“Integrative medicine is the foundation of how I practice medicine.  With my patients, I have the time to understand all of the wellness dimensions. This gives me the opportunity to treat the person and not the disease.” Today’s woman dreamer, Dr. Nicola Finley is a board certified internal medicine physician and also the founder of a boutique consulting practice focusing on workplace wellness, health equity, and women’s health. She has led corporate wellness retreats in world famous locations such as Canyon Ranch, Palm Beach’s The Breakers, and more. In this informative interview, she shares how she built her expertise across the world of healthcare, the role of integrative medicine, and her next big dream.

1. You have worked in many different capacities within the medical field.  Tell us about your journey into medicine and how these different roles have impacted you.

I started my journey to mirror the most common career path that I was exposed to – taking care of patients in the clinic and hospital.  Also, I knew that I enjoyed caring for an underserved community so I worked at El Rio Community Health Center and a local hospital.  I worked there for over 10 years and I learned about compassion in medicine and how to care for patients with many medical and non-medical needs.  Along the way, I decided that I wanted to learn more about a holistic approach and change my practice to focus on wellness.  I completed an integrative medicine fellowship and started working at Canyon Ranch, which is luxury wellness resort.  I worked there for 8 years and learned the value of having more time with patients to focus on the mind, body and spirit.  Now, I have a consulting business where I develop and implement corporate wellness programs, give lectures internationally on a variety of topics and participate on advisory boards.  I am grateful of my career experiences as they have shaped how my view of medicine and how I approach health and wellness. 

2. Medicine is constantly evolving and in recent years integrative medicine has been embraced by many health care professionals.  Tell us more about the evolution of Integrative Medicine as it has influenced and been incorporated in your practice.

Integrative medicine is the foundation of how I practice medicine.  With my patients, I have the time to understand all of the wellness dimensions of that particular patient.  As a result, this gives me the opportunity to treat the person and not the disease.  In addition, a focus of my practice is understanding a person’s sense of purpose as part of an preventive health approach. 

3. You worked at the Canyon Ranch in Arizona where there is a holistic approach on Prevention and Wellness.  What are some tips for the everyday woman to incorporate Prevention and Wellness into their daily life?

As women, we often take care of others at the expense of our own wellness.  The most important wellness tip that I have for women is to prioritize our own self-care.  We can do that by taking time to reflect on what’s important to us individually and incorporating a self-practice into our daily routine.  Also, we should have a variety of self-care practices that we enjoy.  Some days we may have more time for self-care than other days.  So, we should give ourselves grace if our self-care practice is only a few minutes on some days.  While other days, we can devote more time to ourselves.  

4. You facilitated a wellness program at Palm Beach's iconic resort "The Breakers" and are often referred to as INclusive.  Can you talk about the importance and benefits of improving health and wellness among team members as a wellness program such as this one does?

This particular corporate wellness program is specifically designed for team members of color.  It’s important because this community has health disparities with higher rates of chronic medical conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.  The benefits include achieving health equity through education and reducing the social determinants of health.  

5. As the platform for women dreamers, what is your next big dream? 

My next big dream is to develop a training program for other medical and wellness professionals who want to augment their practice with an approach of blending health equity and integrative medicine. 

Thank you Nicola for sharing your journey with us! We are excited to have you in our global women’s network!

Bio: Dr. Finley is a board certified internal medicine physician, fellowship trained in integrative medicine and an adjunct faculty member at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona. She is the principal and founder of a boutique consulting practice focusing on workplace wellness, health equity, and women’s health. The workplace wellness programs that she develops and implements are tailored to the needs of the clients. Also, she advises companies and organizations as a medical and subject matter expert. In addition, she is a sought after speaker on a variety of health and wellness related topics with an evidence-based approach. Previously, she practiced integrative medicine at the world renowned wellness resort, Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. She began her career delivering primary care to medically underserved communities at El Rio Community Health Center and St Mary’s Hospital. Dr. Finley is an alumna of Brown University, the George Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Arizona’s integrative medicine fellowship program. Her website is www.nicolafinleymd.com

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