Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Anita Wang.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am fortunate to be in Laguna Beach, it happened on a whim. My husband and I had been living in China for the past 3 years while I was working with Doctors without Borders. When we returned we were exploring options of where to settle. One day we stopped at an open house in Laguna Beach on our way to hiking. That was twelve years ago, we ended up putting roots down here in Laguna. Six years ago, I started my private practice. I am excited to announce the expansion of my office. I never imagined after 30 years as an emergency medicine physician, I would be excited to announce that I was working with chronic disease! My practice is on the opposite continuum of the medical care delivery system, for which I was initially trained. Ironically, it is my emergency medicine experience that has to lead me down this road. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the thrill and exhilaration of a good trauma case, suddenly rolling through the door. I was able to open the chest of a patient, find the bullet hole in the heart and sew it close as the emergency team working together as a well-orchestrated ballet, to save the patient in the golden hour. I have retired from the level 1 trauma and now enjoy the sensation of the thrill and exhilaration as I recline and watch a good action adventure. Who knew you could get the same thrill without all the stress! The emergency department was not all trauma and critical care. I would spend a good amount of time reassuring the person coming in with crushing chest pain that he/she was not having a heart attack. I would go over the risk factors and lifestyle choices that would either increase or decrease the likelihood of them having a heart attack. Many times my patients said that they wished their doctor had the time to have gone over the choices they made in life that could have prevented them from having a chronic disease. They would ask me to be their primary care physician because they appreciated the extra time I would take to explain things to them. I immediately would throw garlic at them as if they were a vampire!
Over the years witnessing the miracles and devastation of conventional medicine, while I worked to save lives, many at the end of a tortured life, with chronic disease on multiple medications. I would work feverishly to save their lives, only to feel their frustration because of their lack of good quality of life. I now prefer to save lives by preventing illnesses, rather than trying to save lives at the end life. I now practice the philosophy of medicine I have held for myself, which is a combination of eastern medicine, that is good for prevention and chronic disease, and western medicine, for acute care advance life-saving technology. There is a growing trend of integrative medicine specialists that are trained in functional medicine, anti-aging, regenerative medicine and holistic medicine, etc. This is the type of practice I have opened and look forward to helping patients with conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes, autoimmune diseases and more. Interestingly, I am better known for the aesthetic portion of the practice, which was a quiet practice motivated by my mother’s nudging for services for years, which I resisted until I realized I needed the services she was demanding from me! It has been a surprisingly good fit for my emergency medicine personality, to continue performing procedures and attain instant gratification for my patients. I am truly excited about my new device that helps women with stress urinary incontinence. I hope to reduce the ad’s for Depends for women with the embarrassing need for them when they cough sneeze or laugh. Please come to my open house March 22 4-7 pm and see for yourself my expanded office and learn more about my practice. My wish for all is a wonderful healthy long life full of vitality and beauty!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I have been blessed, as my challenges are similar to the majority of persons transitioning from one role to another, juggling family life with a career and caring for patients. Some of the challenges I face are the personal inner turmoil transitioning from acute care where I would perform life-saving procedure with the immediate gratification of a successful resuscitation, to motivating, encouraging patients to have the determination and commitment to take care of their body so their body can take care of them. Another challenge is growing the practice from when I began sharing a room with 2 other providers having to set up and take down after the day was over, to ready the room for the other provider, to now filling my 5 room practice with patients. My family has been understanding as I have not been able to be around as much, to cook, be at school, attend sporting events or do the little special touches I use to do. I believe this helps me to help my patients to understand and empathize with the struggles they have in caring for themselves.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Anita H Wang MD Wellness, Longevity and Aesthetics story. Tell us more about the business.
I am a boarded Emergency Medicine physician, Fellow of American College of Emergency Medicine and member of American Academy of Anti Aging Medicine with training in Aesthetics. I am very comfortable with the critically ill because of my training and look forward to the challenge of working with patients that are on multiple medications with chronic illness, seeking to have a better quality of life. I have two main focuses, the first is the type II diabetic with weight issues, to help them manage their weight and to reduce or eliminate medication. I work at the genetic and cellular level of an individual, evaluating the whole person to attain optimal health, versus waiting for symptoms, then treating a disease. What is unique is that I am a conventionally trained physician, now practicing functional medicine and utilizing both skill sets to help my patients. I also provide telehealth visits, making it more convenient to have access to me, especially for those individuals with non-acute but urgent issues, transportation, childcare, work schedule challenges or mobility issues. The other focus of my practice, which is very exciting for me, because there is a little of bit of immediate gratification, it’s procedure-orientated and it avoids surgery for the patient. I’m speaking of correcting stress urinary incontinence in women. Correcting this problem for women is a dramatic quality of life improvement, which is one of my major goals for my patients. Once I have worked with the patient and they are healthier on the inside and feeling, better it leads to wanting to look better. I will help to retard the aging processes aesthetically and attain a more youthful appearance. I am always striving to make ones biological age younger than your chronically age.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I would say I am very fortunate, first to have ended up in Laguna Beach, which I think is paradise than to be fortunate enough to be have been able to share a room in an office space and that office space became my new expanded office. I am definitely grateful and count my blessings.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Laguna Beach is an ideal city to work in with clean air, relax atmosphere, healthy food selections and diverse exercise options. I would like to reach other communities to help encourage healthy choices and to educate what are healthy choices. I am still learning the business aspect of healthcare my focus is on caring for my patient. I am very open to networking and learning best business practices and pool resources and efforts to improve the health of our community and others.
Contact Info:
- Address: 255 Thalia St Ste B Laguna Beach, CA 92651
- Website: anitawangmd.com
- Phone: 949-734-0580
- Email: info@anitawangmd.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anitawang_md/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anitawangmd/?ref=bookmarks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/anitawangmd
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