Vaginal Health & Conditions - All Articles

John Paul McHugh, MD, is an obstetrician-gynecologist and lifestyle medicine specialist in southern California. He has always placed wellness at the center of his work, in both delivering babies and improving practice standards. Dr. McHugh believes that bringing lifestyle medicine to the center of health and wellness empowers patients to make the change they seek and enjoy the benefits of true wellness.

He is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a fellow of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. He served as a department chair at Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego and is now the chair-elect for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists for California.

He has published several articles in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine and served as a peer reviewer for many articles. He contributed to the first textbook of lifestyle medicine in women's health: Improving Women's Health Across the Lifespan.

Allison Buttarazzi, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine and lifestyle medicine, and is a certified health and well-being coach. In her primary care practice, Dr. Buttarazzi focuses on lifestyle medicine to help her patients improve their health and longevity, and her passion is helping patients prevent and reverse chronic diseases (like heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes) by improving their lifestyle habits.

She is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and completed a residency at Maine Medical Center. Diagnosed with celiac disease during medical school, she realized the power of improving one's health through diet and lifestyle habits, which she later incorporated into her practice.

Jennifer Payne, MD, is a physician at Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health.

She earned her bachelor's from the University of St. Thomas, majoring in biochemistry and minoring in theology. She was the first service learning assistant for the service learning program and did extensive volunteer work with Open Arms of Minnesota during this time, including building a library on multiple sclerosis information. She obtained her MD from the Georgetown University School of Medicine, where she was part of the first class to run the Hoya Clinic for people without housing. She also completed an elective in medical writing and editing, working with American Family Physician magazine. Dr. Payne completed her residency in family medicine at Lancaster General Hospital and a primary care sports medicine fellowship at Wellspan Health in York, Pennsylvania. 

She has served on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine and assisted in obtaining speakers and clinical case studies for the physician portion of the conference.

She enjoys reading, all sports (particularly Olympic weightlifting), walking her dog, and spending time with her husband, sons, and their extended family.

Kara Smythe, MD, has been working in sexual and reproductive health for over 10 years. Dr. Smythe is a board-certified fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and her interests include improving maternal health, ensuring access to contraception, and promoting sexual health.

She graduated magna cum laude from Florida International University with a bachelor's degree in biology and earned her medical degree from St. George’s University in Grenada. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. She worked in Maine for six years, where she had the privilege of caring for an underserved population.

Smythe is also passionate about the ways that public health policies shape individual health outcomes. She has a master’s degree in population health from University College London and recently completed a social science research methods master's degree at Cardiff University. She is currently working on her PhD in medical sociology. Her research examines people's experiences of accessing, using, and discontinuing long-acting reversible contraception.

When she’s not working, Smythe enjoys dancing, photography, and spending time with her family and her cat, Finnegan.

Kayli Anderson has over a decade of experience in nutrition, culinary education, and lifestyle medicine. She believes that eating well should be simple, pleasurable, and sustainable. Anderson has worked with clients from all walks of life, but she currently specializes in nutrition therapy and lifestyle medicine for women. She’s the founder of PlantBasedMavens.com, a hub for women to get evidence-based, practical, and woman-centered guidance on nutrition and cooking, hormone health, fertility, pregnancy, movement, mental well-being, nontoxic living, and more.

Anderson is board-certified in lifestyle medicine and serves as lead faculty of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine’s (ACLM) "Food as Medicine" course. She is past chair of the ACLM's registered dietitian member interest group, secretary of the women's health member interest group, and nutrition faculty for many of ACLM's other course offerings. She is the coauthor of the Plant-Based Nutrition Quick Start Guide and works with many of the leading organizations in nutrition and lifestyle medicine to develop nutrition content, recipes, and educational programs.

Anderson frequently speaks on the topics of women’s health and plant-based nutrition and has coauthored two lifestyle medicine textbooks, including the first one on women’s health, Improving Women's Health Across the Lifespan.

She received a master's degree in nutrition and physical performance and is certified as an exercise physiologist and intuitive eating counselor. She's a student of herbal medicine and women's integrative and functional medicine. She lives with her husband in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, where you’ll find her out on a trail or in her garden.