Dr. Dawn Mussallem is a board-certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician at the Mayo Clinic Jacoby Center for Breast Health where she works with breast cancer patients during and after their diagnosis to heal and thrive using the pillars of lifestyle medicine alongside their conventional cancer treatments.
Dawn has many remarkable stories of patient recovery, but the biggest recovery story of all is her own. You see, in addition to being a physician, teacher, wife, and mother, Mussallem is also a cancer survivor, 2021 heart transplant recipient, and as of February 2022, she's also a marathon finisher!
It's a story you simply have to hear to believe and her passion and positivity will leave a lasting impact. Not only does she acknowledge her family and faith in this decades-long journey, but she also credits her whole foods plant-based diet with her ability to thrive and train with a renewed sense of purpose and boundless energy. It's a life force she brings both to her life and the lives of the patients she works with on a daily basis.
About Dawn Mussallem, DO
Dr. Mussallem is a consultant in the Department of General Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine. She is a diagnostic breast specialist at The Robert and Monica Jacoby Center for Breast Health and serves as Medical Director for Mayo Clinic Florida Lyndra P. Daniel Center for Humanities in Medicine. Dr. Mussallem is double-board certified, including a board certification in Lifestyle Medicine. She has over 25 years of patient-centered clinical wellness experience with international recognition in the field of breast medicine, lifestyle medicine, integrative oncology, cancer prevention, and cancer survivorship, and a unique personal experience as a stage IV cancer patient diagnosed 3 months into medical school, as well as a heart transplant recipient. She shares that her journey as a patient cultivated her boundless energy and deep purpose to help guide patients toward renewed vitality. In 2015, she founded the Integrative Medicine and Breast Health Program at Mayo Clinic Florida, a patient-centered program that works with breast cancer patients during and after a breast cancer diagnosis, introducing them early on to the importance of lifestyle optimization and evidence-based mind-body practices alongside conventional cancer treatments with a goal to reframe the cancer diagnosis as a “teacher of life,” leading patients to discover renewed vitality through healthier living.
Episode Resources
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Watch the Episode on YouTube
Become an Organ Donor
Mayo Clinic News Network Story on Dawn
Dawn's Journey from Cancer Survivor to Heart Transplant Recipient
Running to a New Beat - Heart transplant recipient to mark 1-year anniversary with marathon
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Theme Music for Episode
Ep. 165: Raymond "The Noodnick" - This Plant-Powered Athlete Defies Gravity
Ep. 164: Dr. Baxter Montgomery - A Modern Day David vs. Goliath: Slaying the Cardiovascular Disease Giant
Ep. 163: Cindy Thompson - Extinguishing the Raging Fires of Chronic Lifestyle Disease…with a Fork!
Ep. 162: Melanie Joy - The One Word That Explains Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows
Ep. 161: Cyrus Khambatta, PhD - The Doctor of Making Diabetes…Disappear
Ep. 160: Jennifer Stojkovic - The Future of Food is Female
Ep. 159: PLANTSTRONG Snackables - Is the Instant Pot® Really Worth It?
Ep. 158: Jane and Ann Esselstyn - Be a Plant Based Woman Warrior
Ep. 157: Ocean Robbins - From 31 Flavors of Ice Cream to a Real Food Revolution
Ep. 156: Dr. Dawn Mussallem - This Plant-Based Physician Survived Two Death Sentences To Become a Real Life Wonder Woman
Ep. 155: Sailesh Rao - A Grandfather’s Pinky Promise to Heal the World
Ep. 154: PLANTSTRONG Snackables - What's Up with That Asparagus Pee Smell?!
Ep. 153: Howie Jacobson - You CAN Change People. Here's How!
Ep. 152: Cathy Fisher - The Queen of SOS-Free, Plant-Based Cooking
Ep. 151: Dr. John McDougall - Health and Healing on a Starch-Based Diet
Ep. 150: Paul Young - This Firefighter Responded to His Own 911 Alarm Call with Plants
Ep. 149: Dr. Melissa Sundermann - This Doctor Googled Her Way to a Dream Job
Ep. 148: Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. - How to Build an Endothelial Fortress and More
Ep. 147: Shane Martin - A Mississippi Dude Turned Plant-Based Blogger
Ep. 146: Julieanna Hever - Lose Weight for the Last Time
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