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Dr. Erika Schwartz, a national expert on bioidentical hormone therapy, wellness and disease prevention, is an advocate of change when it comes to health care.
"Our whole health care system is based on disease identification and treatment," she said in a recent interview. "Hopefully more, money will be spent on prevention."
Schwartz said too many people are reacting to a diagnosis rather than working to prevent one.
While acknowledging the importance of tests such as pap smears, mammograms and colonoscopies, Schwartz said they are not preventative.
"All of those were really (developed) just to diagnose disease, to find them early."
Schwartz, a onetime director of emergency medicine at Westchester Medical Center, said when she went into private practice, she recognized the need for a change in focus.
"What I do is really prevention and wellness," she said of the care and education she offers through a Manhattan office, lectures and teaching and her published works.