Kate Willis is the nurse practitioner at Hormone Wellness MD, a two-clinician functional medicine practice with offices in Raleigh and in Birmingham, Alabama. She sees North Carolina patients by video or phone only, while Alabama patients come in for the first visit and at least once a year after that. She began as a nurse practitioner in gynecologic oncology in 2009 and moved into functional medicine after her own digestive trouble, fatigue and insomnia sent her looking for answers. The practice prescribes bioidentical hormones, using regular pharmacies where an FDA-approved version exists and compounding pharmacies for testosterone, and it refuses hormone pellets because they often overdose patients and cannot be reversed. Kate performs no physical exams, so patients keep their own gynecologist or primary doctor for annual breast and pelvic checks. The practice will not take patients who are pregnant, trying to conceive, or currently smoking or vaping, and it records visits with an AI scribe that patients may decline.
Raleigh Gynecology and Wellness is a gynecology-only practice that has cared for women in Raleigh since the 1980s. It does no obstetrics, and the practice says that lets it give full attention to the problems that get crowded out in busy OB/GYN offices. Dr. Kaminski joined in 2008 after her residency at UNC, and she likes seeing the same patients year after year, often their family and friends as well. For menopause the practice starts with changes to diet and exercise and other ways to improve quality of life, then adds hormone replacement or non-hormonal prescriptions when symptoms call for it. Every clinician on the team is a woman, and the office offers nitrous oxide to patients who find pelvic exams and procedures hard to sit through. Online scheduling is open to existing patients only, so a new patient has to call the office first.
