We recently connected with Rashida Vassell, MD and have shared our conversation below.
Rashida, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
My decision to leave a secure, established career and launch Safahla Medical was not incremental; it was a profound, abrupt pivot driven by personal necessity and the recognition of deep flaws within the healthcare system, cemented during the most uncertain economic period of our time.
Throughout my journey, which included navigating the grueling demands of surgical training while simultaneously fulfilling the duties of motherhood to my two young daughters, I witnessed the healthcare system’s failure firsthand.
Working within corporate medicine, both clinically and in non-clinical leadership roles, I saw the system’s focus shift dramatically from patient well-being to volume and profit. The proactive, preventative, and holistic care I valued was sidelined. Complex issues affecting professional women, such as hormonal shifts and persistent fatigue, were frequently dismissed or inadequately treated. I realized that to practice the true longevity medicine that women deserved, I had to build a new model outside that structure.
This intellectual frustration became intensely personal when I received a diagnosis of breast cancer. This crisis was the final catalyst. It exposed the limitations of a reactive system and proved that survival required not just surgery, but comprehensive, integrated support for hormones, nutrition, and mental health, a level of holistic advocacy the conventional system simply couldn’t provide, even for one of its own.
I dreamt of Safahla at the height of the COVID pandemic. While most businesses were focused on survival; I was investing heavily to build a bespoke wellness center. I was trading a predictable income for radical uncertainty, cementing the notion that our commitment to proactive health was paramount despite economic fears.
Safahla is located in the Finger Lakes region, a predominantly rural area. For patients to access the type of expert, physician-led care I offer (integrative medicine, advanced aesthetics, hormonal health), they previously had to travel one and a half to five hours to major cities. My risk was placing a high-end, specialized practice in a lower-density population, but the reward was solving the critical problem of geographic access to premier care.
The risk paid off because it was rooted in authenticity and unmet need. Safahla Medical is the definitive result of this journey: a thriving, physician-led practice named after my daughters (Safiya and Nahla). We have successfully created a sanctuary of excellence where women no longer have to choose between their career and their health.
The outcome is a scalable model that provides:
Integrated Expertise: Seamlessly merging clinical surgery and evidence-based longevity medicine.
Community Impact: Successfully bringing premier health access to the Finger Lakes community, eliminating the burden of long-distance travel for expert care.
Empowerment: We are not just treating symptoms; we are actively helping women rewrite their aging narrative, transforming professional productivity and personal longevity.
The entire endeavor was the ultimate stress test of resilience, proving that when the mission is strong enough, the risk is worth taking. Safahla Medical is a testament to the belief that the future of women’s health is proactive, personal, and profoundly better than the past.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Dr. Rashida Vassell, and I am a physician, surgeon, and the founder of Safahla Medical. My path into integrative medicine was forged by two pivotal, high-stakes experiences: excelling in the demanding world of surgical training and overcoming a personal health crisis.
I dedicated years to surgical residency, which instilled in me an uncompromising commitment to clinical excellence, precision, and problem-solving. Simultaneously, I was navigating the complexity of motherhood to my two daughters, Safiya and Nahla (whose names inspired my practice). This dual life taught me the true meaning of performance under pressure and resource depletion, lessons that deeply inform my empathy for professional women today.
However, despite my professional success, I became increasingly disillusioned. I saw how corporate medicine often sidelined proactive care, dismissing women’s complex concerns like hormonal imbalance and brain fog as “just stress.” This realization was cemented when I faced my own diagnosis of breast cancer. This personal crisis proved that even a physician couldn’t reliably find the holistic, comprehensive care necessary for true longevity within the conventional system. I knew I had to build it myself.
Safahla Medical is a premier, physician-led wellness center focused on Integrative, Functional, and Longevity Medicine. We are surgically precise in our approach but holistic in our view of health.
Our Core Services:
Longevity & Integrative Medicine: We don’t just treat symptoms; we hunt for the root cause. This includes in-depth hormonal balancing, sexual wellness, customized nutrition plans, and complex weight management protocols.
Expert Aesthetics & Cutaneous Surgery: As a physician-led practice, all injectables, microneedling, and aesthetic treatments are performed or directly supervised by me, ensuring the highest standards of safety and efficacy.
Problems We Solve:
We solve the problem of feeling “fine, but not thriving.” We help professional women who are experiencing:
Dismissal and Frustration: They’ve been told their symptoms (fatigue, brain fog, stubborn weight gain) are normal, but they know something is wrong.
The Health Access Gap: We intentionally located in the Finger Lakes region to provide expert, specialized care in a rural area, eliminating the need for clients to travel hours to large cities for high-end, physician-led solutions.
What truly sets us apart is the unwavering commitment to excellence, resilience, and personal empathy woven into the Safahla brand:
Physician-Led Integrity: Our care is not dictated by profit margins but by the latest medical evidence. I merge my surgical precision with an integrative philosophy, ensuring treatments are effective and safe.
Bespoke, Luxury Experience: Safahla is designed to be a sanctuary. We spend time listening, crafting customized plans, and providing an environment that honors the professional woman’s value and time.
The Survivor’s Perspective: Having overcome a major health battle, I bring a unique blend of medical authority and deep empathy. I understand what it takes to fight for your health and emerge stronger.
I am most proud that we have successfully created a thriving business model that prioritizes patient transformation over volume, ensuring that women in the Finger Lakes region and beyond have access to the premier care necessary to thrive and redefine their aging journey.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
The single most effective strategy for growing Safahla Medical’s clientele has been the fusion of my medical credibility with a bespoke patient experience, which drives high-value, organic word-of-mouth referrals. Our growth is powered by the quality of the patient experience and the definitive results we deliver:
Solving the Access Problem: By being the premier, physician-led integrative medicine practice in a rural market (Finger Lakes), we eliminate the travel burden to metropolitan cities for expert care. This makes us an indispensable resource for busy, professional women who value their time.
The “Wow” Factor of Validation: Most of our clients come to us after being dismissed by traditional doctors. When we provide a comprehensive, data-driven answer and a customized plan for their brain fog, fatigue, and weight issues, the relief and validation they feel are intensely powerful. This creates an emotional bond that turns clients into our most passionate advocates.
In a saturated wellness market, my background ensures our brand stands out as the secure, authoritative choice:
Clinical Differentiation: My history as an experienced physician and surgeon ensures that our advanced services—from aesthetic injectables to complex hormonal treatments—are delivered with precision, clinical rigor, and safety. Clients trust Safahla for outcomes they wouldn’t expect from a typical medspa.
Educate, Don’t Sell: Our marketing focuses heavily on medical education. By positioning Safahla as the expert source for longevity and hormonal health information, we attract intelligent clients who are proactively seeking data-driven solutions, not quick fixes.
In short, our most effective strategy is providing uncompromised excellence in a personalized, unhurried environment. This quality service generates high client satisfaction, which, combined with the strategic value of our location, results in a powerful and self-sustaining organic referral pipeline.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
The biggest lesson I had to unlearn was the false connection between grueling effort, exhaustion, and financial deservingness. I had internalized the belief that success was only valid if it was achieved through relentless struggle, the “hustle culture” defined by sacrifice, burnout, and working multiple jobs.
This belief was rooted in my childhood, watching my immigrant father work tirelessly. He took on multiple, physically demanding jobs to provide for our family. Success, to him, was synonymous with the sheer volume of hard work and sacrifice: the measure of effort was the measure of worth.
This model was reinforced throughout my own career:
Surgical Training: The medical system, particularly surgical residency, is inherently structured around the “grind.” The grueling hours, lack of sleep, and constant physical and mental exertion are framed as badges of honor and necessary rites of passage. I was conditioned to believe that if I wasn’t suffering, I wasn’t working hard enough or striving for excellence.
The Hustle of Motherhood: Balancing that high-demand career with motherhood reinforced the idea that juggling multiple roles meant constantly operating at 150% capacity.
After my breast cancer diagnosis, and when I founded Safahla Medical, I was forced to confront this toxic belief system. Safahla is built on the principle of longevity and integrative health—a philosophy completely at odds with burnout.
The shift came in two phases:
1. Surviving cancer demanded I stop the grind. I realized the constant stress and lack of self-care inherent in my “work-harder” mentality were actively destroying my health.
2. Safahla’s success required me to move from being an overworked operator to a strategic owner. I had to learn that financial success is deserved when I create immense value, not when I suffer intensely. I learned that charging a premium for a bespoke, expert service is not greedy; it is valuing my time, specialized knowledge, and unique perspective as a physician and survivor.
The lesson: Efficiency and premium value are the true measures of entrepreneurial success, not exhaustion. Unlearning the “grueling grind” allowed me to build a sustainable, profitable model that is now strong enough to provide premier care to my community without demanding burnout from me or my team.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.safahlamedical.com | www.rashidavassellmd.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rashidavassellmd/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rashida.vassellmd.2025/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rashidavassellmd/
- Other: https://www.safahlafoundation.org
Image Credits
Photographer: Madison Monti