Recently I spoke to Joanne Fowler from People Magazine about my breast cancer journey, and how that experience has driven me to educate and empower women to take control of their health. From co-hosting the She MD podcast to advocating proactive screenings, my mission is to transform breast cancer awareness and prevention.
When a biopsy revealed that Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi had atypical cells in her left breast, the Los Angeles-based OB-GYN feared the worst. Using a breast cancer risk calculator, she discovered that the odds she would develop cancer were an alarming 37% — and promptly requested a double mastectomy from her doctors.
“If you told me that a flight had a 37% chance of crashing, I would never board that plane,” says Aliabadi. “I went to several doctors and said, ‘I love my life. I don’t want to get breast cancer. Just take them off.’”
But most doctors didn’t see it that way. Because the mother of four had no family history of breast cancer and was in exceptionally good health — it was another six months before Aliabadi found a surgeon to perform the prophylactic surgery. Three days later, in August 2019 — while shopping for back to school supplies for her children — her surgeon called with devastating news.
“They told me I [already] had stage 1 invasive cancer in my right breast,” says Aliabadi, 54. “I was so upset at all the people who called me crazy. I cried so much in my bed. It completely awakened me.”
Since then, Aliabadi, who co-hosts the popular She MD podcast with designer and women’s health advocate Mary Alice Haney, has been on a mission to educate women on how to take ownership of their health.
“I promised myself that I would turn something so traumatizing into something beautiful,” says Aliabadi from her home in Bel Air. “This happened so I could change the world of breast cancer. I want to empower women to be their own health advocates.”
In April 2023, Aliabadi put those words into action when actress Olivia Munn arrived for her annual exam. Though Munn’s pap smear and mammogram had come back clear, the ob-gyn recommended that she take a risk assessment test to determine her lifetime risk for breast cancer.
“The fact that she did, saved my life,” says Munn, who shares two young kids with husband, comedian John Mulaney. Her score, like Aliabadi’s, was 37%; subsequent tests revealed cancerous tumors in both breasts, leading Munn to have a double mastectomy a month later.
“Olivia’s cancer was very aggressive,” says Aliabadi, who recommends the Myriad MyRisk® Hereditary Cancer Test — which calculates the genetic risk of developing 11 different kinds of cancer — to all her patients. “Olivia had a small baby [at the time] and you can’t gamble with that. I’m so proud of her.”
Last year more than 310,000 American women were diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. While four out of five types of breast cancer are discovered through mammograms, an estimated 20 percent of breast cancers, like Munn’s, go undetected.
“The scary thing is, even today, doctors are not calculating their patients’ lifetime risk of breast cancer,” says Aliabadi. “We don’t need to educate more doctors. We need to educate women.”
One of three children born to the late Mehdi Aliabadi, a banker, and Sue, 78, an entrepreneur, Aliabadi grew up in Tehran, in the midst of the Iranian revolution. “Our lives turned upside down,” she recalls. “They froze my father’s bank account and took away his passport.” Aliabadi went from wearing bikinis at her family’s villa in the Caspian Sea to covering her hair for school. “I grew up with bombardments,” she says. “It was not an easy childhood.”
When she was 17, she received a green card to travel to the United States and arrived in North California with her sister. “During the revolution, women lost all their rights,” she recalls. “When I came to [the U.S.] and realized what other girls had access to, it was life-changing.”
She started high school without knowing a word of English and switched to a community college after graduation, where she gradually learned the language. “I appreciated everything this beautiful country had to offer,” she says. She transferred to University of California at Berkeley, spent 12 hours a day studying, and graduated in 1992 at the top of her class. “I had nothing else to do but study,” she says. “I memorized every page of the book before a test.”
She also met her future husband at Berkeley, Kambiz Tehranchi, who’s from Iran, as well. “He’s the nicest guy on the planet,” says Aliabadi. “When I first met him, I was 20 and still had a lot of trauma from the war with me. He brought that peace and love and safety into my heart again. He healed part of my heart.”
In 1998, she graduated from medical school at Georgetown University with a desire to focus on women’s health. “I couldn’t see anyone in pain, especially women,” she says. In 2005, after completing an OB-GYN residency in Los Angeles, Aliabadi opened a private practice and took on a second job at another hospital to earn extra money.
“I worked like a crazy woman,” she says. “I was doing so many deliveries, so many C-sections.”
Over the next decade, Aliabadi’s personal approach to women’s medical health led to a thriving practice, including celebrity clients such as Rihanna, Sza, Florence Pugh, Khloé Kardashian and Hailey Bieber.
“The pap smear is only 1% of what I do,” says Aliabadi who, with Haney, recently launched Ovii—an educational platform and a daily supplement for women struggling with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome). “I fight for every little thing. You can’t risk people’s lives.”
At home, the mother of four enjoys movie nights and getaways with her husband, and their four daughters, Delara, 20, Layla, 18, (both in college), Dalia, 12, and the youngest, Coco, 4, whom she and Kambiz adopted in 2021 from foster care. “We’re a big-hug family,” she says. “Our favorite thing to do is travel. We always have the best time and we just bond.”
As a devoted mother and dedicated doctor, Aliabadi draws passion, inspiration and a profound empathy for women from her own turbulent childhood. “When you’re looking to make sure bombs don’t fall on your head, you want to do the same for others,” she says. “Everything I do to protect women is protecting the child within me who lost all of that. My patients have become my family.”
Read the full article at People.
Take control of your health: Contact Dr. Aliabadi
Follow me, Dr. Thais Aliabadi, for expert insights and the latest breakthroughs in gynecology and women’s wellness.
Dr. Aliabadi is an expert OB/GYN who is knowledgeable in all aspects of women’s health and well-being. Dr. Aliabadi and her caring, supportive staff are available to support you through menopause, childbirth, infertility, or even just routine gynecological care.
We invite you to establish care with Dr. Aliabadi. Please make an appointment online or call us at (844) 863-6700.
The practice of Dr. Thais Aliabadi is conveniently located for patients throughout Southern California and the Los Angeles area. We are near Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, Culver City, Hollywood, Venice, Marina del Rey, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, and Downtown Los Angeles.
