I was born in a remote village in Russia, a place where only a few houses stand today and only a handful of residents remain. The school I went to no longer exists—it was demolished about 15 years ago. Yet in my childhood, it was alive with nearly a hundred children, and it was there that the first fifteen years of my life unfolded.

We lived very close to the land. My family grew our own vegetables, and we had many different farm animals, and I remember vividly the rhythm of planting, harvesting, milking cows myself morning and night, fermenting, and preserving. Even at school, we had a garden where we learned to grow food. Each September, without fail, older schoolgirls gathered to prepare large barrels of sauerkraut—one of the most important ways to preserve vegetables through the harsh winter months. we also went to the forest which was right near the school to collect rowan berries (very sour and tart) to dry them and make hot tea in winter months, it was believed to have the highest vitamin C.

These early lessons in food, nature, and resilience have stayed with me ever since.

At 15, I left home to attend high school, and in grade 9 I made a decision that shaped the rest of my life: I would become a doctor. That summer, my aunt, a nurse in a surgical department, took me with her to the hospital. For a few days, I watched doctors care for their patients, and I knew—I wanted to dedicate my life to medicine and to making a difference in people’s lives.

During my university years, I was what many called a “strange” student because I loved studying (surprise isn’t it? it’s assumed everyone in med uni loves studying many hours a day!). I spent hours in dissection rooms, explored anatomy with curiosity, and engaged in research with real enthusiasm. Over six years, my name appeared in 11 research papers, I was awarded a monetary grant, even appeared on national TV, and I travelled across Russia to student research conferences. For the last three years of my studies, I was on the Dean’s List, recognized among the highest-achieving students. I also worked as a nurse in my free time, applying my knowledge in real hospital settings. Those were years of exploration, growth, and the joy of learning. I am not bragging here at all I just want to share with you how passionate I was in those years, and this continued on.

After graduation, I spent nearly eight years working in hospitals and outpatient clinics across Russia. A turning point came when I won a national competition for doctors and received a scholarship to train for three months at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Working alongside world-class surgeons and clinicians was life-changing. It gave me a vision for freedom, growth, and opportunities I could not see for myself in Russia. Though it meant leaving behind my PhD research, I never regretted the choice.

The road to Australia took four and a half years, beginning with learning English. At first, my level was poor, but I was determined. I studied two to four hours a day, sometimes in the middle of the night. I immersed myself in libraries, reading Scientific American, training not just for conversational English but for academic, professional English. I fell in love with the language, the culture, and the possibilities it opened.

Arriving in Australia was both challenging and rewarding. It took years of exams, training under supervision, and fellowship before I could fully practice medicine here. Yet through every stage, the same motivation that started in a small Russian village guided me: the belief that with knowledge, compassion, and dedication, I could make a difference in people’s lives.

In those first years—nearly six, in fact—I had to grasp the culture (something I’m still learning) and understand how the healthcare system worked. I began practicing in an underprivileged area of Australia, and while the challenges are real, I feel deeply privileged to serve people who remind me of my own roots—my parents, my neighbours, my village.

Throughout my journey, I’ve been blessed with teachers. Not only professors and doctors, but also charismatic mentors, books, and patients themselves. They’ve taught me resilience and how to look beyond disease, beyond symptoms, to see the whole person. That path has led me to Lifestyle Medicine. Today, I strive to understand the story behind the symptoms: who the person is, what experiences shaped them, and what steps can move them closer to health, clarity, and thriving.

Lifestyle Medicine has become part of nearly every consultation I do—whether a short appointment or a longer one. I found that even a very brief advice if it’s given with compassion and empathy can change the trajectory for my patients to better health.

And now, I’m excited to share that from the end of October I will be offering one-hour Lifestyle Medicine assessments, so I can take the time needed to explore all aspects of health: sleep, nutrition, movement, relationships, stress, and more. This allows me to help with healthy habit formation and health coaching to navigate my patient to better health outcomes and learn self-management tools.

I absolutely love what I’m doing. I’m passionate about medicine, about learning, about the evolving science that increasingly shows us how closely health is tied to nature. For me, the answer to better health is clear: reconnecting with nature, inside and out.

Graduated 2009 in Russia

Migrated to Australia in 2017

FRACGP 2021

Accredited in Lifestyle medicine in 2025

Numerous conferences, webinars and corses in women's health, recent conference in women's health with American professors on cruise ship (3.5 day, 20 hours of various educational activities)