My 2023 in 5 Pictures

This year has been a very difficult one for me. Difficult in the way butterflies feel when they emerge from the exhaustive process of breaking free from the cocoon. Relationships ended. Initiatives stalled. Identity shifted. Life happened.

At the same time...what an incredible year! Total Health | Oncology has exceeded every expectation, and our team is stronger than ever! With plans to host impactful programs in 2024 with a double-downed focus on both equity in access to care and incorporating the patient lived experience, we look to the skies for the limit! My family is healthy and thriving. My faith continues to be strengthened daily.

I want to focus on the joyfulness from the 'in-between' moments along the way. Here is an excerpt from a blessing by Kate Bowler that sums up my emotions and perspective on this year-

"Blessed are we who take a minute to look over our shoulder at all we learned from what was, the people we became, the people who loved us into becoming. The peace that came with familiarity. Blessed are we who trust this timing, and who open our hearts anew to change, to new friends, to hope. Nervous, maybe heavy-hearted, but brimming with gratitude for a life so beautiful. Blessed are we, turning our eyes ahead toward a new path not yet mapped. Give us the courage to take this next step, and enough for the step after that too."

Life is about love! When you boil it all down, we were designed for connection. In the great work Total Health | Oncology does, we prioritize the quality of connection, not just for the learners who come, but for the patients they will serve. The expressions of the way we love each other are so different, but the foundations are the same. Being asked by my best friends to officiate their wedding was one of the greatest honors of my life. A memory I will cherish forever. #love

Health is our greatest gift! "Health is not valued till sickness comes." I live with a chronic, degenerative, autoimmune disease that does its best to steal my daily joy with debilitating pain and destructive fatigue. When I meditate on the goodness of God and the gifts that come with a diagnosis-particularly in numbering the days you get to live, I am so grateful that I am strong enough to shoulder the burden of illness. Total Health | Oncology issued tens of thousands of free learner certificates in 2023 and gave over $500,000 to non-profit organizations that commit to granting access to care for unreached people. Meeting people at their most vulnerable is a staple of what we do. #giving

Use your voice! “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” The art of listening to the patient is just finding its way in our healthcare system. For the most part, we visit providers to be spoken to, to be led, to be 'healed', but to heal, you must understand, and to understand, you must first listen. I am proud to say that our programs at Total Health | Oncology incorporate patients at panel, and this was not intuitive until I became a patient myself. We remain the largest provider of free oncology CME in the US and aim to become the largest provider of clinical patient education in 2024. #advocacy

Identity. Hmmmmm. I am not the expert in this as I feel I am putting on the real coat of identity for the first time in my 46 years of life. Who we think we are to people and to the world is often very different to who we actually are. What a heartbreaking lesson. Two distinct areas in my own life have transformed this year. The first is learning that if you treat others the way you want to be treated, there is no guarantee that will be true. Be kind and good anyway. The lesson here is that we are responsible for our own thoughts and behavior. (period) The second learning is that if you have a dream and the courage to chase it, there is no guarantee that you will see it come true. Keep dreaming and run after it anyway. The lesson is in the learning here. #legacy

This has been a year of coming out for me. I have always stood behind great speakers and thought leaders, but I now can count myself among them. Our work at Total Health | Oncology in disparities and patient experience, becoming one of Inc. Magazine 5000 fastest growing private companies in the US and focusing more on the business of entrepreneurship and scaling has brought enormous opportunity to use my voice prominently and powerfully at all sorts of podiums and platforms. There are countless people who have made this possible and you are too many to list, but my unending gratitude for your trust and confidence in me is deep. Thank you! #leadership

My prayer for 2024 is more laughter, love, safety, and generosity! My cup already overflows. It is out of this abundance that I pray to be a blessing to others who may feel 'not enough' as I have this year. We are always giving and getting! I close my reflection in the words of a beautiful friend of mine, 'Forward, always forward!'