Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jaime Silva. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jaime, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

My defining moment did not look glamorous. It was not a stage, a milestone, or a career award. It was me waking up in a recovery room after a several hour excision surgery, trying to steady myself as my angel of a surgeon leaned over me and told me they had found endometriosis and adenomyosis. In that instant, the entire narrative of my life shifted.

For years, I had been told I was dramatic. Sensitive. Overthinking it. That my pain was normal. That nothing I described was worth investigating. Meanwhile, inside my body, my ureters were distorted, my pelvic nerves were involved, my rectovaginal space was tethered, both pelvic sidewalls were layered with disease, my uterus was enlarged, and endometriosis and adenomyosis were quietly stealing pieces of my life without permission.

So no, I was not dramatic.
I was not overreacting.
I was surviving. And frankly, I was far too polite about it.

Hearing the truth out loud flipped a switch in me instantly and irreversibly. When you spend years begging to be heard, you do not return to silence once the truth finally arrives. Something opens inside you. You stand taller. You speak louder. And you decide that no one coming after you will ever be left unheard if you can help it.

That fire is what led me into advocacy and into my work with Endo Excision for All, founded by Nicole Notar, who is truly a force. Through EEFA, I work alongside surgeons, advocates, and policy leaders to push for better access, better coding, and real systemic change. Women should not have to lose organs, hope, or years of their lives just to be taken seriously or to reach the right surgeon.

That same fire led me to co found IMTELEDOCTOR with my husband, Dr. Carlos Silva. Together, we built it to be a place where patients feel seen from the very first visit. Not dismissed. Not minimized. Not told to wait it out. The healthcare system may move slowly, but I refuse to.

It also led me to use my voice more publicly through the Endo Warriors podcast, where I co-host alongside Callie Greenberg. Together, we share real patient stories, challenge outdated narratives, and create space for conversations that have been ignored for far too long. There is power in hearing someone else say exactly what you have lived through.

And then came the spark that became something even bigger. Callie and I took that same energy and co-founded The Girls Room Project. We are building what we never had growing up. A space where girls learn what is normal and what is not, where they are not told they are too sensitive, and where they grow up understanding that their bodies deserve to be taken seriously.

Because if we want to change women’s health, we have to start earlier. We have to give girls language, confidence, and body literacy before the system has a chance to dismiss them.

My defining moment was not pretty. It was painful, humbling, and at times devastating. But it gave me purpose.

It took every dismissed symptom, every unanswered question, every quiet tear, and turned them into fuel. Now everything I build, every patient I support, every woman I advocate for, and every girl I hope to reach carries that fire forward.

That moment did not just change my life. It defined how I will spend the rest of it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Jaime Silva, RN, BSN, and everything I do is rooted in one simple mission: to make women and girls feel seen, heard, and taken seriously. I stepped into this work not from theory or textbooks, but from lived experience. Years of unexplained symptoms, dismissal, and pain eventually led me to excision surgery and the truth about my health. That truth reshaped my life, my purpose, and the way I show up in the world.

I co-founded IMTELEDOCTOR with my husband, Dr. Carlos Silva, because we wanted to build a practice where patients do not have to fight to be believed. Our telemedicine platform offers preventive care, hormone health, weight management, and evidence based wellness, but at its core, we offer something rare in healthcare: validation. We provide a physician-led, compassionate, whole-person approach that listens first and treats with intention. I created the kind of care I needed for years but could not find.

Alongside IMTELEDOCTOR, I serve as a Board Member and Strategic and Medical Advisor for Endo Excision for All, working closely with its founder, Nicole Notar, who is a force, as well as surgeons, advocates, and policy leaders to push for accurate coding and fair reimbursement for endometriosis surgery. The system has long underestimated women’s pain, especially when it comes to endometriosis, and my advocacy centers on changing that. We are working toward structural reform that expands access to qualified excision surgeons, reduces misdiagnosis, and ensures women no longer lose organs, opportunities, or years of their lives just to be taken seriously.

It also led me to use my voice more publicly through the Endo Warriors podcast, where I co-host alongside Callie Greenberg. Together, we share real patient stories, challenge outdated narratives, and create space for conversations that have been ignored for far too long. There is power in hearing someone else say exactly what you have lived through.

But my work does not stop with women. It begins with girls.

I am also the co-founder of The Girls Room Project, an educational and confidence-building platform for girls ages 8 to 18. It was born from a simple understanding: if we want to transform women’s health, we have to start much earlier. Girls deserve language for their bodies, support for their emotions, and a safe place to ask the questions no one ever answered for us.

This project was sparked by a single conversation with Callie Greenberg. What started as a conversation quickly became a shared mission, and The Girls Room Project shifted from an idea to a movement. Together, we are building what we needed growing up: a space without shame, confusion, or the “just deal with it” messaging girls still hear far too often.

What sets my work apart is that none of it is theoretical. I do not speak from a distance. I speak from the inside as a nurse, a patient, an advocate, a mother, and someone who knows exactly how broken our systems can be. Everything I create is designed to fill the gaps I once fell through.

What I am most proud of is not one product or program, but the ecosystem we are building, one that supports women and girls at every stage of life.

IMTELEDOCTOR meets them where they are today. Endo Excision for All fights for the care they should have always had and helps women access skilled surgeons. The Girls Room Project shapes the next generation so they never doubt themselves the way so many of us did.

If potential clients, families, or readers take away one thing, I want it to be this: your pain is real, your story holds weight, and you deserve care that rises to meet you.

Everything I do is built from that truth.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn was the belief that being polite and patient would get me better care. That a doctor’s word was unquestionable. That if a provider hinted I was “doctor shopping” or “med seeking,” I should shrink myself and worry about their perception instead of my reality.

I spent years softening my symptoms, minimizing my pain, and trying to be the easy patient because I thought it made me more likely to be helped. In reality, it made me easier to dismiss.

That lesson hit hardest after I had an IUD placed. It was supposed to help, but instead everything got worse. Within weeks, I was in severe pain and bleeding heavily. My husband was deployed with the Army at the time, so I went to the ER with my best friend, scared and hoping someone would finally take me seriously. Instead, I was told I was fine. No real answers. No meaningful evaluation. Just medication and sent home.

When I followed up with my GYN and tried to explain the level of fatigue I was experiencing, the kind that made caring for my toddlers feel impossible, I was told, “You have two little ones. Of course you’re tired.”

At the time, that did more than frustrate me. It made me question myself. Because I was tired, but not in a way that felt normal. And being told it was just motherhood made me feel like I was failing at something that mattered most to me.

Repeated dismissal has a way of quietly reshaping how you see yourself. You start to question your own reality. You wonder if you are exaggerating. You begin to shrink in rooms where you should be advocating.

The lesson I had to unlearn was that being agreeable would lead to better care. It does not. What leads to better care is self trust, clear communication, and the willingness to speak up even when it feels uncomfortable

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A story that illustrates my resilience is the two decade stretch between my first period and the moment someone finally took my symptoms seriously.

For years, I knew something was wrong, but I did not have the medical proof to validate what my body had been telling me since I was a teenager.

In the three years leading up to my diagnosis alone, I saw seven different doctors. Seven opportunities for someone to connect the dots. Every appointment ended the same way. Dismissal. More medication to try. Labs that were normal enough. Explanations that reduced my pain to stress, hormones, or motherhood. I was living inside a body that was struggling while being told everything looked fine.

But what most people do not see is what happens between those appointments. That is where resilience is built.

It looked like lying awake at night wondering if something deeper was being missed.
It looked like showing up for my kids even when I felt completely depleted.
It looked like questioning myself, then choosing to trust my body anyway.

And despite everything, I kept going. I kept asking questions. I kept advocating, even when my voice shook. I kept walking into rooms where I had already been dismissed, believing I still deserved answers.

The eighth doctor was different. She listened. She investigated. She believed me. And she found exactly what I had been trying to explain for years.

Resilience, for me, was not about being strong all the time. It was about refusing to disappear.

That experience shaped everything I do today. As a nurse, as an advocate with Endo Excision for All, as the co-founder of IMTELEDOCTOR, and as the co-founder of The Girls Room Project, I carry that perspective into every space I enter.

Because no woman should have to fight that hard to be believed. And no girl should grow up thinking her pain is something she has to prove.

Contact Info:

• Website: IMTeleDoctor.com, thegirlsroomofficial.com
• Instagram: @imteledoctor @jaimesilvarn @tgrofficialhq @endoexcisionforall @endowarriorspodcast
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-silva-393251395?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Other: https://Thegirlsroomofficial.com