Aloha!
My name is Marilyn Roderick, certified health coach and practicing MD for over 40 years. After attending Stanford Medical School, my life and work has taken me across much of the United States, including California, Hawaii, and North Carolina. I have owned several private practices, undertaken epidemiological research, staffed government-funded clinics, and provided compassionate care to residents of local men's prisons.
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After my years of experience as a primary care physician, I experienced firsthand how a major medical event or diagnosis can change your life. In the last seven years, I suffered a major ​stroke that left me unable to speak, invasive cancer requiring radiation and chemotherapy, and a back surgery that required me to relearn how to walk. Throughout those experiences, I relied heavily on family and friends, realizing later that not everyone has the support network or medical experience that I did to be able to deal with these situations, along with the challenges of everyday life. These events led me to learn more about health coaching, and ultimately to achieve my certification of mastery in coaching. With 30+ years in medicine and personal experience with the challenges of medical crises, I am ready to provide support and encouragement to all, no matter what you are facing.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, I revisited my experiences as one of the first infection control nurses in the United States, and a hospital epidemiologist to help educate about the details of the novel coronavirus. I began hosting weekly virtual workshops on Facebook and Zoom, entitled Coping with COVID. The idea behind these sessions is to trade fear for facts, and translate complicated medical jargon into plain English. I am also implementing my training as a health coach to offer insight into coping methods to deal with the everyday stress and anxiety that a worldwide pandemic causes.
When I am not working, I spend time gardening with my wonderful husband and cooking up a storm with my millennial daughter. I also play mom to our little dog Annie, who loves to play with my daughter’s fur babies, accompanied by singing (or squawking) parrots in the background!
My name is Marilyn Roderick ("Dr. Marilyn"), Certified Health Coach and practicing Primary Care MD for over 30 years. After attending Stanford Medical School, my life and work has taken me across much of the United States, including California- Bay Area, Hawaii-Remote north shore Kauai, Oahu-Honolulu, and North Carolina-Mountains, Piedmont and now Coast. I have owned several private practices, undertaken epidemiologic and new medication research, staffed government-funded clinics, and provided compassionate care to residents of local prisons.
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After my years of experience as a primary care physician, I experienced firsthand how a major medical event or diagnosis can change your life. In the last several years, I suffered a major
​stroke that left me unable to speak, invasive cancer requiring radiation and chemotherapy, and three back surgeries, two of which required me to relearn how to walk. Throughout those experiences, I needed to stay strong to support family and friends, as I had always done. I kept thinking that I wished I had someone to support ME! I was afraid of the pain I knew I would suffer, afraid of acting weak, and afraid of actually dying! Somehow I was able to "call up" my inherent strength to cope with and conquer these obstacles. Not at all easy! My medical experience allowed me to speak to physicians and all health care professionals on their same levels. I learned I needed to know every order that was written for my care and monitor Everything, including all medications, especially Intravenous ones, to make sure there were no mistakes! Shockingly there were more mistakes than one might imagine.
During my recovery periods I studied health coaching, and ultimately achieved a second certification in mastery of coaching. I called myself a "Medical Coach", the only one I knew. With 30+ years in medicine and personal experience with the challenges of medical crises, I am ready to provide support and encouragement to all, no matter what you are facing.
With the outbreak of COVID-19, I revisited my experiences as one of the first infection control nurses in the United States, and a hospital epidemiologist to help educate about the details of the novel coronavirus. I began hosting weekly virtual workshops on Facebook and Zoom, entitled Coping with COVID. The idea behind these sessions is to trade fear for facts, and translate complicated medical jargon into plain English. These sessions can be found on my YouTube channel. I am also implementing my training as a health coach to offer insight into coping methods to deal with the everyday stress and anxiety that a worldwide pandemic causes.
When I am not working, I spend time gardening with my wonderful husband and cooking up a storm with my millennial daughter. I also play mom to our little dog Annie, who loves to play with my daughter’s fur babies, accompanied by a singing (or squawking) parrot ("Aqua Two")in the background!
