About
Dawn Mussallem, DO, DipABLM is Fountain Life's Chief Medical Officer, joining in December 2025 after more than two decades at Mayo Clinic Florida. Her background is unusually personal for a prevention leader: she survived stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma during medical school, later received a heart transplant after cardiotoxic cancer treatment, and returned to endurance running. At Mayo, she built the Integrative Medicine and Breast Health Program and directed the Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum, giving Fountain Life a prevention lead grounded in oncology, survivorship, and lifestyle medicine.
Reviews
What to Know
Signature approach
Mussallem's clinical lens connects cancer prevention, survivorship, and lifestyle medicine. She frames prevention around nutrition, movement, sleep, stress, social connection, and risk-substance avoidance, with a strong plant-forward nutrition thread in her published work. At Fountain Life, that background translates into clinical standards for earlier detection, recovery after serious disease, and member-facing prevention plans.
What sets them apart
- Survivor-clinician perspective. Stage IV lymphoma survivor and heart transplant recipient, giving her prevention work real patient-side grounding.
- Mayo-built clinical platform. Founded Mayo Florida's Integrative Medicine and Breast Health Program and directed its Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum.
- Guideline and public education work. Co-authored an ASCO-endorsed integrative breast-cancer guideline and speaks widely on food, lifestyle, cancer prevention, and survivorship.
Expertise
Focus areas
Patient types
Protocols & technologies
Conditions treated
3Breast cancer prevention and survivorship
Breast neoplasm prevention and post-treatment management
Cancer-related fatigue and recovery
Cancer survivorship and rehabilitation
Heart health after cancer treatment
Cardio-oncology and treatment-related cardiotoxicity
Credentials
Education
DO
Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (2005)
BS, Exercise Physiology
The Ohio State University
Board certifications
Family Medicine
ABFM
Board certified in family medicine, the primary-care specialty covering comprehensive care across all ages.
Lifestyle Medicine
ABLM
Diplomate of the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine, a credential focused on evidence-based changes in nutrition, activity, sleep, and stress as treatment tools for chronic disease.
Residency
Family Medicine
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science (Jacksonville)
Years in practice
21
NPI
1306071485
Affiliations
CMO
Thought Leadership
Publications
- Patient Awareness of Alcohol Consumption and Breast Cancer Risk · American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 2025
- Factors associated with and patterns of alcohol intake during the first year of breast cancer survivorship · Journal of Cancer Survivorship, 2025
- Current Management and Treatment Options for Breast Pain · Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2020
- Integrative Therapies During and After Breast Cancer Treatment: ASCO Endorsement of the SIO Clinical Practice Guideline · Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2018
Media Appearances
- Guest on The Mel Robbins Podcast: food, health, and lifestyle · The Mel Robbins Podcast · 2025
- Guest on Rich Roll Podcast: integrative approach to cancer and longevity · Rich Roll Podcast · 2026-02
- Guest on Impact with John Shegerian: preventive health strategies · Impact Podcast · 2026-03
- The Heart of a Survivor: cancer, heart transplant, and living life to the fullest · Shell Point Retirement Community
- Speaker at Global Wellness Summit · Global Wellness Summit
- Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science Commencement Speaker · Mayo Clinic
Notable Collaborators
- William Kapp, MD · CEO of Fountain Life; appointed Mussallem as CMO
- Peter Diamandis, MD · Co-founder of Fountain Life; longevity diagnostics and AI-driven healthcare
Other specialists at Fountain Life
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