00:00
In the spirit of serving something bigger, greater, and beyond ourselves, we have to look outside of
ourself, our genes, our DNA. It's not necessarily our fate. We have little different switches on those
genes that get turned on and off, depending on how we're living or depending on various exposures,
and so we're able to fine tune it specifically to you or to me or the individuals we're serving, exactly
where that risk is, and then be able to fine tune the different influences, so we can see those risk
numbers going down. It's just fascinating, you know, the number one thing both men and women are
scared of is dementia. We don't want to lose the memory of those we love. We don't want to forget
the face of our children, all the special things in our life. It's been really such a rewarding opportunity
to get people on this trajectory towards health by saying, listen, we found this and we have the
opportunity to really turn it around and reverse disease once it's found early, very powerful feeling as
a physician.
01:09
What if the most important investment you'll ever make isn't in your business but in your own
lifespan? I'm Lara Necession, and this is CEO Behind the scenes today we're talking about the future
of health, not as treatment, but as prevention, optimization, and performance, because for today's
leaders, longevity isn't just personal, it's strategic. My guest is Dr. Dawn Mossalem, Chief Medical
Officer at Fountain Life, a company redefining how we detect, optimize, and restore human health.
But her perspective isn't just clinical, it's deeply personal. At 26 during her first months of medical
school, Dr. Dawn was diagnosed with stage four cancer and given just months to live, later she
became a heart transplant recipient and went on to run a full marathon on the one year anniversary
of that surgery. Today she's helping leaders rethink what it means to live and lead well. Please enjoy.
Dawn, welcome to the show.
02:22
Thank you, Laura. Thanks for the lovely introduction. It is truly a joy to be here with you today. It is
such a joy
02:28
and privilege to have you on the show, and I'm so excited to have this conversation with you, because
you have lived through experiences that so many people couldn't even imagine how has that
fundamentally changed the way that you think about health time and what really matters.
02:52
It's a beautiful question, Laura. And you know, I love my time with patients, and it's so meaningful to
be here with your community to try to amplify that message, and I always also like to ask people not
to compare their journey to mine, because I was born in a family with so much deep love and
acceptance. There was never uncertainty, there was always this knowing that I would be okay as a
little girl, and I think that carries through our life into the various volumes and chapters that I
experienced, I always had total acceptance of what was the otherwise complete unknowing, and for
me, at a young age, I was fascinated with health and wellness. I was just fascinated, and I loved life,
and I loved people, so if this life was gonna happen to anyone, it picked the right person, is what I
would say, and I feel that when it comes to our hardships, our adversity, so often we look at resilience
as something we bounce back from, or it's like a rubber band, so when you stretch it, it goes right
back in its size, but for me it was very different. It was this opportunity for transformative growth, and
amid our adversity, we have such clarity as to what that can look like, and I had such deep purpose
and meaning within my life to give me a deep reason why I wanted to show up for myself during this
journey, and so that I could do something that was really, really special with everything that I learned,
so I could share it with others. So that is what I would say. And when it comes to health, you know,
our health is something we so often take for granted, and when you end up having adversity show up
at your own doorstep, you do begin to prioritize it. So, what has been my biggest challenge as a
physician is working with people that don't have adversity. So often, if we don't have that
transformative reason why we want to show up for ourselves, it's. Harder to ignite, why we want to
eat healthier, why we want to exercise first thing in the morning when we're kind of tired, why we
need to go to bed a little bit earlier rather than stay on social media or watch that last Netflix,
because you need your restorative sleep. Why maybe stopping at one glass of wine a week matters,
you know? I think nowadays we really are caught up a lot in pleasure. It's a very hedonic society, and
we instead need to really pivot to more of a eudaemonic, you know, more of a purpose-driven life. So
that would be my message. I packed a lot into that, but that fundamentally is what propelled me
through my hardest days was a deep reason why I wanted to be here and to be able to serve as kind
of that vessel or that lesson to inspire hope or maybe even more than that to move people to
knowing that they too can be okay,
05:57
yes, it's such a powerful story and I can really see how those experiences really shaped your career
trajectory and wanting to make an impact in the way that you have. You've described your philosophy
as celebrating your aliveness. What does that actually look like in a practical day-to-day sense?
06:21
Okay, first of all, Laura, I think that is the favorite question I've ever had on a podcast. I had
goosebumps, so you said it. So I love this, you know, when I wake up in the morning. So, first of all,
I'm not good at sleep. I'm just gonna say I'm not good at sleep. I try to prioritize it, but I'm not,
because there's so much to be alive for. So I feel like I'm missing out when I go to bed, I'm like, no, I
want to be alive. When I go to bed, I can't wait to wake up the next morning. This is like, so true. So
for me, my aliveness is really like bouncing out of bed. So grateful for the day, you know? One thing
we never get back, it's the only thing you can never get back, and that's time. So I'm, so you know,
I'm just asking everyone, the first thing we should do when we wake up in the morning is just have
one thing that we're grateful for, just reflect on that one little thing, even if the day is hard, there's
always something you can be grateful for, and that takes us from that place of deficit to abundance
immediately. So, for me, that is part of my aliveness, is just the knowing that I have this very
moment, staying in the present now, and when I think of present now, I think of like the gift of now,
you know, and so that is what aliveness is, and then in the spirit of serving something bigger, greater,
and beyond ourselves, we have to look outside of ourself. If this entire world is just revolving around
us, well, I think that's what a lot of stress, anxiety, disappointment, envy - it just starts to cultivate
these not so healthy sort of emotions. So, for me, I really try to look outward, and I don't judge
myself. I used to. This was the gift of heart transplantation. I would say that was my hardest thing
was self-judgment, of course. A little bit of judgment is what will help us, you know, grow. So we want
to always keep ourselves in check, but we don't want to just be so, so hard on ourselves. And I think
that also is in this, you know, direct ability for me to answer yourself part of our aliveness, that's part
of it, celebrating our life, our own essence, and what that is, our own unique truth, and being okay
with it. It doesn't have to be perfect.
08:36
Yeah, and for leaders that are listening to this, that are constantly on, they constantly in go mode.
What do you think that they're missing when it comes to their own health and vitality?
08:49
We're on this pursuit to become, we're constantly becoming, becoming, becoming, and we don't just
pause to just be, just to experience our stillness, and you know, I think that is just so critical that if we
are constantly having this inertia or momentum, and we can't just pause to be in the very moment,
we almost become aloof to our own emotions. You can't even reflect, you forget how you even feel,
like you forget what your own truth and essence really is. And I think so often we just get caught up
into that rat race of life, if you may, and when that happens, it is hard for people to prioritize
themselves, because they have so many agenda items that they're trying to get through that they
don't really prioritize their own self care and what that looks like,
09:42
and for leaders who are really struggling with that, what advice could you give them to start to
prioritize it, and perhaps bring a different perspective into the way that they're having this
relationship with health, wellness, vitality, sleep, all of these things that you've shared,
09:59
Laura, I think. The biggest area, when I see women in my practice, I founded the Integrative Breast
Oncology Program at Mayo Clinic, and I was a physician there for 25 years. Was food, that is the
biggest area, even on social media, where there is a lot of discrepancy. There's a lot of opinions and a
lot of myths, and we know what's not good for us, and we really tend to know what's good for us, you
know, it's pretty actually simple when it comes to nutrition, and there's no perfect diet, that's the
truth, you know, and so I think number one, it starts there is when we think about eating, we got to
think about fueling ourselves, but it's more than just that, the food actually helps to give our body
everything it needs to afford it its most optimal biology on a cellular level is what I would describe,
and we know that food is one of the unique sources that's going to help to support our metabolic
optimization as well. So, when I think of longevity, you know, I think a lot of people automatically
think of these magic bullets, they think of peptides, they think of stem cells, and some of these
restorative therapies, which are really fascinating and cool, but we have to show up for ourselves, and
I always say, you can't out peptide a poor diet, poor nutrition, so you know, we've got to get rid, you
have to take more time, it takes time, it doesn't have to cost more, but it's certainly going to take
more time, and nowadays you know, and we're talking to a world audience right here, a global
audience, in the entire world, in industrialized countries, the diet is just the predominant composition
is from ultra-processed foods, you know, foods, a lot of chemicals, so we've got to get rid of that and
go back to the basics, focusing more on fiber, a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. You know, I
wouldn't stick to just any one. So often when we get interviewed for podcasts, it's like, what are the
top five foods? It's just eat whatever you enjoy, get a wide variety, and eat what's seasonal to your
region, is what I would recommend. Those are the main priorities. Protein, yes, you need enough, but
you can't protein your way to muscle. We need to get enough calories, get adequate protein, but that
muscle building, it takes exercise. And even for women, when it comes to menopause,
perimenopause, there is so much narrative out there now that when women are having estrogen
deprivation, or when our estrogen levels start to dip, which happens years before menopause even
occurs, that it's hard to build muscle, but the truth is, is yes, you need adequate protein, but this is a
good pivot into the exercise part, because you lose what you don't use, so you've got to focus on
resistance training. I don't know. When I was young, I enjoyed lifting weights, but I don't actually
enjoy doing it now. But I make myself. You have a choice. So we've got to kind of push ourselves to
do what our body needs, and resistance training is really, really important, because as we get older,
for each decade of life, we start to lose muscle, and we can't afford to do that. And as we lose muscle,
we also lose bone density, you know. We hear of osteopenia, osteoporosis at Fountain Life. We are all
about early detection. Laura, I can't believe how many young women, when we're screening with a
DEXA scan, this gives us body composition, meaning how much lean mass with muscle, how much fat
mass, including visceral fat, how good their bones are. I never would have thought that 30 year olds
would have osteopenia. That means early stages of bone loss. This isn't good.
13:36
We've got to give our bones a reason to stay strong, and then partner with that is, of course, the
muscle to give us strength, and then, of course, cardiovascular exercise, where we're doing the
walking, or the jogging, or the cycling, or swimming, whatever it is you enjoy, and I always have
people, my background was in exercise physiology to start with, so I so often have people, well, what
zone should I exercise in, and I just say, just move, you know, if someone's training for an event, a 5k
a triathlon, whatever it is, then we can get into some of those training discussions, but we shouldn't
let these hard-pressed details of how we should or shouldn't exercise stand in the way of just moving,
and it doesn't take an expensive gym membership to do it, so we talked about food, we talked about
exercise, and sleep is the last one within just that real simple framework. You've got to try to have
regular sleep. Sleep regularity is so important, and we think again of longevity. We know that good
sleep regularity, really aiming closer to seven to nine hours of sleep can help to improve healthy
aging towards that longevity by almost 48% That's a huge number. It's a big number for just basic
things that don't have to cost any extra money.
14:52
Yeah, so, so well said. I want to talk about the traditional healthcare system because. It's largely
reactive, but you're advocating for something very different. What does a prevention first model
actually look like?
15:11
So important, because once we find the disease, it's a lot harder to turn it around, and if we can
prevent it from the beginning with primary prevention, eating, moving, getting adequate rest, living a
purposeful life, avoiding toxic substances. That's going to be the best thing overall. But if we can't
quite accomplish primary prevention, where it doesn't happen at all, early detection is such a gift.
And for years I was at in that space of cancer, working with individuals with cancer, and what's so
interesting at Fountain Life with this early detection model, where we do full body MRIs, we do cat
scans, they're their CT angiography with an AI overlay, and it actually looks at the coronary vessels in
the heart, but it looks at the soft plaque. Laura, you wouldn't believe it, but among all the healthy
people coming in for screening, 88% have heart disease, and 26% of them have this soft plaque. This
is something that we otherwise would not have found on traditional CT images that look at calcium
scores. We would miss it, and it's a soft plaque that breaks away and is what can cause heart attacks.
What's so amazing, though, is when we're able to share with individuals that they have this finding
that they otherwise never knew about, they weren't having chest pain, that they can then embark
upon these healthy lifestyle changes. It's what cultivates that why it gives them the momentum and
reason why they're going to take a little bit more time in the grocery store to learn to eat healthy, to
buy the products, bring them home, and prepare that healthy food. When they wake up in the
morning, be more mindful about the need to walk. When it comes to watching that last Netflix, be
more cognizant of, I really got to go to bed, I need to sleep. Managing our stress, maybe being less
reactive, and finding ways that we can try to deal with that stress in a healthier way rather than
reacting in an unhealthy way, so when it comes to coronary artery disease, that's the number one
reason both men and women die, and certainly it's found on our early detection testing, it's such a
remarkable percentage. The next is brain health. You know, the number one thing both men and
women are scared of is dementia. We don't want to lose the memory of those we love, we don't want
to forget the face of our children, all the special things in our life, and we find that among individuals
coming in for screening that 25% of accelerated brain age, but with improving lifestyle, almost 50%
have improvement of that accelerated brain age when we get to work with them at Fountain Life, so
it's been really such a rewarding opportunity to be in that space of not just being reactive but to get
people on this trajectory towards health by saying listen we found this. It's early, and we have the
opportunity to really turn it around and reverse disease once it's found early. Very powerful feeling as
a physician,
18:11
and for someone who's hearing this and thinking, I feel fine. Why would I actually need to go out and
proactively seek this this data and this insight, because I actually feel okay. What would you say to
them?
18:27
Yeah, you're right, Laura. You know, 90 over 90% of individuals have metabolic dysfunction, and we
don't feel that. You don't feel when your blood sugar goes up. So, these are silent things, you know,
inflammation - we see inflammation, we cut ourselves, and it gets that little bit of redness, but
inflammation in our body is kind of smoldering. You don't really feel it, you don't feel it till it starts to
take over, and you start having fatigue, you start having joint pains. Your body's just not feeling the
way it used to, but that's after things have built up over longer periods of time, and it's the chronic
presence of things like metabolic dysfunction, inflammation that eventually contribute to the disease
process, and then people present to the hospital or their doctor when symptoms arise. It doesn't
mean we can't turn it around then, but we would much rather find it early,
19:21
and at Fountain Life, as you touched on, you're working with advanced diagnostics and data that
most people typically don't have access to. What have been some of the most surprising things that
you've been able to detect early?
19:37
14.4% of everyone coming in to screen us, we find a life-threatening condition, whether that's cancer,
whether that's aneurysms, and similar findings that we're able to intervene, send them to a
comprehensive care center, a top academic hospital, where they then can have the intervention that
they need to save their life. That's a chilling statistic, I feel. So that is very, very critical. That to me is
the most powerful when you're actually saving a life, but beyond that, I think it goes so much further
to know how we can optimize not just disease, but really help people feel good to step into their
aliveness and have that vitality to experience flourishing, have increased energy, have clarity of
thought, have more defined meaning and purpose in their own lives, is incredibly powerful, regardless
of the decade of life. Just feeling better with that energy to do everything that's meaningful and true
to them, and not have limits.
20:36
It's so powerful. I would love to connect this to leadership, specifically. CEOs and high performers.
Why should they start to think about longevity as part of their strategy?
20:52
This is great, you know, and it's not just part of their strategy, their entire workforce. And so,
whenever I'm talking to a leadership group, I always share them, you're modeling this behavior from
the beginning, if you're sending an email out to your team at 2am what kind of message is that
sending? If you're working all throughout the day and saying how tired you are, and you're not fitting
your own workouts, your staff is not going to do that either. And we know that exercise is like fertilizer
for the brain, when we exercise, when we are moving our body with cardiovascular work, when we're
doing that resistance training, it's literally releasing this hormone called BDNF, brain-derived neuro
traffic factor. It's helping actually rewire the brain with new neurons, so we can be more effective,
have enhanced cognition, and improved performance at work. So, if we want the most productive
workforce we want them to be moving. You want to do some walking meetings with your team. You
want to maybe encourage them to try to get a workout in every day at work, or give them an
incentive program to where maybe the gym membership is paid for for your staff. These are very
critical. Get rid of the little vending machines that had the sugar sweetened beverages and the high
sodium foods, maybe have a different farmer's market come to the office, where there's some
vegetables and fruits. We know that in individuals that get five servings of vegetables and fruits a
day, it adds four years of healthy life on to a person's beautiful life that they can have. It's such an
easy add,
22:20
it's such an incredible statistic, too. Another four years by incorporating vegetables,
22:27
you know, there was a beautiful study, and it was - it's the dietary pattern in healthy aging had
105,000 individuals, and it showed that when you eat this healthier dietary pattern, you know, more
vegetables and fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, some low-fat dairy. The things they avoided
were the fake foods, the sugary foods, red meat, processed meat. Those are the things they really
tried to minimize. And what it showed is that healthy dietary pattern contributed to healthy aging by
almost 86% That's a massive number.
22:58
It is
22:59
exercise can contribute to healthy aging by almost 50% so these numbers really matter, and they
really, really add up.
23:06
Absolutely, they do. And I want to talk about vitality and legacy. How do these concepts show up in
the way that leaders are starting to think about their lives and their careers? The
23:18
biggest investment that you can make is the one toward your own health, that's why we're here. And
so I think it's so important when we really are evaluating that, and the same thing for our children.
One thing that was very common for me is when I would be working with women, what they would
share with me is, Dawn, I am ready to start showing up for myself and doing all these things that
equal a healthy life, but my kids won't want to do this, and my partner and my spouse won't want to
do this, and I'm here to say it's a family effort. Every life that you touch is a reflection of your legacy,
you know. So you want to afford them these healthy patterns too, and really try to reflect what you're
doing into all those other lives that you're touching.
24:07
It's such a powerful reframe, because a lot of people, especially women, feel guilty for taking up
space in their own lives for prioritizing things like their wellness routines, their workouts, because
they feel like they constantly need to be on for their families, they constantly need to be on for their
careers, but what you're saying is something completely different, which is when you do prioritize
yourself, it's actually an act of service, it's an act of love, and you're role modeling those types of
behaviors to every single person that you touch in your family, in your network, in your organization,
and beyond. So, what I would love to ask you is, are you seeing a shift where leaders are starting to
take this more seriously, or are you noticing that people are still waiting for. Something to go wrong in
order to propel this change.
25:04
I really think it's the former, you know. I have been in medicine for, gosh, I mean, 25 years is when I
started training at Mayo Clinic, and I just remember no focus back then on what a healthy lifestyle
looks like, and now it is a form of care that I feel is delivered across the board at every academic
medical center is best possible, but they're still not really investing into the early detection because
insurers don't pay for it, but fortunately people are starting to ask these questions. What if? How can I
get this solution? Can you check this lab? People are advocating towards their health, and that's
where it starts. So, our true goal at Fount Life is to democratize wellness. All of these lab data points,
we have 15 billion data points that goes to a massive AI cloud. We have an AI cloud called Zory. It's
clinical facing towards the physicians and the clinical team, and it's also member facing out towards
the members. And within this database, we're able to look at these patterns, and so then we can take
this to policymakers and say this is why the full body MRI matters for early cancer detection, for
accelerated brain age, for finding aneurysms, etc. This is why the quantitative CT with AI overlay,
looking at that soft plaque or the coronary artery disease matters, because we're able to find
coronary artery disease and reverse it with lifestyle. This is critical. This is why checking these
laboratory studies matter. Gut microbiome analysis, genomic mapping. With the genomic mapping,
we're able to look at what supplements, as well as what medications would be best suited for Laura or
best suited for Dawn, based on our individual genetic makeup and how we metabolize these different
drugs. We're even moving so far with our genetic mapping that we're able to look at something called
polygenic risk scores. The polygenic risk scores, you know, our genes, our DNA - it's not necessarily
our fate. We have little different switches on those genes that could turn on and off, depending on
how we're living, or depending on various exposures, and so we're able to fine tune it specifically to
you, or to me, or the individuals we're serving, exactly where that risk is, and then be able to fine
tune the different influences, so we can see those risk numbers going down. It's
27:39
just
27:40
fascinating being able to check for heavy metals and micro plastics, and getting all the nonsense out
of the way, so people can have full understanding of what their body is doing on the inside, so it can
get down on a cellular level and help to really improve their biology. The level of data and insight that
is available today is quite extraordinary, but there is still a lot of noise in the wellness space. What
does the actual data tell us about extending healthy lifespan? You know, this is what we say, and Dr.
Peter Diamandis, he is a futurist, and we agree that if you can stay alive over the next 10 years, we
are going to likely have a cure for almost every condition. We have come that far. I never thought
what we are finding now was going to be available in my lifetime, that's for sure. So we are just
advancing to the point that we can potentially even consider gene editing in the future. We're there,
we're growing organs and laboratories now. You know, people won't need a heart transplant from a
stranger, God forbid they end up with a condition that will require something. We'll be able to grow
their own organ with stem cells. We do a lot of restorative therapies at Fountain Life, as well as
expanded access programs and different investigational studies that are so exciting in this restorative
regenerative space with placental-derived stem cells for various conditions like pain and
osteoarthritis, it's just absolutely incredible, and poor wound healing. So I have no doubt that if we
can just really take good care of ourselves. If you have a sign or symptom, make sure you ask your
doctor about it, so you get an answer. Keep yourself well, because in the next 10 years it is going to
be really fascinating what we're able to offer individuals. That's so incredibly exciting. It really is. I
know we touched on the importance of lifestyle factors earlier, things like nutrition, movement,
recovery, sleep, etc. How important are those compared to some of the more advanced medical
interventions that are and are becoming available? They matter 100% in. And that's, you know, I
started off earlier saying that you can't out peptide a poor diet. It starts with the basics, and so I have
this massive requirement, you know, and we have this questionnaire developed to send out to
members to find out how they're moving, how are they eating, how is their stress, how is their sleep,
because that matters so much. And then on top of that, we can layer these additional, more
evidence-backed therapies that can help to drive towards that flourishing, and I'm all about
optimization with nutraceuticals. We know that with modernization of farming and some of the fastpaced
lifestyles and oxidative damage just from the various exposures we have, that there are some
nutraceuticals that can help to support the body. Some of those nutraceuticals have some early
evidence that, yeah, they can be beneficial, but we know, like, correcting things like vitamin D
deficiency, making sure that someone doesn't have an omega three deficiency, which so many
people do, just based on the fact that they're not eating the most optimized nutrition. Other vitamin
deficiencies that are so incredibly common that would blow your mind are things even like vitamin C.
Who would guess that's usually a direct reflection of people not getting enough vegetables and fruits,
magnesium. I mean, we can go on such a long discussion on the various nutrient gaps that we need
to correct. Protein, of course, that's an important thing to emphasize when a person's coming in,
making sure that they don't have any increases, as we were saying earlier, in the micro plastics or
some of the heavy metals that may require a particular therapy. Some people think of TPE or
therapeutic plasma exchange for some of those various findings, so it's very exciting when you start
to actually investigate what therapeutic you're able to offer a person to help to optimize them,
31:51
and what are some of the biggest misconceptions that people have when it comes to longevity and
health optimization. I
32:00
think the biggest one is that our genes are our fate, and they're absolutely not. So, we have the
opportunity to redirect our genes based on how we live. That's number one. Number two would be
protein. I think that's actually overdone, where we are recommending people get such high levels of
protein, though. You need to get enough, so I don't want to minimize it. I just think it's over
embellished. And the recommendation would be about 1.2 grams to 1.6 grams per kilogram of ideal
body weight, or in pounds, which in America they're more by pounds, point five four to point seven
grams per pound of ideal body weight, that's about how much protein you need. Some people are
going so far beyond that, and then, especially for women, if you're overdoing the protein beyond what
you need, that's just extra calories, and you just don't need those extra calories. And most people are
focusing on fiber, and the fiber is where the majority of people are really deficient in their diet, so I'm
not here to say don't focus on your protein. I'm just here to say make sure you equally focus on how
much fiber you're getting, and you get fiber from those plant foods. The next I would say, when it
comes to hormones, and I kind of mentioned this a little bit earlier too, is that just because you're
perimenopause or menopause doesn't mean you're doomed, you know. We want you to show up for
yourself in hormone optimization. Is absolutely what someone should speak with with their physician,
you know. When those hormone levels start to dip, we want to try to find it maybe even a little bit
before then. Restore the body with replacing those hormones, so you can be optimized in terms of
your symptoms, your vitality, your metabolic health, and beyond.
33:44
Yeah, so, so well said. I want to make this super practical, because for busy executives, everything
comes down to time and priorities. How can someone realistically start to invest in their health and
wellness without feeling like they're having to overhaul their entire life.
34:06
I think what I would say is you do have to show up for yourself and you have a choice, and so it's not
a total overhaul, but it is being aware of what matters, and your health should be one of your
fundamental priorities and purposes that you're paying attention to, and so when it comes to food,
trying to make a healthier choice more often, it doesn't have to be perfect, and there is no perfect
diet. When it comes to exercise, it doesn't have to be formal exercise, just move more, and when it
comes to sleep, you got to just be aware. If you're going to put that extra TV show on, think twice
about it. Think to yourself, wow, I was a little bit tired today, maybe I should avoid that and try to get
to bed a little bit earlier today. And then when it comes to mindset. React and gratitude every
morning when we wake up, put those feet on the ground and have one thing that you reflect on that
you're grateful for. So, so important, and I always recommend for individuals as well as try to get that
first morning sunlight when you wake up, because in doing that, it helps to start to reset the circadian
rhythm, so when nighttime rolls around that evening you'll be more ready for bed, so those are the
basics, and I really don't think it's that difficult when someone has illness, they learn to show up for
their sickness, so why do we need to wait for the sickness to come to our doorstep, because I promise
you, if it comes someone's way, they always find the time to learn how to be healthy, and so we just
have to really reprioritize self, wellness, vitality, and as soon as you start pushing in that direction,
you start having more energy and more meaning over what matters most in life,
36:05
and you've said that this is really about investing in yourself. Why do you think so many people delay
that or wait for the illness to happen before they start to actually prioritize this in their lives,
36:21
I think it's conditioning. They watch the behaviors modeled from their friends, from their parents in
the workplace, and that's why you and me and everyone listening, the more we hang around with
people who have healthy behaviors, we know that that in and of itself will drive healthier behavior
forward for all. So, this is just a huge shout out to everybody listening. Just take some baby steps with
each of those little modalities of healthier living that we've been talking about, and you'll see that
those people around you also slowly but surely start to adopt with those healthier choices. But I just
feel to answer your question in one word: condition.
37:00
Thank you for sharing that. Fountain Life was recently named best longevity clinic of the year. What
does that recognition mean for the broader movement towards preventative health?
37:17
And that was such an honor from the Buck Institute, and so this was voted on by peers, which they're
the most critical. So really proud of that recognition. This is a shout out to the doctors and the team
and the hard workers at Fountain Life. It is a fearless, dedicated group. In fact, I got a call that came
through this morning at 3:30am from one of our founders. No kidding, dedicated group of people so
passionate about the service that we are providing to elevate everyone's vitality and flourishing, but
my message out there to healthcare providers and like-minded individuals and organizations stepping
into this space is it is our priority to capture this data and follow it longitudinally, so we can show
what matters most, so we can help to democratize this, so this can be care for all, not just care for
the select few that can afford it right now. So many people were surprised that I left Mayo Clinic, after
all these years, but the system is broken. That wasn't Mayo Clinic's fault. It's just that when folks
come to Mayo Clinic, the only way it's affordable is with insurance, but insurance companies limit us
as doctors as to what we can and can't do, and that is very frustrating to me, especially in the space
of wellness. There should never be $1 sign put on wellness. We should want to spread wellness to
everyone, and we need to find out through this longitudinal follow-up, moving forward and following
these data points like we're doing at Fount Life, which of these diagnostic tests matter most, and
which one should be unveiled to the community at large. I'm so passionate about this, really truly, it's
so powerful, and I think when you talk about really democratizing health and making this accessible
to everybody, you know, I'm curious to know when you look ahead and you've touched on some of
the exciting developments that you see over this next decade, but how do you really see that the
future of healthcare is evolving over these next years, like maybe over the next year, and then the
next 10 years. Like, what are you really excited by the most? Well, personally, I love the gut
microbiome. I feel the research is still continuing to evolve, but the gut microbiome, we have trillions
of organisms, we have more organisms in our body than we have our own cellular DNA, and for me
that is where so many answers lie into terms of what nutrition is best for Lara and what nutrition is
best for Don. What supplements can actually help? Laura achieved the lowest levels of inflammation,
the most optimization of our metabolic health, and which ones can maybe even help to optimize the
DNA on a cellular level, which ones can help with all the fundamental biological cellular processes to
even power up the mitochondria. We are going to be getting more and more answers when it comes
to microbiome. This may be the key for us to understand early cancer detection as well. So, for me,
that's always been space that I've been interested in as a cancer specialist in the integrative space
was how the gut microbiome could help to ignite the immune system to be smarter and better at
even treating the cancer, so if we know the gut microbiome is what harnesses our immunity to keep
cancer at bay, to help us keep organisms and otherwise different infections away, it helps us to power
up our mind and our mood, so we have harmony, love, and peace in our life. To me, that's what I'm
most excited about, would be gut microbiome. It probably doesn't sound like the answer people were
expecting me to say, but it's been something I've been fascinated for for many years. But beyond
that, there's so many additional studies going on in the laboratory to help us better understand when
it comes to our genes, how we can in the lab helped to course correct for some genetic mishaps that
occur, so I would say that's the 10 year plan is where it comes to our genetic, what we're born with,
how we'll be able to manipulate that, so certain genetic conditions no longer manifest is a disease
state.
41:40
It's such an exciting time for the future of healthcare, it really is. And Dawn, we have a tradition here
at CEO Behind the Scenes where we always ask the same two questions. The first question I wanted
to ask you is, what is one thing you've changed your mind about recently, and why
42:02
that's a good one. What would be one thing I have changed? Oh, this is gonna shock people. Okay,
this is actually a great question, and this is like a big reveal, actually. So, for the longest time I've
been whole food plant only, and as I personally get older, I find that it has been a little bit harder for
me to do it. I wasn't able to get enough protein in, I was having to really use a lot more plant proteins,
digestion wise, I wasn't optimized, my omega three level was low, probably because of
perimenopause, menopause, so I started adding healthy forms of fatty fish, and I feel so much better,
so this is what I would say. You know, we sometimes fall into a category because it's kind of that
camp we belong to, and so I was really active, and I continue to be active in the whole food plantbased
community, really promoting healthy nutrition, because the population data, meaning the
observational studies we'd followed for decades have pointed to that's the healthiest diet one could
adopt, but it doesn't mean that you can't have a little bit of fish or you can't have a little bit of low fat
dairy, you know, these foods have historically been part of a healthy Mediterranean diet, so for me
that's what I would say, and I love people hearing that, because I've had patients come up to me and
say, oh, I had a little bit of fish, I didn't, you know, I wasn't as good, or, oh, I had some yogurt, and
thinking, no, no, those are absolutely part of healthy diet, ethical reasons, some people may opt not
to do fish, or not to do dairy, whatever it may be, but for me personally, that would be one thing that
I've made a little course correction with in my own personal life,
43:43
and I think what that really does is it gives people permission to evolve and change as well. It's like
something may have worked in a certain season in your life, and as you enter into different seasons,
different things work for you, and I think sometimes we get so fixed in our ways that we forget we're
allowed to change and evolve and refine, so I love hearing that from you. And thank you for sharing
that.
44:08
And we're all individuals, so just because your favorite Instagram influencer is eating one way, if it
doesn't resonate with you, talk with your doctor, and maybe there's a way for you to balance your
nutrition that's more individualized towards you, so it was my gut microbiome that was able to predict
that I need to do more fish, and it made a big difference in my own running and training program. So,
I don't do much of it, I just do it once in a while, and I try to be really mindful of the low mercury
selections, because we do know that with fish, the waterways are places where there's some
microplastics, and fish can be a source of mercury, so you got to be careful, but I think it's can be part
of healthy diet.
44:45
Yes, I love hearing that. And the second question is, what is one thing that you've not changed your
mind about, a belief that you want to share to help others lead or live better,
44:58
so one thing. That I will never change my mind about is the most important thing that matters is
connections and love. So the Harvard study on what it takes to be the healthiest version showed us
that our relationships at the age of 50 mattered most at the age of 80, when it came to predicting our
life and our health in terms of health span, it showed that it mattered more than our cholesterol
levels, and so I think sometimes we get so caught up into, am I eating perfect, am I moving enough,
am I getting enough sleep, but what really matters most is the reason why we're doing all those
things, and so that's to be with others in a loving and kind way, so that would be most important.
45:45
Beautifully said. And Dawn, you've lived such an extraordinary life. Your story is so powerful. I'm
curious to know, what is one thing that you would really love to impact the world with maybe just
through your own personal legacy, and then through the work that you're doing with Fountain Life as
well.
46:08
Thank you for giving that question to me. And mine would be for people, for me to be able to unlock
the gift to live in a state of true harmonious, like authentic bliss, because I am so grateful to be alive,
because I had to face my mortality several times, and life, even amid adversity, is so very, very
precious, and so I just feel I'm here on earth to try to share that with others. We want to model that
behavior, that energy, and just give it forward and just send that energy out to the universe, to you,
Laura, through that lens of love, and just try to elevate others, because life is challenging, but within
that adversity, there's so many lessons, and within those lessons, again, it's not about snapping back,
it's about just trying to grow within those lessons, and then eventually I promise that you too will rise
above.
47:18
So beautifully said. Thank you for sharing that, Dawn. It has been such a pleasure and privilege to
have you join us on the show today, and your story is a powerful reminder that longevity isn't just
about adding years to life, it's about adding life to those years, and the real quality and joy and love
that we get to experience through it all, so thank you so much for joining me for this conversation.
47:48
I wish we were together, because I give you a huge hug right now. So this is wonderful.
47:51
I feel the same way. I'm sending you the biggest virtual hug your way. And thank you so much for this
conversation, it was incredible. Thank you, Laura. Thank you to your audience for listening. Thank you
so much to our audience for being here. If you enjoyed this episode, and if you gained so much
insight from Dawn's incredible wisdom and story, then please be sure to subscribe, rate, and review
the show, and share this episode with someone who you know really needs to hear the insights and
lessons that Dawn showed so generously shared with us today. Thank you so much for joining us, and
we'll see you next time on CEO: Behind the Scenes.