Dr. Juveria Abdullah

That early curiosity deepened when she often traveled from New York to the Dominican Republic and volunteered for many years at a community health clinic her grandfather had founded. “It was that global health work that really solidified my passion and interest in medicine,” she says. This was also her first encounter—though she didn't know it at the time—with integrative approaches: the clinic’s physicians often turned to botanicals and natural remedies because patients could not always afford conventional medications.

Dr. Abdullah earned her bachelor’s degree in economics and philosophy from Columbia University and her medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College, where she also completed her residency in internal medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell.

After residency, Dr. Abdullah worked as a hospitalist at Weill Cornell and UCLA Health, where she cared for acutely ill patients across a wide range of conditions. "It was very disheartening to see many patients get readmitted,” she says. Whether it was congestive heart failure, hypertension, chest pain from stress or acute exacerbations of other chronic diseases, the root causes were rarely being addressed in the hospital setting. These experiences made her realize that she wanted to focus her practice of medicine on prevention and helping patients before they reach the point of needing hospitalization.

The turning point came when Dr. Abdullah encountered UCLA’s East-West medicine program and saw firsthand what integrative care could do to complement allopathic medicine. Her patients receiving acupuncture required fewer pain medications, reported less anxiety, and seemed happier with their care, for instance. This observation inspired her to take this approach with her own health challenges. After suffering from debilitating migraines for years without finding a medication that provided enough relief, she started changing her diet, lifestyle, environment, and incorporating mind-body techniques into her everyday practices. Soon, her migraines decreased dramatically. “Integrative medicine was life-changing for me,” Dr. Abdullah says. “I couldn’t believe there was this part of medicine that we didn’t learn in medical school that actually made such a difference.”

She pursued dual fellowships in integrative medicine, simultaneously completing the Andrew Weil Program at the University of Arizona and a two-year in-person clinical fellowship at Weill Cornell Integrative Health, before staying on as faculty at Weill Cornell Integrative Health and Wellbeing. Dr. Abdullah treated many conditions where patients often felt dismissed or overlooked by the traditional health care system, including gastrointestinal problems such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and small-intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) to women’s health concerns like poly-metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), fertility issues, and perimenopause, as well as metabolic health challenges, migraines, and chronic fatigue.

Dr. Abdullah enjoys building lasting relationships with her patients. “My first intake with patients consists of asking them about their sleep, their stress, their childhood, their social relationships, and how that influences their daily life,” she says. She also considers how each person’s stress and psychological experiences inform their health. “I like to get to know patients on a deep, personal level so we can understand what goals and limitations they have and my advice can be tailored to what they can actually do,” Dr. Abdullah says.

When it comes to nutrition, for instance, she focuses on what patients can add to their diets rather than what to take away. “When you say ‘you can’t eat this, you can’t eat that,’ it makes people feel very discouraged,” she says. Dr. Abdullah also stays up to date on social media wellness trends so she can walk her patients through the evidence behind what they’re seeing. “I am constantly taking what people found on social media, doing the deep dive, and digging into what’s evidence-based, what’s not, and which parts can apply to you,” she says.

This practical guidance shows up in Dr. Abdullah’s teaching as well. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine and previously served as Director of Integrative Medical Education there, teaching integrative medicine to medical students, residents, and fellows, and delivering lectures to other specialties on integrative health.

At Atria, Dr. Abdullah values the collaborative model that brings together clinicians across disciplines to share expertise and weigh evidence together. “You have these amazing cardiologists, neurologists, all these specialties in one room and you can just walk over and talk to them about your patient,” she says. “It’s so amazing to have that all under one roof so we can give people the best care that’s evidence-informed. This is the way we want medicine to work for everyone.”

Dr. Abdullah was born and raised in New York City and is fluent in Spanish. She enjoys yoga, cooking, and helping her family and her patients find quick, healthy recipes that fit into their lives. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, two young daughters, and their Shiba Inu.