Session 40 Dr. Alexandra Sowa is a private practice Internal Medicine physician who specializes in Obesity Medicine. She talks about the specialty with us in the podcast. This is a specialty that is relatively new but very important, In the United States and around the world, obesity is becoming more of a problem. But here in the U.S., obesity and being overweight affect two-thirds of our population. Our guest today is trying to change that as an Obesity Medicine specialist. For more stories, tips, and strategies you can learn as a premed or nontrad or you’re preparing for the MCAT, check out all our other podcasts on MedEd Media. [01:17] Interest in Obesity Medicine Not having any idea what it was, Dr. Sowa first got interested in it when she was sixteen years old. It wasn't a specialty then but she was part of one of those scholar med invitationals in Washington, D.C. A speaker named Dr. Pamela Peeke gave an amazing speech about prevention and the role it plays in good medicine. She remembers walking away from that event wanting to go into public health. She knew it was she was meant to do. She wanted to prevent the disease. So in college where she went to John Hopkins and took a double major in public health and writing. But she struggled with the idea of doing traditional public health on a mass scale or the med school. Until she decided she wanted to get into medical school and do prevention. But it wasn't a thing when she was applying but it was always something that she carried with her. So when she finally found Obesity Medicine in the middle of her internal medicine residency, that was it! She wants to manage disease and prevent it from progressing to the main diseases we think of in internal medicine like hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis, cholesterol problems. She wanted to get to the cause of it. [03:17] Traits that Lead to Becoming a Good Obesity Medicine Doc Alexandra cites compassion and openness as important traits to becoming a good obesity medicine doctor. There is an intense amount of stigma around treating, managing, being a person who carries excess weight. "You need to be aware of how difficult it can be to be a patient who is overweight." She uses the word obese and she's proud to proclaim that she's an obesity medicine doctor. You need to know that comes with many years of beating yourself up with how much you weigh and people treating you differently. Doctors, even a lot of times, are vocal about hating that population of people. So again, you have to be compassionate and be willing to be open to understanding that it is a disease. It's multi-factorial. It's not a lack of will power that leads someone to have excess weight. Additionally since it's not a well-established field, you have to be cowboy. It wasn't until 2011 that The American Board of Obesity Medicine was formed and formalized. And it got streamlined under a board process. So there aren't many specialists You have to be risk-taker. Think outside the box. Carve your own path in that regard. Another foundation to any specialty is just being really good at your primary training. Alexandra is an internist and she believes you still need to be a really good generalist to be a good specialist. "You still need to be a really good generalist to be a good specialist." Meanwhile as Alexandra was still going through her training, another specialty that was pulling her was Endocrinology. She thought she was going to be an endocrinologist. She thought managing obesity and the diseases comes along with it. And the only pathway is endocrine. Sometimes she would wish to have a little more training in it so she won't have to refer to an endocrinologist. But she's still happy she did her formal training. [06:07] Types of Patients and Running a Private Practice Alexandra sees a lot of patients with diabetes. Most doctors don't know there is a way to manage most people who are Type II diabetics with diet. She also sees people with fatty l