic. So it’s important that expecting mothers are prepared for the new procedures of the hospital.   It’s important to use this time at home to listen to what your need to work on yourself. Find a self care routine that will allow you to live a happier life. What can you cut out

In the ladies' room, today is Claudia Garcia, MBA, RN, CADAC II, LAC. She has more than fifteen years of direct patient care experience as well as managerial and recruitment experience. She currently is an appointed member of the Indiana Office of the Attorney General and Prescription Drug Task Force. She talks about her personal and professional experiences with addiction which have led her to develop one the most seamless, comprehensive, and resourceful family programs in the country, The Parkland Center in Chesterton Indiana. She discusses the substance abuse issues in America and how treatment and aftercare treatment can save lives.  Recovery is a lifetime journey, and Claudia is working with people to be sober not only when they're in treatment but what happens after. It can differ for everyone. So she's trying to find the best ways to get across to someone you love and get them the help they need.