Dear Doctor: Kameelah Phillips
The N.Y.-based obstetrician-gynecologist on helping patients build trusting relationships with their providers, and why taking better care of women leads to economic prosperity for all.
A board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and female health expert, Dr. Kameelah Phillips is the founder of Calla Women’s Health, a new practice based on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She’s passionate about providing the best level of care to new and existing patients and specializes in health care disparities, lactation, and sexual and menopause medicine.
Read on to learn how she got started in medicine, why she believes it’s important to educate providers and patients on the history of gynecology, and the interconnection of women’s health and the economy.
How did you get started in medicine and what inspired you to choose your specialty?
As a young person raised by her grandparents, I spent a lot of time accompanying them to the doctor’s office. They had chronic diseases that most older people have like hypertension and diabetes. During these visits, I noticed how complicated the medical system was and how hard it was for them to navigate. But I also witnessed how well things went when they had really good, attentive doctors. These early experiences helped to inform my interest in science and medicine.
But my passion for women’s health, reproductive rights, and social justice came later. During my teenage years, I transferred to a high school with high rates of teenage pregnancy. I sat next to young girls who pushed strollers, and it piqued my curiosity as to where the conversations about family planning and reproductive health actually happen.
So I started working at Planned Parenthood, and not long afterward my mom signed me up for a local beauty pageant. During one of the interviews, a judge asked me about my work at PP and whether or not I spoke to young girls about abstinence. I responded by saying yes, we talk about everyone’s options so that they know what’s available to them so that they can make the best choices. He countered by saying that abstinence was the only option, and I emphasized how important it was to help these girls learn about all of the options available because relying on abstinence shuts down the conversation and is a limited and often unsuccessful approach. Needless to say, I didn’t win the pageant, but this conversation did catapult me into the field of women’s health and sexuality.
You’re passionate about exposing the racist history of gynecology. What do you wish more people knew?
I wish more people understood how American medicine and surgery techniques came to be. Unfortunately, I think many people in this country operate under the misconception that the majority population has made every significant contribution to modern-day medicine and health.
Not only is this a disservice to many groups of people, it’s also a misrepresentation of history.
There are entire groups of people whose ancestors have contributed significantly to health and medicine but whose stories have been lost or purposefully erased.
Specifically, I wish people knew more about how Thomas Jefferson chose three of his slaves for early smallpox trials, and how the father of gynecology, James Marion Sims, used Black bodies as medical test subjects, and how a lot of the instruments we use today came on the backs of slave women.
I also wish that more people realized how these practices have permeated medicine and how we treat women and communities of color and ultimately contribute to their marginalization and lack of connection to the larger health care community.
Recently, we’ve seen this play out with hesitation surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine. Once you understand the roots of the abuse these groups have historically faced for the “good of medicine,” it’s easier to understand their mistrust when it comes to things like the COVID-19 vaccine.
How do you work to repair this mistrust?
When we all better understand the historical context of medicine, it can help to heal and repair these relationships.
Acknowledging, learning, and actively teaching about the past is an important part of the healing process.
For example, I once had a patient come in who expressed her struggle with painful periods. When I suggested birth control, she said: “why are you trying to experiment on me?”
Even as a physician who is acutely aware of the experimental and racist history of gynecology, the question caught me off-guard. I heard her express her understandable fear that I was trying to use the tool of medicine to somehow change her body and potentially harm her. So I used the question to begin a conversation with her where I acknowledged her hurt, fear, mistrust while also paving the way for a relationship based on trust.
In these conversations, we as practitioners have to peel away the racism that’s inherently built into medicine. When patients see that doctors are willing to admit what our predecessors have done and that we’re committed to doing better, we can really start to repair and heal these relationships from the ground up.
Your specialties include lactation and sexual and menopause medicine. What do you love most about working in these areas?
I became an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) after having my first baby. I realized that I had gone through four years of medical school, four years of residency, at least three or four years as an attending, but I knew nothing about my breasts or how to feed my new baby: Lactation was a huge void in my training.
Working as a lactation consultant is incredibly empowering: I love being able to help new mothers overcome their fears of not being enough or not being able to feed their babies.
Menopause is another rewarding area to work in, in part because there’s still so much that we don’t know. When patients start to have issues with their relationships, their sexual function, and their sense of well-being, I’m able to help them understand what’s going on with their bodies and normalize the feelings and experiences that they’re having. Helping them improve their sex lives, mental wellbeing, and sleep is enormously rewarding and they’re always very grateful for the impact it has on their lives.
How do you help your patients navigate through sensitive concerns such as high-risk pregnancies and infertility?
At the beginning of each visit, I invite my patients to tell me what they want to talk about during the appointment. I like to offer them the driver’s seat to dive into any concerns that they might have.
If I think there might be a sensitive issue that’s an elephant in the room, then I’ll ask the questions, but I’m always careful about it. Because not all patients want to have kids. And on the flip side, people who have been trying for a long time are often very sensitive about admitting that there’s an issue.
Regardless, I do what I can to normalize the concern at hand. I approach their questions carefully and sensitively, while still bringing the facts to the table.
As a team, we create a plan that they feel good about and I do what I can to offer them resources of support.
Which advancements do you believe are crucial to advancing women’s health in the long term?
We need to recognize how intimately women’s health is tied into all of our economies. I don’t think many people realize that taking care of women is the equivalent of taking care of half of our economy, and how they influence our work, our schools, our transportation, and our day-to-day lives in general.
For some, this connection came to light at the start of COVID-19, when many women had to stop working to take care of the family at home and how this immediately negatively impacted our greater economy.
With that in mind, I think elevating this understanding and building a better infrastructure dedicated to keeping women healthy will be paramount to improving communities, our states, and our country.
Vital Signs
How do you de-stress? A massage, a cocktail — and when I can — taking a vacation.
Period apps and trackers — are they worth the hype? This depends on the person: If you enjoy using a period app, go for it. But I’ve also seen it create more anxiety and stress than needed. At the end of the day, there’s no “must have” app when it comes to period tracking. But if you get a benefit from it, that’s great.
Favorite TV show, book, or podcast of late? I don’t often have time to watch TV, but when I do, it needs to be low stakes. I like to indulge in cooking shows and reality TV because they help me to unwind and zone out.
What’s one healthful habit you’d love to see patients adopt? I’d love to see patients eat less fast food. And recycle! I fell in love with my husband because he recycled.
You can learn more about Dr. Kameelah Phillips here.
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