She delivered Hailey Bieber's baby and saved Olivia Munn's life. Her new calling? Podcast host

5 days ago 10

Stepping into Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi’s Beverly Hills space, you whitethorn hide for a 2nd you’re successful a gynecologist’s office. A monolithic solid chandelier dangles from the ceiling. Ceramic sculptures dot the sleek surfaces. Nearby sits a potted olive histrion and a lighted antique metallic Illuminazione candle. Crystal butterflies beryllium successful 2 ornate cabinets. Floor-to-ceiling solid windows amusement a 360-degree presumption of the Hollywood Hills.

And then, there’s the doc herself.

Clad successful a agleam bluish formal she’s held onto since a impermanent quality connected “The Doctors” 10 years ago, she acknowledges she personally opts for neutrals successful existent beingness (and her signature pinkish scrubs erstwhile seeing her patients), but that she’d been advised to deterioration jewel tones for “on camera” moments. In a municipality known for sculpting movie stars, Aliabadi looks similar she could beryllium connected “Grey’s Anatomy” arsenic she towers successful precocious heels and a sparkly pinkish and achromatic butterfly necklace arsenic she poses for a Los Angeles Times photographer.

Aliabadi has delivered the babies of Rihanna, Khloe Kardashian and Hailey Bieber. She has besides diagnosed Olivia Munn with bosom cancer, Tiffany Haddish with endometriosis and Florence Pugh with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).

All of these celebrities’ wellness journeys are nationalist accusation due to the fact that her celebrated patients person discussed them successful item connected her play podcast, “SHE MD,” which she co-hosts with erstwhile manner decorator Mary Alice Haney. The amusement — which was launched by Dear Media, the largest women’s podcast network, successful March of past twelvemonth — aims to amended women astir communal overlooked aesculapian conditions. It regularly features interviews with Aliabadi’s celebrated patients and different personage doctors oregon authors who sermon everything from preeclampsia to egg-freezing.

“My dada was like, ‘I did immoderate probe and the champion idiosyncratic successful the concern is this doc named Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi,’” Sofia Richie Grainge, girl of Lionel Richie, explains connected a caller occurrence of the podcast. She started seeing Aliabadi astatine 15.

“They are the astir privileged women successful this satellite — particularly erstwhile it comes to entree to aesculapian care,” Aliabadi says of the podcast’s celebrated guests. “These are women who person bully insurance. They tin spend going to immoderate doc connected this satellite and yet their symptoms are [still] dismissed. They’re speaking from their bosom due to the fact that they privation to assistance different woman.”

Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi's Beverly Hills office.

Aliabadi’s high-profile clients and podcast person elevated her presumption connected societal media. Called Dr. A by patients and fans, she boasts 441,000 followers connected Instagram, wherever she shares clips of her personage interviews. She regularly appears connected web tv to sermon women’s health. She has adjacent made the occasional cameo connected “The Kardashians” arsenic Khloe Kardashian’s ob-gyn. She’s tally with the role, some with the professed hopes of educating women connected their health, but besides with concern prospects.

Haney urged Aliabadi to co-create SHE MD to combat misinformation surrounding women’s wellness issues. “We are providing a assets that is backed by subject and medicine,” says Haney. “People are getting their aesculapian accusation connected TikTok. That’s dangerous.”

With women’s wellness entering the spotlight arsenic an overlooked country of medicine and arsenic less radical person entree to healthcare, becoming one’s ain aesculapian advocator has ne'er been much important — and confusing. It’s led to the emergence of wellness influencers with questionable qualifications, which is wherefore Aliabadi says she committed to doing the podcast.

“If you privation to speech astir endometriosis, however galore endometriosis surgeries person you done?” Aliabadi says. “How galore thousands of patients person you treated?”

Aliabadi is connecting with consumers connected galore platforms with “SHE MD,” which is filmed similar a glossy speech amusement from a Brentwood office. They tin perceive to her and Haney’s hourlong podcast episodes oregon drawback video clips connected societal media.

“SHE MD,” which stands for “Strong Healthy Empowered,” features heavy dives with wellness and aesculapian experts — arsenic good arsenic celebrities specified arsenic SZA, Shailene Woodley, Tiffany Haddish and Olivia Munn — connected a assortment of topics including fertility, bosom cancer, menopause and endometriosis. Key takeaways and enactment plans are disposable pursuing each conversation.

Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi reviews patient's labs.

Munn’s communicative successful peculiar garnered nationalist attraction aft Aliabadi diagnosed her with an assertive bosom crab successful April 2023. With a wide mammogram, ultrasound and pap smear, Munn’s crab could’ve been among the estimated 20% that spell undetected, according to the National Cancer Institute. But it was discovered aft Aliabadi introduced her to the Tyrer-Cuzick test, which assesses one’s beingness hazard of bosom cancer. Munn’s people was an alarming 37.3%. (Anything supra 20% is considered high-risk.) An MRI, further ultrasounds and biopsies revealed she had Stage 1 invasive cancer, and Munn underwent a treble mastectomy.

“Without Thaïs being truthful proactive I don’t cognize erstwhile oregon astatine what signifier I would’ve recovered it,” Munn tells The Times. “She saved my life.”

Aliabadi says Munn felt a work to crook her symptom into purpose. “Olivia came to maine and said, ‘I privation to speech astir this issue,’” she recalls. “She knew that sharing her communicative volition prevention millions of lives.”

Munn felt compelled to talk retired portion inactive coming to presumption with her diagnosis. “I was looking backmost connected photos of playing with my past 1-year-old son, and I realized that astatine that clip I had conscionable had a wide mammogram and ultrasound — yet I had bosom crab and didn’t cognize it,” she says. “I asked myself, ‘How galore different women [are] besides walking astir unaware they had bosom cancer?’ I knew past that I had to speech astir it. This small known, beingness hazard people trial is free, online and saved my life. Every pistillate tin and should cognize their score. Thaïs told maine this trial had been astir for years, and it was her lifelong ngo to get each pistillate successful the satellite to cognize astir it. It has since go my ngo too.”

Long earlier becoming ob-gyn to the stars, Aliabadi recalls waking to the sounds of sirens and bombs portion increasing up successful Tehran during the Iranian gyration successful 1979. “We would each tally down to the structure that we had created underground,” she says. “Imagine a 12-year-old doing that 5 times a night.” Her household was granted a greenish paper erstwhile she was 17. “It felt similar the gates of eden were opening for me,” she recalls reasoning aft landing successful Los Altos. “We were like, ‘Why would we ever spell anyplace else?’”

After aesculapian schoolhouse astatine Georgetown University School of Medicine and completing her residency astatine USC Medical Center, Aliabadi, 54, opened her backstage signifier astatine Cedars-Sinai Medical Center successful Los Angeles successful 2002. She credits connection of mouth, and her bureau manager of astir 25 years, Kimmy Ferdowski, with helping her physique the signifier she has today. “When I archetypal started, determination was a gynecologist crossed the hallway who told maine thing I’ll ne'er forget,” Aliabadi recalls. “He said, ‘Every blessed diligent who leaves your bureau volition notation 4 different patients to you.’”

That mantra and her elaborate attack are the concealed to her success, she says. “I look astatine my diligent arsenic a whole,” says Aliabadi, whose appointments tally betwixt 30 minutes to an hour, starring her to halt taking security astir 7 years ago. “I don’t conscionable look astatine your uterus, tubes, ovaries, breasts and say, ‘You’re done.’ I speech astir depression. This morning, I was scheduling an MRI and MRA of a encephalon to regularisation retired [a] imaginable changeable successful a diligent of mine.” Now, her fees alteration by patient, but she offers “superbills” for imaginable reimbursement, akin to therapists who don’t instrumentality insurance.

Women with “complicated cases” typically travel to her with wellness concerns that person gone different undiagnosed elsewhere.

Take for example, “Lopez vs Lopez” histrion Mayan Lopez, girl of comedian George Lopez, whom Aliabadi diagnosed with insulin resistant PCOS successful her 20s — adjacent though she’d been describing the aforesaid symptoms to different doctors since she was 10. Her symptoms became adjacent much prevalent during college, erstwhile she developed excess facial hairsbreadth and gained 75 pounds successful 3 months without mentation contempt eating good and exercising. By 23, her hormone levels were truthful debased she was practically menopausal.

Lopez says she felt elated erstwhile she had a diagnosis and program for due treatment. “I conscionable retrieve going into the car and crying from axenic relief,” she says. “For the archetypal clip successful a decade, I felt hopeful and unafraid of my body.”

“I spot each dismissed pistillate successful this town,” Aliabadi says. “These patients are complicated. You request to beryllium down and perceive [to their symptoms].”

Aliabadi has different frustrations with the healthcare system.

“The contented is,” she says arsenic she lets retired an exasperated sigh. “I mean, determination are truthful galore issues.” She points retired that adjacent the astir informed idiosyncratic inactive needs entree to a doc consenting to perceive arsenic good arsenic the quality to spend treatment. “If they’re going to complaint you $3,800 for a bosom MRI, ‘Can you spend it?’” she says. “There are limitations astatine truthful galore levels.”

By not taking insurance, 1 could reason she excessively is creating different limit, but she blames security companies that don’t admit prime clip spent with patients. “I’m not seeing you successful 5 minutes.”

Given the constricted clip patients often person with their doctors, Aliabadi hopes women volition request much from their attraction providers if she arms them with the close questions to ask.

Despite trying to physique an online persona with the assistance of her personage circle, Aliabadi confesses she’s not precise online oregon successful interaction with popular culture.

“Sometimes [Khloe Kardashian] calls me, and I deliberation I’m conscionable talking to her,” says Aliabadi, who delivered her 2nd babe via a surrogate connected the amusement successful 2022. “Then six months later, my daughter’s like, ‘Mom, they called you [on the show.]’”

That’s wherefore Haney is the media savvy yin to Aliabadi’s aesculapian yang. “She’s a doc first, and she’s a podcast big second,” says Haney.

Like different aesculapian professionals and influencers successful the wellness satellite aiming to grow their reach, Aliabadi has her ain nutritional supplement, Ovii, which she advertises connected her podcast. At $79.99, Ovii is aimed astatine women with PCOS and includes ingredients specified arsenic vitamin D, magnesium and biotin. And similar different supplements advertised connected podcasts, it hasn’t been tested successful peer-reviewed objective studies.

In the agelong term, she’s exploring a chatbot, a instrumentality progressively utilized by influencers to pass with fans. Aliabadi believes her chatbot tin assistance grow entree to women’s wellness education.

“It’ll dependable similar me. It’ll beryllium trained by me. Obviously, it’s conscionable for cognition and education. It cannot dainty oregon prescribe,” she says.

Aliabadi welcomes technological advances to shingle up the aesculapian field.

“I look guardant to robotic doctors,” she says. “The robot volition not disregard a pistillate who said, ‘I’ve gained 40 pounds successful 2 years, and I’m doing precisely what my skinny sister is doing. Something’s wrong.’”

Aliabadi has 4 daughters, who are 20, 19, 13 and 4 (she precocious adopted the youngest). Her oldest daughters be Stanford University and she sees them pursuing successful her footsteps. She advises them to go doctors oregon make exertion to assistance women astir the world.

“I deliberation that is much powerful,” she says.

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