From Abuse to Advocacy: An Inspiring Journey

  *Why resilience is important to overcome challenges in life

  *How women’s empowerment has a great impact on those who have been struggling to pursue their passion

  *How to start small and transition to a new endeavor

“My life taught me resilience, but also showed me how values, passion, and purpose, if aligned, how much we can accomplish in life.” – Dr. Luissa Kiprono

Website: https://drluissak.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-luissa-k-mfm-author-leader/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrLuissaK

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/DrBarbaraHales
Facebook:   https/www.facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business Website: https://www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Email:   halesgangb@aol.com

YouTube: https://www.Youtube.com/TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales

Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist

Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors.

I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us Dr. Kiprono. She’s the founder and CEO of World Gateway Perinatal Consultants and TelemedMFM. She is a maternal-fetal medicine physician specialist who works with health organizations to improve equal delivery of high-risk pregnancy care locally, regionally and nationally using telehealth, clinical consulting, and developing partnerships.

Through the years, Dr. Kiprono has emerged as a strong advocate for women in medicine and leadership. In 2023 she launched Dr. Luissa K, the platform for women empowerment. She authored her first non-fiction book, PUSH, THEN BREATHE, trauma, triumph and the making of an American doctor released in the spring of 2024. She achieved entrepreneurship and professional success based on simple actionable points that will serve anyone who has the determination to thrive in life, not only survive. Welcome to the show.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Thank you, Barbara, and honored and thrilled to be in your show today.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, I see that your book is just fresh on the market, and I’m sure you’ve had some great reviews. Your book is available on Amazon.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: It is. It’s on all platforms. It’s on hardcover, ebook or Kindle, and also audiobook and so it can be accessed anywhere in audible and Spotify, Apple podcasts. It’s actually achieved best seller before it launch. It did that on February 12, which was very unexpected. Was very exciting to hear from a publisher. So very, very pleased to survive with how it’s coming along.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Excellent. Congratulations.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Thank you.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So how did you decide to take the path that you’re on? And like, how did that this happen?

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Well, I will take you on a brief journey that kind of get to give the audience a little bit of my very non-traditional 37 years in the United States. I want to start by saying that I always, always wanted to become a physician, not necessarily a woman’s doctor, but a physician since I was a fifth grader.

I was born and raised in communist Romania, and I lived in Romania until I was 18 years old. That spring in 1987 I came, I was invited here on a two-month visit to get to meet and to know my father, who himself, was a former Political resident from communist Romania. And I came here to United States to visit, to see America, right, and all its glory.

But due to a very unfortunate set of circumstances, I was coerced into staying in America. My passport was taken away. And by my father, and shortly afterward, I became dependent financially and socially fully defense. I could not leave the country. I didn’t speak the language. I had no family. Since then, I did not considered having a family anymore. There was a lot of mental, sexual and physical abuse, and that lasted for about six years and eight months.

At the end of those long years, I succeeded in escaping, getting my American citizenship, joining the Air Force, and becoming a physician seven years later. So, a total of 15 years. It was a very, very long journey. And that is really the story of my book: how I started my journey and culminated with my graduation from medical school.

But you know, going through all these trials and tribulations that my life happened to take me in this very, very unfortunate journey, taught me a lot of things. Taught me resilience. And you know, I hear that word thrown around a lot. Resilience is, you’re not born with, as we all know, and building it takes a lot of courage, a lot of practice, so to speak, and self-discipline. When I hear you speak in New York, you know, with your guests and your own podcast, I cannot help but mirror what do I have gone through and like you said, when you applied to medical school, it almost had to be a fight to be a woman physician, okay. It was like, I have to apologize for how dare I become a woman physician against the Lord.

Being an immigrant and a woman physician, it actually gets worse, and I cannot but smile when I was doing my medical school rotations, Just finished my first rotation, it was in general surgery. And the medical director, it was in New Jersey and the Medical Director sits me down to give me the exit evaluation and Barbara, he said this. He said, student Doctor, you are a great, great professional and medical student. I just wanted to tell you that he was just a little too aggressive for a woman. And I was shocked, because my mind went like, how exactly should I behave? Should I be subservient? Should I start bowing down? I’m not sure what is this coming from. So when I heard you, I heard your story, it just made me chuckle. I’m like, wait until I tell her my story. I’m sure we we know a lot of people have their stories, but you know that what doesn’t really kill us, makes us stronger. And that is very, very true. My life taught me resilience but also showed me how values, passion and purpose, if they are aligned, how much we can accomplish in life.

Dr. Barbara Hales: That’s absolutely true. Years ago, and really it hasn’t changed till quite recently. Surgery, of all the specialties, was traditionally a very chauvinistic specialty. And so if a woman wanted to actually become a surgeon, that really was very difficult, in addition to trying to overcome hurdles, that was like Mount Everest, because of all of the images that we had to overcome, it’s fortunate that now for many women, that has changed a bit, and certainly we can see now why you have women empowerment as a theme for yourself.

It is so admirable for everything that you have gone through. Another woman might have like, laid down and said, there’s nothing I can do. And this is a great motivation to say, look at her, like she made it, and you can too. So, I really applaud you for everything that you’ve gone through and come out to the other side.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: That was the main purpose. Five years ago, I decided to open up and write this book, this story about a Woman’s Journey about vulnerability, about how I refuse to become a statistic, and instead I become a success. It’s interesting because it’s morphing now Barbara to something bigger than me, bigger than what I started with. I’m a physician who I always, always wanted to help people, get their health, right? Their most prized gift, it’s their health. Because if we don’t have a health, really, it doesn’t really matter how rich we are, right?

Dr. Barbara Hales: You don’t have your health, you have nothing.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Nothing. So that’s one. But then, as I’m writing this book, I started writing it as, yeah, I’m going to write a book and sell books, and a cheap start of them.

Dr. Barbara Hales: But it’s not about selling the book.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: So as I am going through this journey, a transformation happened, and I realized that the message is so much more powerful because I am sharing it with my fellow humans how can you achieve, or always wanted to achieve? How can you embrace the possibilities? How can you take on hardship and turn it around? And instead of saying, Why me? Then you say, Try me or do it. And it’s okay to pause. It’s okay to, because you’re going to get kicked out. Okay, let’s just say it kicked around. You’re going to be dejected. People are going to second-guess you. You’re going to second-guess yourself, and it’s okay to pause where you are, kind of pick up the pieces. The next day or the following day, it’s time to get up and it’s time to try again. Because frankly speaking, you cannot be the person that doesn’t give up.

Dr. Barbara Hales: This is true. So since you started medicine with the Air Force, did you remain for any length of time in the Air Force?

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: So no. The reason I joined the Air Force is after I got my citizenship, is because I was, I applied and I received the HPSP Scholarship Program, which is the health professional scholarship program. The Air Force paid for my medical education in return for my payback to the military as a veteran and recipient of the HBSP program. But also, I have to tell you that I count them my first accomplishment in this country was to become an American citizen. My second accomplishment was to get into medical school and complete medical school and the Air Force made this happen, and I cannot think and be grateful enough for that.

This country offered me so much to help me succeed. And it turned all that trauma and all that negativity into a huge triumph. Of course, I had to work hard and do my part, but it is value of the communities, the value that all the few very strong people who understood, and even though they didn’t know my past, they believed in me and having that one, two people, persons who I call them lighthouses, who I can turn my eyes to and say, you know, I just need a break here. Or can you help me? Then they say, Yes, I believe in you. I will help you. I will spot you when you need it without asking any questions. That means a lot to me.

I have to answer your question, I have separated in 2010 so I did my payback to the military. I also did a military residency which was not required to but I did it because I really believed in their programs and I separated after 12 years, went on to do my fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine in Mississippi.

Dr. Barbara Hales: So a little bit about the two enterprises that you have launched. What is that all about and what is the take-home message to your audience from your enterprises?

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: So in 2022, right at the tail end of COVID, I was the corporate director for a large private organization. At that time, due to financial considerations after the pandemic, they decided to close my practice. And you know, I didn’t take it very well. Let’s say it that way.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Oh, I wouldn’t think so.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: It’s like that practice became, you know, it defined me. I worked so, so hard to put it together, to keep it going through the pandemic, to make it grow. And then this happened. So here I was September 2022 and I was like, Well, first I had a really big bout of, you know what I’m done. Done with medicine. You remember that pausing thing I was telling you about, that lasted about six weeks.

And then one day, I said, you know, it’s just part of me, but I do not want to be employed again so I could open my own practice, but because I had a lot of experience during the pandemic, within my own practice to do telemedicine and to offer telemedicine both inpatient and outpatient as consultative practice, I said, I’m going to open a telemedicine practice.

So TelemedMFM was born. It was created in mind that it is created to help bridge this gap, the gap that of distances, of borders, of state territories, and reach out to patients regardless of what were they are as women, pregnancy, high-risk pregnancies are very, very challenging to all women. Even those patients close to their families, close to their OB providers as long as possible, and sometimes throughout the whole pregnancy. Not every patient needs to be delivered in an urban area. There are many, many patients who, if they are taken care of properly and continuously, can deliver in their local area and do very, very well, both maternal and neonatal. So that is how telemedicine was born. With that in mind, I have a website, and I do network.

I did a lot of networking to make the practice known to people, and published in social media. I’m very active in LinkedIn and then I decided to open a foundation. But before that, about three years before that, I opened the parent company, which is World Gateway Perinatal Consultants. So World Gateway Perinatal Consultants, it was born with a medical mission, or medical missionary trips in mind. I do medical missions. I serve as a missionary physician. Couple of weeks, every one to two years as my practice allows me, but I have a great deal of joy when I take care of patients.

I teach residents in Africa, in South America in residency programs and in MFM, and I tremendously enjoy that. So here I have my humanitarian part. Then I have my teaching part. Then is my telemedicine practice that I work full time in it and I manage and I work clinical medicine every day.

And then is the book and the platform, and the platform is the second business that I have. It’s about women empowerment. It is about the mental wellness that we all need because we can be healthy physically, but really, I’m not a whole person unless we are mentally also healthy. And a lot of us, a great lot of us, have a lot of trauma or just trials and tribulations in life that we are scarred. We are scarred from and we need to get out of it. We need to heal and overcome it, because that is the only way we can move forward. I always say is that, instead of looking at your shortcomings, look at your abilities, because our abilities are so much stronger than our shortcomings.

Dr. Barbara Hales: And that’s so absolutely true and eloquently put. So many people might say, well, how does one do obstetrics through telehealth? Do you have people that have signed on to partner with you to deliver the baby? How does that work?

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: So about 15 years ago, slowly but progressively mature female medicine or Perinatology or high risk pregnancy position will go by all those names became a consultative practice or consultative field. So the vast majority of MFMs do not do deliveries at this time in the United States. There are some in the academic institutions, but those are the 100% brick and mortar. So my practice is 100% consultative. The contractual agreements that I have with organizations, pretty much everything practice-wise or clinic wise is on the ground. Okay? So all the staff, all the equipment, consultation rooms, sonographers, you name it. Since, of course, they have to come in into the clinic to be evaluated and have the ultrasounds for their babies. They all come. They are all in person, except for one, me. I am the one that comes on virtually through the video feed. It’s a HIPAA compliant video feed then provided by the organizations and they come. I counsel my patients. I conduct a consultation. I discuss the ultrasound findings. I reviewed ultrasound findings, and that’s, I render assessment plans, I write orders. That’s how I do my business.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that certainly sounds like you have the best of both worlds. Are you able to accept insurance or is this strictly concierge?

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: It’s actually strictly concierge, but it’s all taken care of by the organizational level. So we do get reimbursed. You know, a fee, a daily fee.

Words of Advice for the Doctors

Dr. Barbara Hales: That really sounds ideal. What are two tips that you could give our doctors who are listening in on the way to the way to do their practice in the future, or just bits of advice that you’d like to help them with, since so many doctors are struggling financially, worried about where their next dollar is going to come from, or worried about bureaucracy, telling them how they should be practicing medicine? What are some words of advice that you would give them?

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: I have to say that it saddens me to see how many physicians are leaving the private practice to go into corporate medicine and be employed. I have done it. And like them, I was burnt out, and it felt like nothing that I’ve done was just enough. It is just never enough. And you’re right. We lose autonomy. We lose autonomy and how we practice the insurance companies, we need the pre-authorization pretty much for everything. So it’s going to be the Tylenol too. So, I mean, it’s just a sad reality, but I tell you that no matter what, and I say that whether you are a physician or not, if when you wake up in the morning and you do something that, or you think of something that brings joy to your Heart and brings sparkles in your eyes.

I would say, consider doing it. Just leave behind anything that you are doing so far that is not bringing you the joy that you want to do to have from and just pick that endeavor up. Because when your heart is in it, and if you enjoy and love your newfound passion, it’s no longer work. It’s just amazing. You know, you just do it because you love it. You don’t have to think like, oh my god, I have to go to work because I have to pay my bills. You still work. But it’s just, it’s a beautiful thing to do what you enjoy and what you love, because life is so short.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. And just looking at you and listening to you, I think a great message is that just because you have been on one path, it doesn’t mean that every once in a while you should pause, see if the path you’re on still serves you, and there’s nothing wrong with changing your path to something that will now serve you better.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: And the second thing is, you may say, Well, what am I going to do just tomorrow? Go and start my new endeavor? No, what I’m saying is, you remember this life is a marathon. So pace yourself. It’s an endurance event. So start small and grow. Instead of working six days a week, you say, You know what? I’m just going to cut scale down to four days a week. And those two are the days I’m going to have Sunday or Saturday, depending on your preference, you’re going to have your rest day, and the other two days, I’m gradually going to open this other endeavor and start working towards it. And as you scale up one, you scale down the other, until you’re ready financially to let go of the one that no longer serves you.

Dr. Barbara Hales: Yes, I think that that is great advice. And you know, I feel as my listeners will, that you are such a remarkable woman and I think that everyone should run out and get your book because it is very inspirational. And thank you for being on the show with us today.

Dr. Luissa Kiprono: Thank you so much, Barbara. If you would like to add that to your show notes, they can find me at telemedmfm.com, and drluissak.com. My book Push Then Breathe, it’s everywhere. But more importantly, just enjoy life and just remember that nothing gets lost if something doesn’t work out today, because it will work out tomorrow. And thank you so much for having me in your show.

Dr. Barbara Hales: You have been listening to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors, with your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Till next time.