Sarah White is a nurse practitioner, small business owner, and premedical student based in Virginia. With a background in clinical practice and caregiving, she brings a unique perspective to the intersection of medicine, family life, and community service. She volunteers with the Medical Reserve Corps and is preparing to apply to medical school in 2026.
Sarah is also the founder of two growing ventures: Wrinkle Relaxer, where she specializes in aesthetic treatments, and Bardot Boutique Aesthetics, a space for curated beauty and wellness services.
In recent years, medicine has become more open about burnout, workforce shortages, and the challenges facing women in health care leadership. We write about mentorship programs, leadership pipelines, and the need to bring more women into ownership and executive roles. We celebrate women who build clinics, lead departments, and create space for others to rise.
What we talk about far less is what happens when women actually meet each other in …
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Women in health care leadership: Navigating competition and mentorship
A few weeks ago, I heard Michelle Obama say something that stopped me in my tracks:
“We have to learn to be OK with the regular days. The in-between. The parts of life that aren’t exciting.”
I thought of my kids in the back seat during a long car ride, sighing dramatically, claiming they were “literally dying” of boredom. I thought of patients sitting in a waiting room with nothing but their …
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Why boredom is good for your brain and health
You see it before the final whistle blows. A boy—ten, or maybe nine—walks off the mat like he’s carrying bricks on his back. His face is red, his eyes damp. Waiting for him is his father, arms folded like a verdict. “You lost to that kid? You were up by two.” The boy opens his mouth, but nothing he says will be enough. The response is swift: a shake of …
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Extreme weight cutting harms health and resilience in youth wrestling
We often speak of weight as a matter of simple math—calories in, calories out. But the body doesn’t work like an equation when it’s grieving or under chronic stress. It behaves more like a survivor, clinging tightly to resources in the face of perceived danger. And in that physiological equation, cortisol—our primary stress hormone—plays a central role.
The cortisol connection
Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands in response to stress through …
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When the weight won’t budge: the hidden physiology of grief, stress, and set point
When people think of Botox and filler, they think of vanity. Frozen foreheads. Pouty lips. Women chasing youth. Injectors chasing cash. They don’t see the woman who finally escaped her husband after 20 years of abuse, coming in not for attention but for control. They don’t see the mother burying her child, hoping that looking “normal” on the outside might steady the chaos inside. They don’t see the cancer survivor …
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The emotional first responders of aesthetic medicine
Medicine loves a martyr.
From the first white coat ceremony to the last day of residency, we are told a story: That good doctors are tireless, self-sacrificing, endlessly available. That the more you give up—sleep, family, hobbies, sometimes even health—the more worthy you are to wear the title. The message is rarely said aloud, but it’s everywhere: the ones who leave early to pick up their kids are “lucky to be …
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Why medicine must stop worshipping burnout and start valuing humanity
A woman sat nervously in front of me, eyes wide, voice low. “I saw this video on TikTok,” she said. “Now I’m not sure I want to try it.” “It” was semaglutide—one of the most transformative medications we’ve seen for weight loss and metabolic health in years. But her fear wasn’t uncommon. Like many patients I see, she came in hopeful, but hesitant—torn between her desire to get healthy and …
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Beyond the TikTok hype: Rebuilding trust in evidence-based weight loss medicine
We are more than a decade into what has been called the deadliest drug epidemic in American history. Every medical professional is now educated on the risks of opioids. Nearly every hospital has issued guidelines about careful prescribing. And yet — at the bedside, some things haven’t changed.
This was driven home to me again this week. My husband was admitted to the burn center after suffering a severe scald injury …
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It’s time for pain protocols to catch up with the opioid crisis
For years, I cared for patients as a nurse practitioner—managing chronic disease, guiding them through acute illness, counseling them through the often messy realities of life and health. I loved my work. I loved the relationships I built with patients, the trust they placed in me, and the opportunity to make a difference in their lives.
But over time, a quiet restlessness began to grow—a sense that I wanted to deepen …
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What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school
For a while, I enjoyed telling Dave’s story. In the beginning, I found it therapeutic. It was just as unbelievable to me as it was to the person I was telling it to. Somewhere along the line, telling the story of Dave’s accident and the health care nightmare that followed became more matter of fact. Then, it became heavy.
What I didn’t tell most is that Dave’s injury took more than …
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Living through injury: one family’s journey to the other side
