at the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive Women's Center
This week I drove up to Cleveland to the mothership of the institution I work for: the main campus of Cleveland Clinic.
There was a celebration of the one year anniversary of the Comprehensive Women’s Center, a vision backed by Maria Shriver and brought to life by the dedication of countless employees and healthcare workers.
I work at a rural site of the Cleveland Clinic, which I don’t typically discuss because all views, posts, and writings are reflecting me and not the institution. As a rural satellite, there’s some disconnect between us and the main institution site. I eventually made it known that I’m a board-certified obgyn and certified menopause practitioner who is passionate about midlife women’s care and I was welcomed with open arms to the Comprehensive Center.
The Comprehensive Women’s Center
In one year, this center has seen great success with over 18,000 appointments scheduled. A patient makes an initial call, has an in-depth discussion of their concerns, and is directed to appointments with the appropriate practitioners.
The event this week was largely directed to patients and women of the community but some of us from the Institute were also in attendance. While the medical information was not new to me, I found it to be concise, poignant, and evidence-based and I hope it was enlightening to women of the community.
Based on how often I saw people using their phones to take pictures of the presentation slides, I think it was highly interesting to the audience.
Despite what social media suggests, medicine and wellness are not mutually exclusive. Social media tells us we have to pick one: doctors who use prescriptions or influencers who use supplements. This is a blatant oversimplification.
I’m a doctor who uses and recommends supplements, targeted, evidence-based and with pure ingredients. I’m a doctor who understands the importance of sleep as a foundation of health. I’m a doctor who believes in our biological rhythm with the sun, food that we grow, and a modern world that has decimated our physical, mental, and emotional health. I’m also a doctor who writes prescriptions.
None of this was controversial at the event; in fact, it was encouraged as a holistic picture of a woman’s best health.
Women’s Health Forum 2025
The event itself was lovely and well-run. It was hosted at the InterContinental Hotel. Purple was the color branding. Everything from the table cloths, chairs and pillows on stage to the flowers were some shade of purple.
The food was great. The snacks were up my alley, Lara bars included. They also included Mosh bars which were founded by Maria Shriver and her son, including ingredients to benefit brain health like Ashwaganda and Lion’s Mane. That peanut butter chocolate Mosh bar: delicious. We had smoothie shooters, chocolate covered strawberries and apricots. I got to enjoy multiple Pellegrino sparkling waters to my delight.
After the event, there was a reception with shopping from local female-owned vendors as well as appetizers and beverages. I probably would have stayed to enjoy that had I not had a long drive home with traffic.
Maybe next year.
Maria Shriver
I graduated high school and left for college twenty years ago in 2005. At that time, I was given Maria Shriver’s book called And One More Thing Before You Go.
At the event, we were each given a copy of Maria’s newest book I Am Maria. I had the opportunity after the event to have her sign my copy and tell her what a moment this felt like for me. It’s hard to believe that twenty years have passed. Now here I am, a board-certified obgyn and certified menopause practitioner working for the Cleveland Clinic, meeting Maria Shriver and having her sign this book for me.
It was a full circle career moment.
Last year when the Comprehensive Women’s Center was opened, there was an event also attended by Maria Shriver. I wasn’t able to attend in person so I watched it from my desk in my office between patients.
I find Maria Shriver to be a charismatic speaker, simultaneously direct and poetic, and seemingly deeply genuine.
Last year, she said something that struck me and I haven’t forgotten. When she discussed the vision for this center and for women’s healthcare, she said “We can make it really complex or we can make it really simple.” Simple and impactful. I couldn’t agree more.
This year, she said something that struck me on a personal level. She seems to be settling into herself both personally and professionally, and hoping her kids can find that calm earlier in their lives than she did. It wasn’t what she expected. Now, she says “my work is meaningful but it’s not my life.”
She ends her speeches with “God Bless.”
It really is an exciting time to be part of the women’s health movement. There are certainly professional uncertainties that I have but days like this are a reminder that I’m on the right path, even if I’m still wiggling my way into the role that feels most at home for me. There are parts of my job that have lost their meaning and others that seem so meaningful I can’t claw my way into them fast enough. Ultimately, it’s not my path but the path God has for me. I continue to pray that I land on it.
At the end of the day, my life is at home. I continue striving for the alignment and balance that Maria seems to have found: professional fulfillment that isn’t all-consuming.
