Last Updated: Dec 1, 2022
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Natalie Gentile, M.D, a board-certified family physician, knew she would be joining the health care field as her career.
“My dad is a physician, and my mom is a nurse,” she said. “We’ve always been in the health care field and there was never a doubt that I would become a physician. It’s just always resonated with me.”
Although she took the traditional route of education through college, medical school and residency, Dr. Gentile’s own direct primary care practice and passion for lifestyle medicine are anything but traditional. In addition to her work as a physician, she also has over 15 years of working in fitness training – either as a personal trainer or leading group training which she says shaped the type of practice she has today.
“The majority of the diseases in our country are lifestyle related, so the idea behind lifestyle medicine is helping patients and empowering them through diet, exercise, sleep, social support, and mental health,” Dr. Gentile said. “All of these are pillars of lifestyle medicine that isn’t writing a medication on a prescription pad.”
As an 18-year-old, Dr. Gentile experienced a battle with cancer which she says only compounded her passion for health and fitness.
“My experience with cancer was very shaping as a person but my passion for being healthy was already there. If anything, it gave me an experience being a patient, which is an invaluable experience when you become a physician. Much like being a parent its invaluable when working as a family physician.”
When it came to open her own practice, it only took a probing thought from a mentor to get her to rethink the thought of working in a traditional health care system.
“My mentor said that with the way I practice medicine and the way I want to spend more time with patients, to ask myself if I’m going to be able to truly do that in these models of practice. He said, ‘have you heard of direct primary care?’”
It took going to one conference about direct primary care to make her want to open her own practice.
She said, “I called my dad and said, ‘Just so you know I’m opening my own practice when I get home.’”
From there she developed her practice without any business training just support from her parents who are also entrepreneurs and the direct primary care community. She opened her practice in 2019 saying “it was the best change I could have made” and “it invigorated my love for medicine every day”.
Since direct primary care isn’t something that is the norm, Dr. Gentile said her biggest challenge was educating the community on what it’s all about.
“The community education aspect is key,” she said. “I tell doctors that I mentor that you really have to hustle all the time.”
“But at the end of the day, I’m my own boss. It’s my vision and my mission and I know that’s what is guiding me and it’s not outside voices and bureaucratic influences. That’s so important to me.”
Dr. Gentile is also on the board of Plant-Based Pittsburgh, a nonprofit organization that provides education and ongoing support for adopting and sustaining plant-centered eating habits.
Through Plant-Based Pittsburgh, she is facilitating a 10-week program, leading participants through an intensive therapeutic lifestyle curriculum.
“A lot of participants want to reverse chronic disease or eat without a diet culture. They want to learn why we make the choices we make in how we eat instead of just restricting themselves.”
Dr. Gentile is soon moving into a new space which she calls “Rebel-well”, which will house her direct primary care practice but will also have a full teaching kitchen and a fitness studio space.
“It is a natural progression to take my patients from the office chair over to this new space to teach them the ‘how’ behind lifestyle habit change,” Dr. Gentile said. “It’s also going to be a space we can bring to the community and have affordable and approachable ways to teach about eating and movement.”
She said the reason behind the name “Rebel-well” is because it is rebelling against the traditional wellness center model.
“My goal is to breakdown those barriers because it’s not just for the wealthy.”