About Dr. McBride
I’m a primary care physician in Washington, DC. For 25 years, I’ve sat across from patients who feel confused, dismissed, or alone in their health.
They’re caught between a healthcare system that rushes through appointments and a wellness industry selling expensive promises. Both deprive patients of agency. What they need is someone who sees them as a whole person, but neither system is built to provide it. That’s the gap I work in. In my practice, in my writing, and now in my bestselling book, Beyond the Prescription.
I studied at Princeton and Harvard Medical School and trained in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins. I hold a Master’s in Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, UK. I build my own primary care practice in DC to provide evidence-based, patient-centered primary care. I’m married to my college sweetheart, and I’m the proud mother of three grown children.
Why I Wrote This Book
I’ve spent 25 years watching patients contend with a healthcare system that too often leaves them confused and unseen. I know what’s broken—the rushed appointments, the insurance constraints, the productivity pressures that leave patients feeling like a number on a chart rather than a whole person.
I also know what it feels like to be that patient.
When I got sick in my 20s, I was bounced from specialist to specialist, tested for everything from Giardia to a brain tumor, prescribed medications while being reassured that “everything looks normal.” But nothing felt normal. I felt dismissed. Misunderstood. Powerless in my own body.
What I wanted more than a diagnosis was someone who would truly see me—someone who would listen, sit with the uncertainty, and help me make sense of what was happening instead of simply ordering the next test. When I finally received that kind of care during medical school, it reshaped my entire career: the system isn’t designed to empower patients. It’s designed to process them.
That dual perspective—doctor and patient—is why I wrote Beyond the Prescription. Not to tear down medicine. Not to promote trends. But to give you the roadmap I wish I’d had during those years, and the one I now share with my patients every day.
The book is built around a five-step framework for moving from awareness to acceptance to agency.
With a foreword by Mary Claire Haver, MD. Published 8/11/2026 by Simon & Schuster.
What I Do
I write the weekly newsletter Are You Okay?—read by over 43,000 people—where I share evidence-based, non-judgmental straight talk about the things my patients actually ask me: GLP-1 medications, alcohol, health anxiety, hormone therapy, sleep, aging, caregiver burnout, and the harder questions underneath all of those.
I host the podcast Beyond the Prescription, where I talk with guests the way I talk with my patients — connecting mental and physical health and pulling back the curtain on what it really takes to be well.
I bring 25 years of clinical experience to keynotes, panels, media commentary, and corporate events. I’ve published in The Atlantic and The Washington Post, contributed to CNN, MSNBC, and PBS, and I’m available for real-time expert commentary on breaking health news.
Dr. McBride’s Credentials
Bachelor of Arts, Princeton University
Masters in Pharmacology, Cambridge University
Doctor of Medicine (MD), Harvard Medical School
Medical Internship and Residency, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Board Certified in Internal Medicine
25 years in clinical practice
Primary Care Physician
Founder of Ackerly McBride Group in Washington, DC
Author of Are You Okay? medical newsletter with 43,000+ readers
Author of bestselling book, Beyond the Prescription
Published in The Atlantic, Washington Post, MSNBC, NPR, and more
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What does it mean to be healthy?
Each week, Dr. McBride talks with her guests like she does her patients—pulling back the curtain on what health actually requires and connecting the dots between mental and physical wellbeing.
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BOOK DR. MCBRIDE TO SPEAK
25 years of clinical experience. Every stage.
Dr. McBride brings her perspective as a practicing physician to keynotes, panels, fireside chats, and corporate events — from patient empowerment to what modern medicine is getting wrong. She’s available for in-person and virtual engagements, and for real-time expert commentary on breaking health news.