We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Larissa Assam recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Larissa , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
The journey to starting my private practice began when I was seven years old and living in Cameroon. I had the privilege of having a father who was a medical doctor, a Radiologist by specialization. I saw him working across three hospitals whilst running his own private practice. When I was seven years old, my father was involved in a terrible car accident. It was nearly fatal and the doctors told my mother that if he had any chances of survival, he needed to be medically-evacuated immediately from Cameroon. I had seen my father provide affordable healthcare to the Cameroonian population as one of the country’s only radiologists but at this time of need, quickly learned that the health system was unable to meet his needs. He had intentionally made his consultation rates at his clinic, Help Medical Foundation, very affordable based on a specific instruction from God. He made his specialist consulting services accessible to the lower socioeconomic class in Douala, Cameroon. Seeing this gap in the healthcare system after his accident sparked my interest in medicine.
Over the years, I was always business-inclined, growing up in an enterprising family. There were many injustices in Cameroon and in order to afford our international education, my family, spearheaded by my grandmother, invested in real estate. At the time, I did not know that these were seeds of entrepreneurship being planted.
I had my first business when I was eight years old, renting out books with my cousins to our friends. We then ventured into making lunch meals for the Cameroon radio Television station (CRTV), doing singing and dance performances, and much more. We monetized whatever we liked to do.
Over the years, I had a hair braiding business in college, a jewelry business in medical school, and always knew that if I wanted to practice medicine the way I had seen growing up in Cameroon, I would likely need to have my own practice.
This desire continued to grow over the years as I learned more about the healthcare system and wanted to incorporate the public health expertise I gained into clinical care.
Whilst concluding my residency training, I spent ample time in prayer. The more I prayed and fasted, the more I understood that my desire to start a private practice was more than a personal desire but it became clear that this was connected to my life purpose and my divine assignment within the field of medicine. It was no longer about me preferring to work for myself than others but was now becoming about seeing souls impacted for Jesus Christ. I started to understand that I was His ambassador, sent on a mission to the medical field to keep millions thriving in excellent health, well beyond 100 years of age.
We are achieving this through the RopheMD Health Reboot program, a virtual 4-week coaching program in which participants are losing 10-15 pounds on average without medications and fad dieting. They also learn biblical principles of nutrition, fasting, and health. Clients have also successfully discontinued medication for diabetes, high blood pressure, and resolution of fibroids and migraines.
In order to be organized, I created a rollout plan for the service offerings which we would have at RopheMD. I knew that I needed strategy to make it possible to execute effectively. We started off with a focus on the Health Reboot program only and then added on vitamin injections as we continued to grow.
The main challenge so far has been staying focused and motivated even when I encountered challenging moments. No day in business looks the same and my advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, and specifically, “docpreneurs” would be to focus on the impact that your business is creating rather than sales. Sales follow impact but that doesn’t always happen the other way around.
Dr. Larissa , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Absolutely. I am a Board-Certified Family-Medicine physician, public speaker, entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. I am the proud Founder of RopheMD, a global concierge medicine private practice on a mission to keep millions thriving in excellent health until 100 years of age, by providing Presidential-level comprehensive primary care and holistic health services.
I am also blessed to be the Founder of Rophe Beauty, the only physician-founded and formulated all-natural international beauty and pageantry enterprise producing luxury all-natural skincare products and hosting events that celebrate women who have overcome a history of trauma through biblical principles.
I was born and raised in Cameroon where I was called into medicine at age 7 after my father was involved in a ghastly car accident as mentioned above.
I am an alumnus of SUNY Oswego, SUNY Upstate Medical University & Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed Family Medicine Residency at the Georgetown-Washington Hospital Center Family Medicine program where I was blessed to receive several awards for outstanding patient care and teaching Georgetown medical students. I also had the honor of working as a Strategy Consultant at McKinsey & Company helping Fortune 500 companies solve complex business problems.
I am is passionate about beauty, entrepreneurship, teaching biblical principles to help people prevent and reverse chronic disease, and raising the next generation of physicians.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In my third year of medical school, my grandmother was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I had just started my third year of medical school at SUNY Upstate when she came to the United States on holiday and did not seem to appear too well. It just so happened that she got admitted to my teaching hospital during that time. That year started off with me spending my days performing my clinical duties and seeing my patients during the day on clinical rotations, and then spending my evenings studying for my exams at her bedside in her hospital room.
I am not entirely sure how I passed my exams during that season but I learned how important it was to compartmentalize. That season was a true test of my calling into medicine. It was not easy taking care of other people when my dearest grandmother was not well and I wanted to be by her side all the time. However, I adopted the mindset that I would take care of all of my patients as though they were my grandmother. That mindset helped me get through the days purposefully and without realizing, set the precedence for how I would approach patient care for the remainder of my career. This season also led me to surrender my life to Jesus Christ. The peace that followed in such circumstances did not make sense as she eventually passed away and you would think that life should have been harder.
Sometimes, when you are going through challenging situations personally, you want to retreat and focus on yourself. However, depending on your calling, you might not have the luxury of taking as long of a break as you may want. I attribute every ounce of resilience which I have now to strength that comes from the Holy Spirit, especially in moments when I have come to the end of myself.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
No, I don’t think so. When I was younger, people would ask me what else I would have wanted to do if I did not go into medicine. The only other career that I would ever consider was a diplomat. Today, I have the privilege of caring for the families of diplomats and other dignitaries through my private practice, RopheMD. If I could go back in time, I would certainly select medicine as it is beyond a profession but moreso, a calling for me. I was going to become a plastic surgeon before I got divine direction to choose Family Medicine as a specialty. I live with a consciousness that my life is not my own and I am here on divine assignment and for this reason, I would select the same specialty to be in alignment. Besides, my residency training was 4 years shorter than what it would have been had I stayed on the path to become a Plastic Surgeon.
Indeed, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @dr_assam
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larissa-assam-md-mph-97295640/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_HODIjv1zZ8GESOBJ2lRig