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
Join TEAM PLANTSTRONG - plantstrongfoods.com/team
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
To stock up on the best-tasting, most convenient, 100% PLANTSTRONG foods, check out all of our PLANTSTRONG products HERE.
Give us a like on the PLANTSTRONG Facebook Page and check out what being PLANSTRONG is all about. We always keep it stocked full of new content and updates, tips for healthy living, delicious recipes, and you can even catch me LIVE on there!
We’ve also got an Instagram! Check us out and share your favorite PLANTSTRONG products and why you love it! Don’t forget to tag us using #goplantstrong 🌱💪
Want to live your best PLANTSTRONG life? Join our exclusive PLANTSTRONG Community of friendly, plant-loving peeps! This is a goldmine of resources, recipes, and incredible support to feed your PLANTSTRONG life.
Theme Music for Episode
Ep. 125: Dr. Kim Williams - Have Heart Disease? Four Questions to Empower Your Reversal
Ep. 124: J.D. and Chrissy Roth - Turn Your PLANTSTRONG Dream into a Reality
Ep. 123: PLANTSTRONG Snackables with Rip, Jane, and Ann - Don't Burn the Brussels Sprouts!
Ep. 122: Dan Buettner and the Blue Zones Challenge- Shape Your Surroundings and They Will Shape You
Ep. 121: Simon Hill - The Proof, the Whole Proof, and Nothing But the Proof (Plant Proof, That Is!)
Ep. 120: Rip Esselstyn Talks Food and Family with Julieanna Hever on the "Choose You Now" Podcast
Ep. 119: Rip's Rescue - Change of Heart: Vital Intel Every Man Should Know
Ep. 118: PLANTSTRONG Snackables - 'Tis the Season - Great Ideas to Elevate and Enhance Your Soups
Ep. 117: David Goldman - Get the Best Out of Your Body by Changing Your Game
Ep. 116: PLANTSTRONG Snackables - The Easiest Way to Eat and Live PLANTSTRONG
Ep. 115: Dr. Columbus Batiste - Get SELFISH…Your Life Depends on It
Ep.114: Dr. Kristi Funk - Arm Yourself with Plant Warfare Against Breast Cancer (A Plant-Stock Replay)
Ep. 113: Sonya Looney - The Power of Picking Yourself
Ep. 112: Dreena Burton - Cooking with Kindness
Ep. 111: Josh LaJaunie - Helping our Plantstrong Brother in the Bayou
Ep. 110: PLANTSTRONG Snackables - How Do YOU Big Bowl?
Ep. 109: Khaled bin Alwaleed - The Prince of Plants
Ep. 108: Fiona Oakes - Going the Distance for Humanity
Ep. 107: PLANTSTRONG Snackables - Broths, Baking Mats, and...Beaver Butts?!
Ep. 106: Dr. Robert Ostfeld - Miracle at Montefiore
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Good Mood Revolution
Practically Healthy by Dr. Melina
Intermittent Fasting Stories
ZOE Science & Nutrition
Skinquiries
Health Hacks with Mark Hyman, M.D.