Angela DeRosa - How Your Doctor is Slowly Killing You: A Womans Health Survival Guide

As I sit down to think about all of the wonderful friends, colleagues and mentors that I need to acknowledge and thank for making this book a reality, I know its likely that I will forget someone who should be included, and I apologize in advance for any oversights.

I have faced many challenges in my life, but every step of the way, I have been gifted with wonderful mentors, friends and people who have motivated me to step up and commit to making a difference and never, ever quit.

While I was growing up, every single day my dad pushed me to be better than I thought I could ever be. This often made me angry, but he never stopped challenging me to be exceptional. He often reminded me to never forget that the best investment I could make in life was the one I could make in myself. His advice became particularly valuable as I started down the road to medical school. Knowing that my dream of being a doctor meant I would come out on the other side saddled with close to $200,000 in debt was terrifying. Dad told me to never allow myself to be held back by fear, and made me realize it would all be OK. Dad (AKA BK), you are my hero.

Its an incredible blessing to be surrounded by many female mentors and friends. Each has inspired me to continue my quest to change the face of health care, and to hold fast to what my dream could mean for women everywhere. While I was still in high school, my guidance counselor helped me learn to believe in myself, and a dear family friend gave me the confidence I needed to pursue my goals. Jan and Cathy you started this journey for me. God help us all.

When I decided to get onto the fast track and create a new womens health program during my internal medicine residency program at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, I was met with resistance from directors of hospital medical departments and other physicians. They were threatened by what I was trying to do, as well as concerned that I would step on their clinical turf and take patients from them. Im forever grateful to Dr. Edward Linn, the director of the hospitals OB/GYN program, who helped me face the politics head on and encouraged me to learn all that I could about the gynecologic view of womens health. He was tough, fair and fearless. Most of all, he went out on a limb for me and I will never forget this.

During my time in big pharma, I met so many wonderful womens health providers who were living my dream of the clinical practice focused on women, and I soaked up all the knowledge and inspiration I could from them. Eventually they urged me to take the leap and open my own practice another terrifyingly huge step. In 2010, I finally JUMPED off the cliff and opened DeRosa Medical. The foundation for making my dream of leaving a legacy in womens health became a reality.

The first few years of establishing and growing my practice have been tough and exhilarating at the same time, and Ive used them to fuel my personal fire to change the face of womens health care. I continue to be blessed by the presence of a number of strong, passionate women in my life. I have deliberately surrounded myself with women who are all smart, talented, inspired, and like me, on a mission.

During my MBA program, I learned that the best way to look and be smart is to surround yourself with people smarter than you, and listen to them. I took this advice very seriously. To my circle of colleagues and friends thank you for being my smarter circle of influence.

To Virginia Kelley: Your help in maintaining my sanity (well, most of it) and your guidance as I navigated through some of the hardest years of my life has been invaluable. Thank you.

My profound thanks goes out to my colleagues in my office (providers, clinical assistants and administrative staff) for helping me bring my vision to light every single day. Being surrounded by such positive energy and compassion I am continually inspired to do more and more in medicine and be a better doctor.

To Cyd, my best friend: you challenge me to be a better person and give me the love and attention I need to survive lifes struggles and hurdles: I dont know what I did in life before you.

To Linda, my Chief Operations Officer: thank you for keeping me grounded when I find myself feeling overwhelmed, compromised or challenged in life, all while managing the three ring circus that is our medical practice. You are so wise, and have a tremendously amazing gift for dealing with people while always keeping a smile on your face and compassion in your heart.

To Kendra, my surrogate sister not only in life but medicine: You remind me of what brought me to medicine in the first place and you continue to motivate and challenge me. Your growth in medicine gives me confidence that when I am older, society will be in good medical hands.

To Mary, my steady Eddy: Youve helped me and the practice survive, even through unimaginable hurdles: You are my rock.

To Anna: We always find laughter, even amongst the tears. You know where all the bodies are buried, and of course, we have our table reserved in hell. Na Zdorovie!

To Jen, my CFO: Thank you for never squashing my dreams, for telling me no when I need to hear it, and for finding ways for me to afford my mission. You are fearless, and a great bad cop to my good cop.

To Charlotte, my publicist: you help bring my passion to the world and you do this with grace and determination. Without you, I would be a simple practice owner with a dream but no platform.

And finally to Erin, my branding angel, you have a gift for channeling me in ways that are spooky (stop sharing my brain). You helped me find and establish my voice, shaped my words in virtually every possible format imaginable, but in particular in this publication.