Modern Thyroid and Wellness

Could a simple neck self-check help you notice a thyroid concern earlier?
September is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month, and in this episode of Modern Thyroid & Wellness, McCall McPherson sits down with Dr. Rashmi Roy, a fellowship-trained, board-certified endocrine surgeon specializing in thyroid and parathyroid disorders.
Dr. Roy practices at the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery in Tampa and has performed thousands of thyroid and parathyroid procedures. Together, McCall and Dr. Roy have an important conversation about thyroid cancer risk, early detection, diagnosis, thyroid nodules, surgery, Hashimoto’s, and how patients can make more informed decisions about their thyroid health.
They discuss how to perform a neck self-check, potential signs and risk factors to be aware of, and when thyroid ultrasound or additional evaluation may be appropriate.
Dr. Roy also explains what patients should know before thyroid surgery, including common misconceptions, potential complications, and why the experience of your thyroid surgeon can matter when evaluating surgical options.
The conversation also explores Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, its relationship to overall thyroid health and thyroid cancer risk, evolving approaches to treatment and post-surgical management, and why learning to ask better questions can help you become a stronger advocate for your own care.
Whether you are navigating a thyroid nodule, Hashimoto’s, a possible thyroid cancer diagnosis, or an upcoming thyroid surgery, this episode offers practical information to help you approach the next step with greater clarity.
🔑 In This Episode:
How to perform a neck self-check
Signs, symptoms, and risk factors associated with thyroid cancer
When thyroid ultrasound or additional screening may be considered
What patients should know about thyroid nodules
Why surgeon experience matters when choosing a thyroid surgeon
Common myths about thyroid surgery
Potential risks and complications of thyroid surgery
Hashimoto’s and its relationship to thyroid health and thyroid cancer risk
New and emerging approaches to treatment and post-surgical management
How to advocate for yourself and ask better questions about your care

👩‍⚕️ About Dr. Rashmi Roy
Dr. Rashmi Roy is a fellowship-trained, board-certified endocrine surgeon specializing in thyroid and parathyroid disorders. She practices at the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery in Tampa and has performed thousands of thyroid and parathyroid procedures.
Her extensive surgical experience gives her a valuable perspective on thyroid cancer diagnosis, surgical decision-making, potential complications, and what patients should consider when selecting a thyroid surgeon.
If you know someone navigating thyroid nodules, thyroid cancer, Hashimoto’s, or an upcoming thyroid surgery, share this episode with them during Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month.
📘 Pre-Order Take Back Your Thyroid
McCall McPherson’s new book, Take Back Your Thyroid, is available for pre-order now.
Pre-order and receive FREE access to the Thyroid Empowered Course — a $399 value.
👉 Pre-order here:
https://book.modernthyroidclinic.com/
📲 Connect with McCall & Modern Thyroid Clinic
McCall McPherson, PA-C
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Modern Thyroid Clinic
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Learn more about Modern Thyroid Clinic:
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This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or replace individualized medical care.
#ThyroidCancerAwarenessMonth #ThyroidCancer #ThyroidHealth #ThyroidCancerAwareness #ThyroidSurgery #ThyroidNodules #Hashimotos #HashimotosDisease #Hypothyroidism #ThyroidDisease #EndocrineHealth #WomensHealth #ModernThyroidClinic #McCallMcPherson #TakeBackYourThyroid

What if thyroid dysfunction isn’t always an isolated thyroid problem, but a signal that the cells throughout your body are under too much stress?
In this episode of Modern Thyroid & Wellness, McCall McPherson sits down with Dr. Bill Rawls, physician, bestselling author, and co-founder of Vital Plan, for a fascinating conversation about cellular health, chronic illness, autophagy, microbes, stress, thyroid function, and the role herbs may play in supporting resilience.
Dr. Rawls’ perspective grew out of his own health crisis. After years of intense work and inadequate sleep as an OB-GYN, his health deteriorated dramatically. He experienced fatigue, neurological symptoms, joint problems, cardiac symptoms, and eventually discovered evidence of Lyme disease. After conventional approaches failed to restore his health, his experience with herbal therapy led him into decades of research on chronic illness and cellular wellness.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
Why Dr. Rawls views cellular stress as a common thread in chronic illness
Five major categories that can stress our cells
Why nutrition, environmental toxins, sleep, movement, and microbes matter
What autophagy is and why cellular repair is essential
How fasting, exercise, and stress can influence autophagy
The relationship between thyroid hormone and cellular metabolism
Why Dr. Rawls views thyroid dysfunction as a possible signal of broader cellular stress
His hypothesis about microbes, thyroid cells, and Hashimoto’s
How chronic psychological stress and cortisol affect cellular recovery
Why whole foods, plant diversity, sleep, movement, and reducing toxic exposures form the foundation of his approach
How adaptogenic herbs may support cellular resilience
Ashwagandha, rhodiola, reishi, cordyceps, Japanese knotweed, Chinese skullcap, dandelion, and milk thistle
Why herbs became central to Dr. Rawls’ approach to chronic illness

The Five Drivers of Cellular Stress
Dr. Rawls encourages listeners to zoom out from individual diagnoses and look at the health of the cells themselves.
He organizes common sources of cellular stress into five broad areas: inadequate nutrition, toxic exposures, insufficient recovery and sleep, physical stress or inactivity, and microbes.
His goal is not simply to suppress symptoms, but to create an internal environment that gives cells the resources and recovery time they need to function well.
Autophagy: Your Cells’ Recycling and Repair System
A major part of the conversation focuses on autophagy, the ongoing process cells use to recycle damaged components and maintain themselves.
Dr. Rawls explains how fasting, movement, and other mild stressors may stimulate this process, while excessive stress can become counterproductive. He emphasizes balance between stress and recovery, rather than believing that more fasting or harder exercise is always better.
What Does This Mean for Thyroid Health?
Dr. Rawls describes thyroid hormone as an important metabolic signal that helps cells produce and use energy.
His central argument is that when cells are chronically stressed, thyroid function may become part of that larger picture. Rather than viewing fatigue or thyroid dysfunction completely in isolation, he encourages looking at sleep, nutrition, stress, environmental exposures, movement, and overall cellular health.
Connect with Dr. Bill Rawls
🌿 Dr. Bill Rawls at RawlsMD
📖 The Cellular Wellness Solution
📖 Unlocking Lyme
🌱 Explore Vital Plan
RESTORE180™
Dr. Rawls also shares RESTORE180, Vital Plan’s six-month program for people navigating complex chronic illness. The program progresses through stress regulation, gut and detoxification support, and concentrated botanical formulations.
Learn More About RESTORE180
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With thousands of supplements promising more energy, better hair, improved thyroid function, and healthier aging, how do you know what your body actually needs?
In this episode of Modern Thyroid & Wellness, McCall McPherson sits down with Melissa “Mel” Afflerbach, Clinical Director of Weight Loss & Supplement Programs, for a practical conversation about the supplements they use and recommend within their thyroid and metabolic health programs.
They break down some of the most common concerns women with hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s experience—from persistent fatigue and low energy to hair loss—and explain why supplementation should support the bigger picture rather than replace investigating the root cause of a symptom.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
Why correcting thyroid function may not completely resolve fatigue
How adrenal and mitochondrial health relate to energy production
The difference between stimulant energy and supporting cellular energy
Why thyroid dysfunction can contribute to hair shedding and changes in hair, skin, and nails
Why ferritin and thyroid labs matter when investigating hair loss
How collagen, micronutrients, and antioxidants may support hair, skin, and nails
Why myo-inositol and selenium are used in ThyroShield™
Why testing and understanding the cause of a symptom still matters
How McCall and her clinical team choose supplements for MDRN Wellness
A sneak peek at what they are developing specifically for the thyroid community

McCall also shares the deeply personal story behind the “Sol” found throughout the MDRN Health line. Her late brother, Solomon, had been working on the project before his unexpected passing, and the line now carries part of his legacy forward.
Supplements Discussed in This Episode
Adrena-Sol — adrenal and energy support
Shop Adrena-Sol
Mito-Sol — mitochondrial and cellular energy support
Shop Mito-Sol
Beauty Glow Collagen — collagen support for hair, skin, and nails
Shop Beauty Glow Collagen
Complete Beauty — micronutrient support for hair, skin, and nails
Shop Complete Beauty
Astaxanthin Antioxidant — antioxidant and skin support
Shop Astaxanthin
ThyroShield™ — myo-inositol + selenium thyroid support
Shop ThyroShield™
Shop MDRN Wellness
The MDRN Wellness store was created to make choosing supplements less overwhelming. Products are selected by McCall and the clinical team with the needs of people navigating thyroid dysfunction, hormone concerns, low energy, and related symptoms in mind.
Shop All MDRN Wellness Supplements
📖 Pre-Order Take Back Your Thyroid + Get a Free Bonus
Pre-order McCall McPherson’s new book, Take Back Your Thyroid, and choose one free bonus:
🎓 Thyroid Empowered Course, a $399 value
OR
🩺 $150 off a new patient visit at Modern Thyroid Clinic
Pre-Order & Claim Your Free Bonus
📲 Follow McCall McPherson & Modern Thyroid and Wellness
💻 Website: modernthyroidclinic.com
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What if your thyroid symptoms aren’t an isolated problem, but one signal from a body asking you to pay attention?
In this episode of Modern Thyroid & Wellness, McCall McPherson sits down with Kelly McKenna, CEO and Co-Founder of End Chronic Disease, to explore thyroid health, autoimmunity, chronic stress, environmental exposures, nutrition, and what it really means to focus on prevention.
Kelly’s health journey began with a celiac disease diagnosis in high school, followed by nearly two decades of autoimmune and chronic health challenges. In her early 30s, thyroid labs disrupted her plans to freeze her eggs and pushed her to ask a different question: instead of accepting hypothyroidism as inevitable, what might actually be driving it?
That curiosity eventually changed both her health and career.
Key Topics Covered
Kelly’s experience with celiac disease, hypothyroidism, and Hashimoto’s
How childhood stress may influence long-term health
Why sleep, nutrition, movement, relationships, and environment matter
Environmental exposures and thyroid health
The conversation around paraquat and chronic disease
Why prevention should begin in childhood
Iodine, selenium, vitamin D, iron, and thyroid health
Why Kelly calls her thyroid a “barometer” for her whole body
Simple strategies for fatigue and autoimmune flares
The importance of boundaries and emotional health
Bringing preventive health education into schools
Why chronic disease prevention requires both individual and systemic change

When Your Thyroid Becomes a Warning System
After being re-diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, Kelly began closely observing how changes in sleep, nutrition, nutrient status, stress, and other aspects of daily life corresponded with her symptoms and thyroid labs.
She focused on nutrients including iodine, selenium, vitamin D, and iron and experimented with dietary changes. As her thyroid markers improved, she noticed changes in her skin, digestion, fatigue, and overall wellbeing too.
Today, Kelly describes her thyroid as a “barometer for my whole body.” When fatigue and familiar symptoms return, she views them as signals that her body may need more support, rest, or recovery.
Stress, Environment, and Chronic Disease
Kelly also shares how growing up with a brother who experienced significant disabilities and frequent seizures created a chronic sense of uncertainty and stress, even within a loving family. Only later did she recognize how those experiences may have shaped her stress response.
The conversation expands into environmental health, including paraquat exposure, ultra-processed foods, school environments, movement, and why the places where we live, work, learn, and eat deserve a larger role in conversations about chronic disease prevention.
What If You’re Already Exhausted?
When someone is already depleted, complicated wellness routines can feel impossible.
Kelly recommends returning to basics. Her personal recovery toolbox has included restorative yoga, putting her legs up the wall, prioritizing sleep, simplifying food, gentle walking, acupuncture, positive experiences with people she loves, and examining emotional stress or boundaries that may be draining energy.
The goal is to learn your body’s signals and build a collection of tools you can return to when you need them.
About Kelly McKenna
Kelly McKenna is the CEO and Co-Founder of End Chronic Disease, an organization focused on chronic disease prevention, education, awareness, and policy change.
🌐 End Chronic Disease
💼 Kelly McKenna on LinkedIn
📸 Kelly on Instagram @earth.to.kelly
📖 Pre-Order Take Back Your Thyroid + Get a Free Bonus
Pre-order McCall McPherson’s new book, Take Back Your Thyroid, and choose one free bonus:
🎓 Thyroid Empowered Course, a $399 value
OR
🩺 $150 off a new patient visit at Modern Thyroid Clinic
Pre-Order & Claim Your Free Bonus
📲 Follow McCall McPherson & Modern Thyroid and Wellness
💻 Website: modernthyroidclinic.com
🐦 X / Twitter: @thyroidexpert
🌐 Host Website: mccallmcpherson.com
📺 YouTube: McCall McPherson Channel
📘 Facebook: McCall McPherson PAC
📸 Instagram: @mccallmcphersonpa

What if the foods, supplements, workouts, and hormone therapies that work beautifully for someone else are completely wrong for your biology?
In this episode of Modern Thyroid & Wellness, McCall McPherson sits down with Kashif Khan, bestselling author of The DNA Way, celebrity longevity coach, and two-time TEDx speaker, for a deep dive into functional genomics and personalized health. Kashif explains how DNA acts as an instruction manual for the body and why understanding those instructions may help explain why people respond so differently to the same foods, environmental exposures, exercise programs, supplements, and hormone therapies.
Drawing from his own experience with chronic illness and years of genetic research, Kashif explores the relationship between genetics and lifestyle, including thyroid health, Hashimoto’s, women’s hormones, detoxification, metabolism, gut health, sleep, cognitive function, inflammation, and longevity. The conversation offers a different way to think about personalized medicine: instead of simply asking what disease you may be genetically predisposed to, ask how your biology works and what choices may better support it.
Key Topics Covered
What DNA actually tells us about everyday health
Why genetics are not necessarily destiny
Genetics versus epigenetics
How lifestyle, environment, and nutrition interact with genetic predispositions
Kashif’s personal journey from chronic illness to genetic research
Why two people can make the same health choices and experience very different outcomes
Genetic differences in detoxification
Why DNA testing is different from repeatedly testing hormones, cholesterol, or the microbiome
How genetics may influence sleep and circadian preferences
Personalizing nutrition and carbohydrate intake
Genetics, metabolism, and gut health
Environmental exposures and individual detoxification capacity
Women’s hormone health and estrogen metabolism
Genetics, Hashimoto’s, autoimmunity, and thyroid health
Why functional genomics goes beyond disease-risk scores
Personalizing exercise according to individual biology
Why nervous system regulation and gut health may need to come before advanced biohacking
The future of personalized medicine and longevity
Why understanding the biology underneath symptoms matters

DNA as Your Body’s Instruction Manual
Kashif describes DNA in practical terms as an instruction manual contained within the cells of the body.
Genes provide instructions for countless biological processes, including producing hormones, metabolizing food, detoxifying compounds, and supporting cognitive function.
The important difference is that everyone's instruction manual is slightly different.
That helps explain why two people can follow the same diet, take the same hormone prescription, or perform the same exercise routine and experience dramatically different outcomes.
Genetics Load the Gun, Environment Pulls the Trigger
One of the central ideas in the episode is the interaction between genetics and epigenetics.
Your DNA does not change every time you change your diet or lifestyle, but the choices you make interact with the biological instructions you inherited.
Kashif groups those choices into three broad areas:
Environment
Nutrition
Lifestyle

Environment includes what you are exposed to. Nutrition includes food, supplements, and other nutritional interventions. Lifestyle encompasses factors such as exercise, work, and sleep.
Understanding genetics, therefore, is not simply about predicting disease. Kashif sees it as a way to understand how your individual body processes the choices you make every day.
Kashif’s Personal Health Journey
Kashif did not enter genomics through a traditional medical or scientific career path.
Around age 38, after previously considering himself healthy, he developed multiple chronic health problems, including severe eczema, psoriasis, gut issues, migraines, reflux, and inflammation.
He received diagnoses and prescriptions but remained focused on a different question:
Why did this happen?
His search took him through traditional Chinese medicine, homeopathy, naturopathy, functional medicine, hormone health, the microbiome, and eventually genetics.
Understanding genetic differences helped him begin connecting his individual biology with environmental and lifestyle exposures. His recovery ultimately inspired him to leave his previous technology consulting business and build a genetic research company.
Why Your Detoxification Genetics Matter
Kashif uses his own GSTM1 genetics as an example of how individual differences can influence detoxification.
He explains that glutathione plays an important role in neutralizing and removing unwanted compounds and that genetic differences can affect how those processes function in different areas of the body.
In Kashif’s case, he discovered a copy number variation involving GSTM1, which became one piece of understanding why exposures that did not seem to affect someone living an otherwise similar lifestyle could affect him differently.
This illustrates the broader problem with one-size-fits-all wellness advice: what is tolerated well by most people may not necessarily be optimal for every individual.
Why DNA Testing Is Different
Hormones change.
The gut microbiome changes.
Toxic burden changes.
Cholesterol changes.
DNA does not.
Kashif explains that this permanence is part of what makes genomic information valuable. Rather than repeatedly testing DNA, the goal is to understand what your genetic information means and then use that knowledge alongside changing health data throughout your life.
His current mission centers heavily on education and helping people better understand their own genetic information.
Start With the Foundation Before Biohacking
One of Kashif’s cautions is that people often enter the longevity and biohacking world by copying people who have already spent years optimizing their health.
That can quickly become overwhelming.
His suggested framework begins with identifying where you currently are.
If there is an acute health problem, address that first.
Then consider foundational areas such as:
Nervous system regulation
Gut health
Toxic burden
Health optimization
Longevity and advanced biohacking

Trying to fix decades of accumulated problems in two weeks is unlikely to create the sustainable outcome people are looking for.
The goal is to work in the right order rather than doing everything at once.
Five Areas Functional Genomics Can Help Personalize
Kashif identifies several major areas where he believes functional genomics can provide useful insights.
Cognitive Function
Genetic differences may influence neurochemical pathways involved in behavior, reward, focus, and how people perceive and respond to their environment.
Sleep
Difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, feeling restored, or naturally functioning better earlier or later in the day may involve different biological pathways.
Metabolism
People do not necessarily respond identically to the same macronutrient balance.
Kashif shares an example involving female athletes who were struggling on a low-carbohydrate approach but performed better after carbohydrates were reintroduced based on their individual biology.
Gut and Environmental Health
Genetics may help provide context for how an individual responds to environmental exposures and how effectively certain detoxification processes function.
Hormones
This is one of the areas Kashif believes has enormous potential, particularly for women. Understanding how someone produces, binds, metabolizes, and clears hormones may provide a more personalized framework for women's health.
Genetics, Thyroid Health, and Hashimoto’s
McCall and Kashif take the conversation directly into thyroid health.
Kashif explains that people may arrive with symptoms such as fatigue without realizing that thyroid physiology could be part of the picture.
They discuss potential connections among detoxification pathways, environmental exposures, gut-brain signaling, autoimmunity, estrogen metabolism, and thyroid health.
The bigger takeaway is that there may not be one universal reason someone develops Hashimoto’s or another thyroid problem.
Kashif’s approach is to ask what biological pathways may be contributing in that particular individual so interventions can become more precise rather than simply adding more generalized recommendations.
Why Women’s Hormones Need More Personalization
Kashif describes women’s hormone health as one of the areas where his research revealed significant gaps in conventional approaches.
The conversation explores estrogen metabolism and why understanding what happens after estrogen is produced may matter.
Kashif discusses different estrogen metabolites and how genetics may influence their production and processing.
For McCall, this aligns with what she sees clinically: thyroid hormones and reproductive hormones cannot always be treated as isolated systems.
Understanding how an individual...