206. Dr. Pamela Smith: The Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy—HRT, Menopause & Cancer Risk

Darshan Shah (0:03)

Welcome to Extend with me, Dr. Darshan Shah, a podcast dedicated to cutting-edge science, research tools and protocols designed to help you extend your health span. Having become one of the youngest doctors in the country at the age of 21, and trained and board certified in the Mayo Clinic, I've accumulated three decades of practice as a board certified surgeon and longevity expert. Over that time, I've discovered that a mere 20 percent of health knowledge yields 80 percent of the results when it comes to your health span. We are living in a new era where we are creating a new health care system, no longer focused on disease management, but achieving optimal health and vitality. Join me as I interview world-renowned experts, offering you a step-by-step guide to proactively avoid disease, and most importantly, extend your health span.

Welcome back to Extend. I'm Dr. Darshan Shah, and today I'm going to be diving deep into the world of personalized medicine, longevity and hormones with a true OG in the space, Dr. Pamela Smith. Dr. Smith is a powerhouse clinician. She started her career as an emergency room doctor at a trauma center before transitioning into personalized and functional medicine. Very similar to my story. She directs the only program of personalized medicine in the world at Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida, and she runs her own thriving practice. She's a prolific author who's written 17 books on hormone health and preventing cancer, and she has a brand new release. She spent decades in Washington, DC, working with the FDA, teaching thousands of practitioners how to look at the root causes rather than just symptoms, and in this episode, she's also going to share her personal journey of how she overcame her own personal medical challenges using personalized medicine. We're going to talk about the intricate hormonal symphony from estrogen and progesterone to prognanolone and cortisol, and explain why the medical system is finally shifting back to true personalization. Let's dive right in with Dr. Smith.

Dr. Smith, really honored to have you on the podcast. Thank you so much for coming out here to join me.

Pamela Smith (2:15)

Very happy to be here.

Darshan Shah (2:16)

Yeah. So you're one of the people that have been practicing personalized medicine for 40 years. So you're one of the people that are like one of the OGs of this space.

Thank you for being early to this movement. And a lot of your books are on hormones and preventing cancer. All the things I talk about every single day to my patients here at Next Health. And I'm excited to dive into all that with you.

Pamela Smith (2:41)

It'll be very exciting to look at truly. I just turned 72 last week. This is my natural color of hair.

And I still run around the world teaching and have my own personal practice. Written 17 books, the 17th one comes out next year. My goal is everybody, everyone can do that at 72 years of age.

Darshan Shah (3:03)

Happy birthday to you. Thank you. You're here. I am really excited to join you on the journey of me potentially also being as healthy as you are when I'm 72

So let's start the conversation off with this. Like you said, you're 72 Hormone replacement therapy and just hormones in general were not talked about for probably most of your career until just recently in traditional medicine, right? And I just would love to get your perspective on the journey that you've had through your practice and your career on hormone replacement therapy and kind of where things are now versus where they were before.

Pamela Smith (3:39)

Well, thank you for asking because it is a very interesting question. I actually started out as an ER doc at Detroit Receiving, which is a level one trauma center, and was very, very thrilled with my job. I loved every moment of it. Kind of an action junkie.

I see the same thing.

Darshan Shah (3:57)

I was a trauma surgeon for many years and I loved it. It was a lot of fun, but it does wear on you.

Pamela Smith (4:02)

It does wear on you. And one day I could not sleep. And so literally, I went to 11 physicians and they all told me the same thing. Take a sleeping pill. I thought, this is absurd. All of a sudden, I can't sleep. There must be a reason for it. A sleeping pill is not the answer. And I was very lucky. I was invited by my friend to go to the very first longevity conference in the world. And there I was, second seminar, second slide.