Dr. Patricia Yarberry Allen is a collaborative physician who writes a weekly “Medical Monday” column for Women’s Voices for Change.  (Search our archives for her posts, calling on the expertise of medical specialists, on topics from angiography to vulvar melanoma.)

Here is Dr. Pat’s year-end note to our readers on the Medical Monday coverage we’re planning for the year to come.

“This is our last Medical Monday post for 2014. We at www.womensvoicesforchange.org are grateful to our magnificent volunteer Medical Advisory Board members, who take time away from their busy practices to answer questions and share their vast knowledge on subjects as disparate as complexion care and vulvar melanomas.

“Women’s Voices has created a Medical Monday editorial focus on addressing many health-related resolutions in 2015. These articles will cover topics that include getting fit, drinking less, and getting more sleep. We will have in-depth coverage of physical issues that interfere with quality of life, such as musculoskeletal problems, visual disturbances, cognitive concerns, and many other medical conditions that can be better managed when diagnosed and treated early. We will continue to provide guidance for women in the menopausal transition with up-to-date information about symptom management and discussion about sexual health.

“It is interesting that weight loss is always one of the top three resolutions made by Americans each year. The people who failed to achieve their weight loss resolution in 2014 will be joined by millions on January 1, 2015, hopeful  and resolute but needing support and advice that may provide the key that unlocks the eating mystery for some.

“We are ending this year with a wonderful post from Dr. Megan Riddle, M.D./Ph.D., a psychiatry resident at the University of Washington and a graduate of the Weill Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering Tri-Institutional MD-PhD Program. In this article, Dr. Riddle, a member of our Medical Advisory Board, advises a woman about the management of some common saboteurs of dieters’ earnest efforts to lose weight.   

“Women’s Voices is here to support and advise you as you work on creating and fulfilling your health resolutions for 2015.”  

—Patricia Yarberry Allen, M.D.