MICHELLE TOLLEFSON, MD, FACOG, DipABLM, FACLM, MSCP
Women Should Not Have to Piece Together Their Health Alone.
I translate evidence into practical, compassionate pathways for women, clinicians, and organizations – connecting what science shows with the realities of women’s lives across the lifespan.
OB-GYN + LIFESTYLE MEDICINE
PHYSICIAN
THE MENOPAUSE SOCIETY
AUTHOR + EDITOR
INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER
My Work Begins Where Science Meets the Life a Woman is Actually Living.
Across medicine, teaching, research, and curriculum design, I have spent my career asking one question: How do we turn evidence into care women can understand, access, and use?
I believe in both/and medicine: appropriate evaluation and treatment when needed, together with practical support for the daily realities that shape health. Good care helps a woman understand what matters now, what is realistic in her life, and what can help her move forward.
Evidence matters. So does the life a woman has to fit it into.
The Work Became Personal
Then the question became personal.
At 42, I became a patient myself. Sixteen chemotherapy treatments, seven surgeries, and abrupt menopause changed not only my life, but the questions I felt called to answer.
In 2019, a routine screening mammogram detected breast cancer I could not feel. I found myself on the other side of the care pathway and experienced what a clear, well-designed system can provide: evidence-based treatment, skilled specialists, rehabilitation and nutrition support, counseling, family and friends, and a navigator who helped with the human questions as well as the medical ones.
After treatment, treatment-induced early menopause brought brain fog, disrupted sleep, fatigue, mood changes, and a rapid loss of strength. The cancer pathway had been clear. The next chapter was not. Even with my training, I could not find integrated guidance for what was happening – or how to rebuild.
The experience did not create my mission. It made an existing mission personal, urgent, and impossible to set aside.
From receiving care to building what was missing.
I went back to the literature – and, just as importantly, to community. I joined a PAVING the Path to Wellness group first as a participant, not a leader. I had spent years helping others. Recovery asked me to learn how to receive help, too.
I rebuilt gradually – not through one dramatic transformation or a perfect routine, but through evidence, support, practice, and beginning again. With Dr. Beth Frates, creator of PAVING, and Dr. Amy Comander, creator of PAVING for Breast Cancer Thrivers, I helped create and study resources and group-care approaches, then carried those lessons into clinician education and women’s health competencies.
Breast cancer is part of my story, but it is not the whole story. The larger story is about a physician who became a patient, discovered a gap in care, learned to receive support, and helped turn that gap into tools, training, and better pathways for others.
What I Am Working to Build
Across my work, I focus on six connected priorities – all aimed at making women’s health care more trustworthy, connected, practical, and humane.
Evidence Without Hype
Clear distinctions between what is established, promising, uncertain, or oversold.
Care Across the Lifespan
Change That Fits Real Life
Clinicians Equipped for Action
Support Beyond the Visit
Global Principles, Local Fit
I Speak to Help People See What is Possible - and What Must Change.
I bring together evidence, clinical context, and human stories for women, clinicians, students, health systems, professional societies, and international audiences – helping people understand what matters and know where to begin.
I want women to feel less alone, clinicians to see practical possibilities, and organizations to recognize what must change.
How I Approach the Work.
Four commitments guide how I teach, write, and build.
Start with the science. Stay with the person.
Name what the evidence supports, acknowledge uncertainty, and begin with what matters to the woman.
Make change possible, not performative.
Use transitions as windows, not verdicts.
Offer hope without overpromising.
Grounded, Growing, and Still on the Journey.
I am a mother of three, and I feel most grounded in family, faith, the Colorado outdoors, strength, and community. Strength means something different to me now. It is not about appearance or proving what my body can do; it is about having the function and confidence to travel, work, lift something heavy, say yes to an adventure, enjoy time with my family, and keep participating in the life I value as I grow older.
Knowing the science does not make me perfect at living it. I still overfill my calendar and let stress crowd out rest. Some days I train hard; other days I bargain with myself just to begin. Sometimes the easier food choice wins, and some nights I stay up later than I know serves me. I know what it feels like to lose momentum – and to begin again.
Health is not a performance, and there is no finish line where we finally get everything right. We adapt, struggle, learn, and begin again. I remain a student of this work – of the science, of my own life, and of the women whose experiences keep showing us where care can be better. I hope that keeps me curious, humble, and close to the women this work is meant to serve.
Women Deserve Better Than Another Miracle Promise.
Women deserve science they can trust, appropriate treatment when they need it, and practical support that fits the life they are actually living. They deserve care that helps them understand their choices without shame, hype, or impossible expectations.
That is the work I want to help build: a better map for women’s health across the lifespan – one that connects evidence, excellent clinical care, and the support women need to participate as fully as possible in the lives they value.