Beth Baughman DuPree Of Signal Relief On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry
An Interview With Jake Frankel
Associate with only high quality proven interventions or products. There are all sorts of gimmicks in the health and wellness world that want a doctor’s endorsement. I only work with companies that I have vetted as the safest, best, and most transformational.
The global health and wellness market is worth more than 1.5 trillion dollars. So many people are looking to improve their physical, mental, and emotional wellness. At the same time, so many people are needed to help provide these services. What does it take to create a highly successful career in the health and wellness industry?
In this interview series called “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry” we are talking to health and wellness professionals who can share insights and stories from their experiences.
In this particular interview, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Dr. Beth DuPree.
Dr. Beth DuPree, M.D., FACS, ABOIM. Dr. DuPree is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is board certified in Surgery as well as Integrative Medicine. She is the recipient of numerous awards and achievements, including Philadelphia Magazine’s 2016 and 2017 TOP DOCS in Surgery and Complementary Medicine and the 2020 Physician of the Year award for Verde Valley Medical Center. In addition to serving as Medical Director for Jovi and Signal Relief, Dr. DuPree is a published author, a Reiki Master, international physician educator, inspirational speaker, and founder of The Healing Consciousness Foundation where she provides healing and integrative services free of charge to women and men on their breast cancer journey.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you grew up?
I was born in York, Pennsylvania, the seventh of seven children in a hardworking, work ethic blue collar family. My parents were both born and raised on farms in southern York County. My father finished high school and served in the Army; my mother finished 8th grade then went to work in a sewing factory. My mother was the homemaker while my father had a career as a police officer then began a small construction company. As children we all worked for the family business, including my mom. We grew up eating food grown or raised “organically” on farms in York County and very rarely ate at restaurants. I was always physically active and excelled in sports through high school and college.
I have always cherished my health as my greatest wealth in my life. I am a healer at my core who chose a career in healthcare as a surgeon focusing on breast disease. I became board certified in integrative medicine many years after I started my surgery career as our western medical model did not provide the depth in wellness that I believe we need to live our best lives.
Was there a particular person or event that inspired you to live a wellness-focused lifestyle?
My brother Bart was killed by a drunk driver when I was 17 years old. That was a massive wakeup call that this precious life is not a dress rehearsal. He had been sick for several years with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative Colitis and at the time steroids and medications were all that was offered to him. I now know that there are so many more integrative approaches to IBD (inflammatory Bowel Diseases) and still western medical treatments are the primary resource offered to individuals who are diagnosed with them.
Food is medicine and food can also be toxic when it promotes and feeds inflammation in the body. Our fast-paced fast food lifestyle has created more opportunities for our bodies to fail.
Can you tell us about your main motivation to go all in?
75% of all breast cancers have no genetic or family predisposition and are related to poor lifestyle choices. Estrogen driven cancers can respond to lifestyle modification to decrease the risk of recurrence and we need to educate women not simply about the physical treatment of the cancer but how to decrease the risk of it returning. Obesity, smoking, exercise, food choices, stress management, and so much more are modifiable and as a physician and surgeon caring for women and men with breast cancer, I felt it was my responsibility to educate them.
Most people with a wellbeing centered lifestyle have a “go-to” activity, exercise, beverage, or food that is part of their routine. What is yours and can you tell us how it helps you?
Being out in nature wherever I am keeps me grounded and centered. My go-to activity is hiking when in Sedona or walking the beach when at the ocean. I love the outdoors. Wherever you are in whatever season, there is a way to be active in nature — Just do it!
To live a wellness-focused life is one thing, but how did it become your career? How did it all start?
I graduated from medical school in 1987. I trained in medical school for my job which was becoming a doctor. I trained in surgical residency for my career which was becoming a surgeon. Through my life experience as a breast cancer surgeon and integrative physician, I found my passion, purpose, and my calling which has always been being a healer.
Healing from cancer does not equate to being cured of cancer. We are trained in medical school to treat the physical body and disregard the mind and the spirit of the individual. As I matured in my career, I realized that educating my patients how to care for their physical body, aka the temple their soul was residing in, nurtured their spirit and emotional wellbeing so that healing has an opportunity to occur.
It is impossible to care for your physical body if you are emotionally and mentally unwell. Our mental health has to be top priority in order to be able to care for our physical and spiritual self.
Can you share a story about the biggest challenges you faced when you were first starting? How did you resolve that? What are the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
In March of 2004, I gave a lecture at the American Society of Breast Surgeons on “Integrative Medicine in Breast Cancer Care’’ where I received criticism from some of my surgical peers for being too “woo woo” and caring too much about the “fluff” of surgical cancer care. Surgeons are taught that to cut is to cure and I was shifting the focus to lifestyle modification, exercise, nutrition, and spirituality. Going out on that limb got me invited to speak on the national stage time and time again as integrative care of our patients has now moved to mainstream cancer care with exercise oncology. I just would not cave to criticism as I feel that as physicians and healers WE NEED to bring Health back into healthcare.
Then I so called “outed myself” when I published my first book, The Healing Consciousness: A Doctors Journey to Healing, in 2006 and shared my spiritual journey with the world.
Can you share with us how the work you are doing is helping to make a bigger impact in the world? Can you share a story that illustrates that?
I resigned from my former health system in December 2021 to shift my professional focus on areas of healthcare that I truly believe are going to change healthcare delivery as we know it. I had wanted to continue to work part time in my former health system as a breast cancer surgeon while I helped several transformational technologies gain acceptance in our western medical model.
I was unable to find a balance within the health system that honored my professional career, so I left my presumed stable surgical career to step into the world of startup companies which was a huge leap of faith. In my heart of hearts, I know that these companies are going to have a much greater impact on the world than I would have as a respected surgeon caring for one person at a time.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
(I know that these projects / companies WILL HELP PEOPLE) They already have.
I am currently serving as medical director of three transformational organizations dedicated to improving mental and physical wellness, alternatives to traditional drug treatments that promote true healing.
SIGNAL RELIEF — In June 2021, I became medical advisor to Signal Relief which is a transformative company with a non-narcotic pain patch that has the potential to revolutionize pain management! It works essentially by “electrically bio-hacking” the body, giving pain signals an opportunity to exit the body breaking the pain loop with the brain. The exact mechanism of action is yet to be determined, but since joining the company we have completed a pilot clinical trial where preliminary results revealed that 72% of participants attained relief of their pain, 96% discontinued use of over-the-counter pain meds, and 91% discontinued narcotics. (https://signalrelief.com/pages/clinical-data?_pos=1&_sid=52337b053&_ss=r). This transformational technology is currently available commercially as a wellness product as I am working toward having it accepted by the FDA for postoperative pain management. www.signalrelief.com, www.meetjovi.com
INNERSTILL HEALTH — I have been working as Chief Medical Officer for Innerstill Health which is another transformational company that utilizes Transcranial electrical stimulation and transcutaneous electrical Vagus nerve stimulation for mental and emotional wellness. I presented our clinical data and product testing data at The International Neuromodulation Society in Barcelona in May 2022 (https://www.innerstillhealth.com/blog/the-science-behind-innerstil). We plan to have our wellness technology available in Q 1 or Q 2 2023 and offer the world an alternative solution from mental wellness and so much more. www.innerstillhealth.com mindvybe™
GATEWAY SCIENCES — In December 2019 , I began my journey into the world of plant medicine and psychedelic therapy. I have known for years that I cannot cut out a patient’s fear when I cut out their cancer and it is the FEAR that remains that paralyzes my patients and prevents true healing.
The science and data that has been published in cancer patients and psilocybin is so compelling, it opened my mind to yet another transformative tool in the space of mental wellness. Through a business associate I was introduced to Gateway Sciences and I am now serving as medical director of this transformative company which is currently able to utilize Ketamine therapy in drug resistant depression and chronic pain. As Psilocybin and MDMA gain FDA clearance for anxiety, depression, and PTSD, we will be positioned to provide those therapies. I was recently certified by CIIS and MAPS in psychedelic therapy. https://gatewaysciences.com Ketamine Clinic Santa Monica currently. Sedona and Scottsdale in the near future. “Leading the Human Race to Inner Space” ™
The Healing Consciousness Foundation (HCF) is a foundation that I founded in 2007 that provides healing services free of charge to women and men in Greater Philadelphia and Northern Arizona. We offer transformative 3–4 day retreats that I believe will become instrumental in fostering healing in cancer patients. This month the HCF is providing 30 young breast surgical oncologists the opportunity to spend three days learning about health/ wellness/survivorship and self-care at our fellows conference in Chicago .
www.hcfbucks.org
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Resilience — In 2007 I was the CEO and Medical director at The Comprehensive Breast Care Institute in Bensalem PA. It was a novel fully integrative state-of-the art breast cancer hospital that was disruptive in healthcare, but unfortunately closed in 2009 due to the economic collapse.
The closure of the hospital may have been viewed as a failure, but I chose to take all that I had learned from the process and create a “kick ass” breast cancer program at Redeemer Health that has now become a satellite program for MD Anderson Cooper Cancer program.
- Humility — I have been a surgeon for 35 years with a focus on breast cancer for the last 25. I was trained by some of the best surgeons in Philadelphia to perform complex surgical procedures. Still 35 years later, in the morning before I perform surgery, I pause and ask for the highest healing intention for the individual I am about to operate upon without judgment for the outcome.
I do not give patients their disease and I may not always be able to take it all away surgically. That does not make me a failure as a surgeon, it reminds me that I am a spiritual being having a very human experience.
- Empowering team members — Medical offices have entry level positions such as medical assistants and receptionists. When I have staff that I see with emotional intelligence, strong work ethic and a thirst for knowledge, I openly encourage them to strive for bigger and better careers in healthcare. I have mentored countless staff members over my career to leave my practice, at my own personal professional expense, to pursue additional education and training in order to achieve high level professional careers in healthcare. Seeing these young women become professionals in their own careers is so rewarding. For many of them knowing that I was the first generation in my family to finish college and medical school was empowering to them as well!
My father always taught us that the only imitations that you have in life are those you place on yourself. I use the same mantra with my staff!
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition of terms so that all of us are on the same page. Wellness is an incredibly broad topic. How would you define the term “Wellness”? Can you explain what you mean?
Wellness is the active pursuit of balance in the body, mind and spirit. Working to create a state of homeostasis. Our bodies were genetically created to function in a state of wellness yet most live in a state of illness, inflammation and controlled chaos.
Illness, malady, sickness, unwellness are the antonyms of wellness. It is ironic that I spent the first 15–20 years of my medical career focused on treating illness with little to no time spent on promoting wellness. Our western medical model has been based upon the treatment of a diagnostic “illness” described by the International Classification of Diseases. In ICD-9 there were 17,000 codes. In ICD-10 there are now 55,000. The solitary ICD-10 Code for “wellness” — Encounter for general adult medical exam without abnormal finding is Z00.00.
We have become the pill for the ill society and I believe that a massive shift needs to occur in healthcare delivery from the treatment of disease to the promotion of wellness in the body, mind and spirit. Beginning with mental health and wellness as opposed to mental dis-ease.
An ICD-10 code was recently created for prolonged grief related to the loss of a family member (Z63.4) essentially “pathologizing” the process of grieving, basically pushing doctors to prescribe a pill for grief. Total BS!
Diabetes and Hypertension are primarily treated with pills, not lifestyle modification. Obesity has replaced smoking as our number one modifiable health opportunity.
As an expert, this might be intuitive to you, but it will be instructive to expressly articulate this. Can you please share a few reasons with our readers about why focusing on our wellness should be a priority in our lives?
Our health is our greatest wealth. Personal accountability has been missing in healthcare and must become a priority for our society, country and world to embrace. We spend more money on disease treatment in the USA than any other country in the world.
Most of our healthcare dollars are spent on diseases that are modifiable/treatable with nutritional intervention, exercise, and spiritual practice. Unfortunately, too many Americans wait for a health crisis such as stroke, heart attack, and cancer to be the nidus for change.
There are very few incentives to become healthy and embrace wellness.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasingly growing understanding of the necessity for companies to be mindful of the wellness of their employees. For the sake of inspiring others, can you share steps or initiatives that companies have taken to help improve or optimize their employees’ mental and physical wellness?
COVID-19 should have been a massive wake up call for our country and the world. The unwellness of our country was beyond obvious yet it was rarely discussed as it was perceived as politically incorrect to associate morbidity with medical conditions. It was a massive opportunity to shake and wake our society.
The prevalent comorbidity was hypertension (42.31%), cardiovascular disease (30.77%), diabetes (28.21%), chronic kidney disease (23.08%), malignancy (15.38%), obesity (15.38%), chronic liver disease (7.69%), chronic respiratory disease (6.41%), immune related disease (3.85%), and non-traumatic cerebral infarction (3.85%). 41 (52.56%) patients reported having two or more comorbidities, and 37 (47.44%) only had one comorbidity.*
Social isolation has been a serious health risk factor in all-cause mortality and disease. COVID-19 exacerbated social isolation and we have yet to feel the full effects of the isolation, masking, and fear that surrounded the pandemic. Companies need to up their game in their employees’ mental wellness and this is precisely why I am working in the fields of medicine at this time, as I believe that the companies I am working with have the solutions.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Health and Wellness Industry”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
- LEAD BY EXAMPLE. In 2013, I was voted Philadelphia Magazine’s first Philadelphia Health Hero as a busy full time practicing breast cancer surgeon, wife, and mother of two young sons. I was creating time to exercise 4–5 times a week with a trainer in a group class, cooking healthy meals with my husband and sons, along with a meditation spiritual practice. My foundation was providing healthy cooking for life classes to educate breast cancer survivors, providing exercise classes along with yoga and meditation.
- Let people know who you are. Whenever I have the opportunity to meet an influencer or leader in the health and wellness industry after they have inspired me with a talk or at a meeting, I make sure that they know who I am before that meeting is over. MAKE CONNECTIONS. On COVID lock down day March 13th 2022, I heard Nick Webb give a talk about health care disruption and innovation. I made a beeline to him after his talk to introduce myself. Several months later he called me and asked me to be in a documentary he was doing on healthcare. The film won the most impactful film of the Sedona Film Festival. That film led to an opportunity.
- Be open to opportunities. I was not looking for Signal Relief when they found me through the producer of the documentary I was in called The Healthcare CURE ( www.thehealthcarecure.com). When I heard about the pain patch I thought it sounded too good to be true. What the company needed was medical leadership and we are well on our way to getting our product through the FDA process so that doctors may have an alternative to narcotics for postoperative pain management.
- Associate with only high quality proven interventions or products. There are all sorts of gimmicks in the health and wellness world that want a doctor’s endorsement. I only work with companies that I have vetted as the safest, best, and most transformational.
The three companies that I am currently working with have the ability to change healthcare delivery and that is why I am putting my time, talent and attention into them! I could still be operating daily removing breast cancers, but I believe that these companies focused on restoring health and creating mental wellness are my calling.
5. Take risks in life based upon what you may gain, not what you fear you may lose. Leaving my stable, well paying, rewarding surgical career was not an easy decision. Recognizing that I cannot cut out my patients’ fear when I cut out their cancer was the final impetus to take this leap. My patients diagnosed during the COVID-19 pandemic had to go through their treatments isolated from loved ones and were left more fearful and alone than at any other time in my career. It was the final wakeup call that I needed.
Bringing balance to health care and promoting wellness is what makes my heart sing. Our mental wellbeing and mental health need time and attention in order to be able to begin working on our physical wellbeing and physical health. We need to truly heal our traumas that our bodies are holding onto and stop medicating them with prescription drugs. Instead of “pathologizing” the bumps and traumatic experiences on the road of life, we need to nurture our souls and allow them to grow and heal through the adversities of life.
No more pill for the ill mentality!
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would promote the most wellness to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Wellness movement- RADICAL SELF LOVE
Love yourself at this moment exactly as you are without judgment. When you have true honest self-love then you can begin to see the wellness in yourself and in others.
WE ALL HAVE OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT!!
The first step toward total wellness is radical SELF LOVE!!
When you can become “centered on self” ( NOT SELF-CENTERED) and recognize that you have the ability to change anything from the inside out then you can create and experience total wellness!
We are blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Joe Rogan — He has a great podcast and has been very vocal in the psychedelic space. As a board certified surgeon and recently certified psychedelic therapist I think he would love having lunch with me. Working with three transformative technologies, I believe that he and I would have a lot to talk about!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
@drbethdupree
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!