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

Meghna, appreciate you joining us today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

In the last 2 years of medical school when I was doing clinical rotations, I tried to get as many off sites (meaning clinical sites outside of our school clinic). The reason was to gain actual first-hand experience to observe how different practices run. I would take notes on what I thought was a successful model, so that I could incorporate that in my own practice someday. There is so much that goes behind setting up a good practice, besides all the clinical essentials, medical supplies, admin help, marketing, customer service, user-friendly EMR system & much more. Anyways, to answer the question asked above- I got a clinical rotation once a week at Dr. Gino Tutera, Ob Gyn’s office. I was always interested in Women’s Health but was a huge skeptic about using Hormone Therapy. He was one of the pioneers that brought the Hormone Pellet Therapy to the U.S. I always learn with an open mind. Slowly, this became my favorite rotation. Literally, herds of women came to see him and his associates at his office. The practice was growing leaps and bounds by word of mouth. Women even flew from International locations to come and get their pellets. This made me very curious about how this treatment worked. I learned an enormous amount from Dr. Tutera, who we fondly called- Dr. T. He was not only knowledgeable but also very kind & compassionate with a wonderful bedside manner. I continued my rotation at his office for 6 months and before the end of it, he offered me a full time job as one of his associates even before I graduated!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I had a calling to become a Naturopathic Physician when I lived back in India. I was doing rotations at the Homeopathic Hospital when I met a bunch of NDs who had come down to Mumbai from Portland, Oregon to learn Homeopathy. I learned about the integrative and comprehensive nature about the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine program offered in the US. I knew I wanted to pursue it. It was exactly what I was looking for to further my education. I loved how it was all inclusive of learning not only the different natural modalities but also modern medicine and pharmacology. I started looking into schools in the U.S. that were offering this program and began the rigorous application process. One and a half years later, I landed up in Tempe, Arizona with admission secured at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. I share all the challenges that I faced during that time in my book, “Seven Steps to Heal Your Thyroid”. I suggest one to read it even if you don’t have a thyroid problem. It has a wholistic approach and gets into the Root Causes of what disrupts our health and wellbeing. It is available on Amazon in both paperback and kindle versions. I particularly got interested in treating thyroid disorders because when I was working at Dr. T’s office and did my comprehensive labs, I found out that I have Hashimoto’ Thyroiditis. I was initially shocked but it then made perfect sense why I was struggling with so many symptoms. Since then, I did a lot of research about this condition and noticed that just like me, there are thousands of women out there who are suffering with this. I was curious to find answers for all of us, which finally led me to write a book about this 10 years later! Now, I love helping both women and men at my office. I always begin with a comprehensive blood work up and then meet with them for a consult and make individualized plans based on their needs. Check out my website: FeelYourBestSelf.com
You can also follow me on social media: https://www.instagram.com/feel.your.best.self/

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I feel like there are so many things that make a successful practice and physician. One also needs to develop certain qualities. A very important one I think is to be an empathic listener. Patients want to be heard. I receive a lot of people who come to me as the last resort, since they have tried “everything” and nothing has helped.
I also believe that one needs to stay on top of things. Make time to read, research, attend conferences, talk to colleagues, be parts of groups where you can ask questions when you need clinical or business help. Some Facebook groups started by colleagues or alumni have been immensely helpful.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

Absolutely Not! I can’t imagine doing anything else. The work I do is Soul-filling for me. It brings me complete satisfaction. Even though in the beginning, it was financially challenging. After I left my full-time job with Dr. Tutera in search of what I really wanted in life, there was a point I was doing 3 part-time jobs at 3 different practices in the valley. I burned myself driving from Scottsdale to Chandler to Peoria. Anyways, it is was a learning curve & part of the process in my life’s journey. We all need to learn and grow from our own experiences.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.feelyourbestself.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/feel.your.best.self/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drmeghnathacker
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmeghnathacker/