In this episode of Keeping Abreast Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with keynote speaker, author, and 2025 Dynamic Woman of the Year Erika Rothenberger for a conversation about what happens when life forces you to stop playing small. Erika had a day in 2022 that changed everything. What she did on the other side of it is what this conversation is about. Dr. Jenn and Erika get into the trauma we avoid, the life we keep deferring, and why the hardest moments tend to be the most clarifying ones.

If you have ever survived something hard and wondered what you are supposed to do with it, this episode will give you your answer.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• What Erika survived in 2022 and why she considers it the greatest turning point of her life
• Why playing it safe is the most dangerous thing a woman can do
• Why Dr. Jenn believes a breast cancer diagnosis can be an opportunity and what that actually looks like in practice
• The real reason most women never go after the life they want and why it has nothing to do with time, money, or circumstances
• Why the trauma you have been avoiding is not behind you. It is driving you.
• A simple daily method that takes 36 minutes and rebuilds your entire mindset from the ground up
• The science behind why the people you surround yourself with are either quietly lifting you or quietly costing you
• The gap in Pennsylvania law that leaves women unprotected and the legislation Erika is fighting to change
• Why the most powerful thing a woman can do for her health right now has nothing to do with her body
  
  

Episode Timeline
01:07 Introducing Erika Rothenberger
03:09 Energy, seasons, and the permission to give 60%
06:56 Erika's story and the morning that changed everything
12:41 Playing small vs. playing large
16:36 Fear, inertia, and the life you keep putting off
19:45 Writing the book and going public with her story
27:32 Why healing is a choice you make every day
32:27 How to protect your time and fuel yourself first
35:35 Why no is a complete sentence
38:01 Finding the good in every setback
40:02 Why a breast cancer diagnosis can be its own kind of punch
43:00 Why your circle determines your ceiling
45:22 What Erika took away from watching Mel Robbins
50:57 The Audacious Summit, October 2025
52:45 Money, legacy, and what you are building
59:22 Finding your thing and going after it
1:05:44 Where to find Erika and closing thoughts

Where to Find Find Erika Rothenberger:
Website: erikarothenberger.com
Instagram: @erikalearothenberger
Book: Audacious Expansion

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons

In this episode of Keeping Abreast, Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with James Maskell, health economist, founder of the Evolution of Medicine, and the architect of a movement to reverse cognitive decline, to make the case that Alzheimer's is not a death sentence. It is a solvable problem that medicine has been approaching the wrong way for 40 years.

James flew to South Africa when his father collapsed and was expected to die. Every doctor in the room was preparing the family for the end. James walked into his father's house and saw black mold on the wall. Days after moving his father out of that environment, he was opening his eyes. Two weeks later, the doctor declared he had no terminal illness at all.

This is the episode to send to anyone who's been told a declining mind is the only end of the story.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why there is no effective drug for Alzheimer's and why 40 years of pharmaceutical research has been chasing the wrong target
• What the 6 root cause categories driving cognitive decline actually are and why they are the same ones driving breast cancer
• What the first randomized controlled trial on reversing Alzheimer's showed and why 91% of participants got better without a drug
• Why catching even a single point drop on a cognitive test can prevent full decline if you act on it immediately
• How biotoxins like mold can trigger what looks exactly like end stage Alzheimer's and how removing the cause reverses it
• Why loneliness and loss of purpose are not soft factors but measurable root causes of cognitive decline and breast cancer
• What the Blue Zones actually have in common and why it has nothing to do with supplements or technology
• Why community is one of the most powerful clinical interventions we have and how to start building it today

Episode Timeline
00:00 Why Community Is the Most Powerful Clinical Intervention We Have
07:15 40 Years of Alzheimer's Drugs and Nothing to Show for It
12:57 Why Neurologists Are the Last Doctors to Accept This Science
18:23 The Myth That You Were Healthy Right Up Until Your Diagnosis
26:03 Catching Cognitive Decline Before It Becomes Alzheimer's
30:41 The 6 Root Cause Categories Driving Cognitive Decline and Breast Cancer
33:21 The Science Behind Why Your Social Circle Shapes Your Health Outcomes
37:41 How Retirement, Isolation, and Lost Purpose Are Fueling Chronic Disease
41:20 Trying to Change the System Is the Wrong Goal
45:51 Why the Chronic Disease Crisis Will Force the System to Collapse
53:10 How Real Health Change Starts at the Grassroots Level
59:08 Final Thoughts on Taking Your Health Back

Where to Find James Maskell:
Instagram: @mrjamesmaskell
Website: jamesmaskell.com

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons

In this episode of Keeping Abreast, Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with Broadway star, bestselling author, and master communicator Renee Marino to make the case that self-advocacy is not a career skill, it is a health act. Renee went from five Broadway shows and a Clint Eastwood film to co-hosting Tony Robbins's global summits, and every door she walked through opened because she asked.

She was the only actress in the entire Jersey Boys Broadway cast not called in to audition for the film because a middleman dropped the ball, and if she had not looked the casting director in the eye and asked for the role she was already playing eight shows a week, she would have watched herself be replaced on screen while Clint Eastwood waited for her to walk through a door she never knew was open.

This is the episode for any woman who has ever left an interaction in work, the doctors office, or in their personal life feeling dismissed and said nothing.

In This Episode, You'll Learn

• Why losing your voice shifts your body chemistry toward defeat and stress, and why Dr. Jenn calls speaking up a health tool, not just a mindset
• Why no agent, manager, or doctor will ever advocate for you as powerfully as you can advocate for yourself in the room
• What keyboard confidence is costing women in their health relationships and why a text is almost always the wrong tool for an important conversation
• The two questions to ask before hitting send on any message, post, or reply that actually changes how you communicate
• What breast cancer screening looks like when the technology is built to actually show you what is there, not flatten and irradiate you
  
  

Episode Timeline:
00:00 Introduction to Renee Marino
04:10 The power of asking for what you want
06:50 Navigating Rejection
09:53 The Importance of Hard Work and Integrity
12:41 The Role of Communication in Success
15:15 The Journey to Becoming Mary Delgado
18:14 The Impact of Speaking Up
25:47 Speaking up as self-advocacy
31:39 Lessons from the kitchen table
37:37 Why she wrote Becoming a Master Communicator
40:05 The three communication homes
44:44 Balancing technology with real connection
47:47 Women, voice, and the difficult label
1:06:35 Experiencing breast screening that treats you like a person
1:12:08 Glam and Grit: an event built for real connection
1:14:45 Final thoughts and takeaways

Where to Find Renee Marino:
Instagram: @iamreneemarino
Book: Becoming a Master Communicator

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons

In this episode of Keeping Abreast, Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with Dr. Betsy Greenleaf, the first board-certified female urogynecologist in the world, to dismantle the lie that estrogen causes breast cancer, expose the hormone training gap hiding inside every OB/GYN office in the country, and explain why the online HRT explosion isn't liberation; it's the setup for the next Women's Health Initiative.

At 41, Dr. Greenleaf was surgically menopausal, prescribed antidepressants for symptoms her doctors blamed on hormones, and living with a lupus diagnosis she'd carried since age 18. When she stopped treating the symptoms and started treating her gut microbiome, the mood swings resolved, the immune dysfunction cleared, and the lupus markers that had defined her health for decades simply disappeared. The conventional medical system had no framework for what happened to her so she went looking for one.

If you've ever been handed a hormone prescription with no questions asked, or been told your labs look "normal" while you feel anything but, this episode will give language to what you've already suspected.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why your gynecologist, urologist, and endocrinologist almost certainly received zero formal training in sex hormones
• Why only 23% of residents finishing training today feel prepared to treat midlife women
• How chronic stress hijacks your sex hormones and converts them straight to cortisol
• Why when tens of millions of women stopped HRT after the Women's Health Initiative, breast cancer rates went up, not down
• Why estrogen is not cancerous and why progestins are a different story entirely
• How 90% of your serotonin and 80% of your immune system live in your gut
• Why putting a 20-something on testosterone is masking the real problem
• The five lactobacillus strains that actually rebalance the vaginal microbiome and why most probiotics don't contain them
• Why no probiotic will work until the tissue itself is healthy and the full menu of options that can fix it
• How the brain-gut-vagina connection drives libido, and why testosterone is rarely the answer for low sex drive

Episode Timeline
00:00 Introduction to Urogynecology and Dr. Betsy Greenleaf
03:48 Awakening to Functional Medicine
06:34 The Importance of Gut Health
08:14 Training Gaps in Hormonal Health
11:09 The Dangers of Hormone Mismanagement
14:00 Stress and Hormonal Balance
16:46 The Role of Lifestyle in Hormonal Health
19:21 The Fear of Hormones and Cancer
21:55 Understanding Estrogen and Cancer Risks
24:01 The Holistic Approach to Health
28:38 Integrative Medicine and Continuous Learning
31:30 The Role of Tools in Health Management
34:19 The Shift from Conventional to Holistic Medicine
37:15 Understanding Microbiomes: Gut and Vaginal Health
40:05 The Interconnection of Health Systems
43:58 Intimacy and Libido: The Psychological and Physical Connection
50:38 Navigating Midlife Symptoms and Hormonal Health
53:33 Innovations in Health Tracking and Patient Empowerment

Where to find Dr. Betsy Greenleaf:

• Website: pauseinstitute.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/drbetsygreenleaf

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons

In this episode of Keeping Abreast, Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with thyroid and hormone specialist Dr. Amie Hornaman to dismantle the standard of care that is leaving millions of women dismissed, misdiagnosed, and under treated. They cover what the full thyroid panel actually looks like, why T4-only therapy fails the vast majority of patients, and how the thyroid is connected to every other hormone system in a woman's body.

What happens when a competitive athlete starts gaining weight, losing hair, and can't get a single doctor to take her seriously? Dr. Amie found out in her 20s with 40 pounds of unexplained weight gain, six doctors, six dismissals, and one mentor who finally ran the right tests and changed the course of her life and career.

If you've ever been told your thyroid is fine while your body is telling you otherwise, this is the episode you've been waiting for.

What You'll Learn

• Why testing TSH alone is not a thyroid workup and what the five markers are that actually tell the full story
• What free T3, free T4, and reverse T3 mean and why reverse T3 is the most dismissed marker in the panel
• What thyroid antibodies TPO and TGA reveal about Hashimoto's and why your doctor's normal range is meaningless
• Why 95% of hypothyroid cases are Hashimoto's and why your antibodies may already be elevated even if your doctor says they are not
• Why your GLP-1 will stop working if your thyroid is not optimized first
• How estrogen dominance low progesterone high cortisol insulin resistance and low ferritin all interfere with thyroid function
• Why your insurance-based doctor cannot give you proper thyroid care even if they want to
• What the FDA's move against natural desiccated thyroid is really about and who benefits
• Why testosterone is protective against breast cancer and why women are being denied access to it
• What it actually feels like when your thyroid is optimized and how Dr. Amie gets patients there

Episode Timeline:

00:00 Show Intro
01:08 How Dr. Amie Became Dr. Jenn's North Star
05:02 Pain to Purpose: 40 Pounds and Six Dismissals
08:37 Where Conventional Medicine Gets It Wrong
16:58 Why Thyroid Disease Is at Epidemic Levels
19:14 The Full Thyroid Panel You Actually Need
36:43 Why T4-Only Therapy Fails Almost Everyone
40:27 The Hormonal Web Nobody Is Addressing
45:32 What Thyroid Optimization Actually Looks Like
52:22 The FDA Threat to Natural Desiccated Thyroid
59:42 Dr. Jenn's Testosterone Gatekeeping Story
01:05:22 The Importance of Prevention in Healthcare

Find Dr. Amie Hornaman

Website: dramie.com | Book: thyroidfixbook.com

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons

In this solo episode, Dr. Jenn Simmons delivers a five-alarm wake-up call on breast cancer screening. The American College of Physicians just dropped new guidelines and the radiology world is furious, not because the science is wrong, but because it isn't on their side. Dr. Jenn breaks down what the data actually shows, why mammography's survival benefit has been a statistical illusion for decades, and what real preventive screening looks like.

She also takes on DCIS, collagen fears, and the question every woman with a breast cancer history is afraid to ask about hormones.

Every woman deserves this information before she makes a decision, not after.

What You'll Learn

• Why DCIS is not breast cancer and what the data says about over treating it
• What the new ACP mammography screening guidelines say and why the radiology world responded with opinion instead of evidence
• How lead time bias and over diagnosis have made mammography look like a lifesaver when it isn't
• What the Wisdom Trial revealed about personalized breast cancer screening and why the results make annual mammogram guidelines indefensible
• What preventive breast cancer screening actually looks like without radiation, compression, or harm
• Why collagen supplementation has no association with breast cancer risk or recurrence
• Why bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is not off the table after a breast cancer diagnosis.
• Why you need to tread the root cause and treat the tumor

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons

In this episode of Keeping Abreast, Dr. Jenn Simmons sits down with hormone specialist Karen Martel to talk about what's really driving the metabolic chaos of perimenopause and menopause and why the solution most women need is the one they've been told to fear. They also tackle one of the most misunderstood topics in women's health: the relationship between estrogen, metabolic health, and breast cancer.

What happens when a nutrition expert who helps women lose weight suddenly can't lose weight herself? Karen found out the hard way at 42, gaining 15 pounds in six months, losing her period, battling depression, and watching her skin age before her eyes. Despite eating clean, exercising, and doing everything "right," her body had other plans.

This is the episode you'll want to send to every woman in your life who's been told her labs look "fine."

What You'll Learn

• Why you can gain weight in perimenopause without changing your diet or exercise routine
• The biological aging study that found perimenopausal women are aging faster on the inside and what stops it
• Why estrogen is the metabolic master hormone and what happens to your hunger signals, blood sugar, cholesterol, and muscle when it drops
• Why being asymptomatic in perimenopause does not mean nothing is happening to your heart, brain, and bones
• Why it is never too late to start hormone replacement therapy
• Why insulin and insulin-like growth factor may be driving estrogen receptor positive breast cancer more than anyone is talking about
• Why women with a history of breast cancer are not automatically disqualified from hormone replacement therapy and why most doctors have it wrong
• How GLP-1s are changing the game for menopausal women
• The truth about breast cancer, estrogen receptors, and why insulin may be a bigger driver than anyone is talking about

Episode Timeline:
01:07 Meet Karen Martel
04:10 Karen's Personal Perimenopause Wake-Up Call
09:09 Why You Cannot Out-Diet or Out-Exercise Hormone Loss
17:21 What Estrogen Actually Does in the Body
25:12 HRT Delivery Methods and Why Form Matters
26:28 Breast Cancer, Estrogen Receptors, and the Insulin Connection
33:48 The Vaginal Estrogen Contradiction
37:08 Estrogen as the Most Powerful Anti-Aging Tool
38:56 The Pharmaceutical Incentive Behind the Anti-Hormone Narrative
44:35 Menopausal Weight Gain and Where GLP-1s Fit In
53:13 Is It Ever Too Late to Start Hormone Replacement
59:39 Women Deserve Better Standards of Care
1:02:06 The Statistics That Should End the Debate
1:05:38 Topical Estrogen and Why Ingredients Matter

Find Karen Martel
Website: karenmartel.com

To talk to a member of Dr. Jenn's team and learn more about working privately with Dr. Jenn visit: https://calendly.com/stephanie-1031/clarity-call

To get your copy of Dr. Jenn's book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer, visit: https://tinyurl.com/SmartWomansBreastCancerGuide

To purchase the auria breast cancer screening test go here https://auria.care/ and use the code DRJENN20 for 20% Off.

Connect with Dr. Jenn:
Website: https://www.jennsimmonsmd.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrJennSimmons
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drjennsimmons/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dr.jennsimmons