Health Blogs by Family Docs

These health blogs by Family Physicians provide valid medical information, sound advice, and insights on healthy living. Board-certified in Family Medicine, they discuss common health concerns, the healthcare system, and provide educational and challenging content. Topics range from climate change to medical terms understandable for patients.

reviewed July 24, 2025

Health Blogs by Family Physicians

  • offer valid medical information on a variety of topics.
  • offer sound advice without quick fixes.
  • discuss common everyday health concerns.
  • discuss the healthcare system, how it works well, and how it doesn’t.
  • offer insights into healthy living, both as individuals, families, and a society.
  • show you how physicians think, feel, and act, both as persons and professionals
  • will educate and challenge you.

People sometimes ask me if I  ever considered specializing, and I answer, “I did. I specialized in Family Medicine.”

Family Medicine specializes in families

According to the American Board of Family Medicine.

“Family medicine is the medical specialty that provides continuing, comprehensive health care for the individual and family.

It is a specialty in breadth that integrates the biological, clinical and behavioral sciences.

The scope of family medicine encompasses all ages, both sexes, each organ system and every disease entity.”

Like me, these physician bloggers are board-certified in family medicine. To become certified, we must:

  • Graduate from  a medical or osteopathic college
  • Complete an accredited residency
  • Maintain an unrestricted license to practice medicine
  • Pass a secure, computer-based certification examination every 7 to 10 years
  • Complete at least 150 hours of continuing medical education every 3 years
American Board of Family Medicine certification plaque
By completing the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) requirements, I remain certified indefinitely.

Many family physicians belong to a national medical association, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), as well as our state chapters.

The AAFP provides high-quality learning opportunities for family physicians,  patient education materials and practice management support.

I don’t know these doctors personally, nor am I directly financially connected to them.

(This post does have affiliate links which can pay a commission to this blog for purchases made through them. )

Common Sense Family Doctor

Common sense thoughts on health and conservative medicine from a family doctor in Washington, D.C.

a blog by Kenny Lin, M.D. who is
  • a board-certified Family Physician and Public Health professional practicing in the Washington, DC area.
  • Associate Deputy Editor of the journal American Family Physician (AFP )
  • teaches family and preventive medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
  • Paid consultant to the American Academy of Family Physicians, John Wiley & Sons, and Business Health Services.

In this post he suggests that climate change may really be a health issue.

And here  Dr. Lin explains some medical terms that doctors use frequently but patients may not understand.

Dr. Linda

just a family doctor speaking up from the frontlines of medicine

 Linda Girgis MD, is a family physician who treats patients in South River, New Jersey and its surrounding communities. She

  • holds board certification from the American Board of Family Medicine and is affiliated with both St. Peter’s University Hospital and Raritan Bay Hospital.
  • collaborates closely with several universities and medical schools where she teaches medical students and residents
  • has earned awards and recognition from her peers and a variety of industry bodies
  • contributes to other health blogs
  • has written and published two books

Dr. Girgis’ primary goal as a physician remains “ensuring that each of her patients receives the highest available standard of medical care.”

Topics covered include medical information, healthcare policy, public health and poems, like this one she posted on World Cancer Day 

And in this post she encourages patients to advocate for their own healthcare.

Dr. Girgis wrote these books-

INSIDE OUR BROKEN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM and THE WAR ON DOCTORS 

(affiliate links)

THE WAR ON DOCTORS book
INSIDE OUR BROKEN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM book

Exploring the HEART of Health

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I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

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Dr. Aletha

10 health blogs you should read- 3 blogs by 3 docs

Today I am continuing my series about health blogs you should read.  We’ll look at 3 blogs by physicians in 3 different specialties  today.

For the complete introduction to this series and for the first 2 blogs, go to this post, otherwise continue reading .

I recommend these health blogs because they

  • offer valid medical information on a variety of topics.
  • offer sound advice without quick fixes.
  • discuss common everyday health concerns
  • discuss the healthcare system, how it works well and how it doesn’t.
  • offer insights on healthy living, both as individuals, families and a society.
  • show you how physicians think , feel and act , both as persons and professionals
  • will educate and challenge you.

These blogs open a window into the medical community.  You may be surprised that physicians have the same concerns about health and medical care as you , and some that you are unaware of. Most importantly, you will find they are on your side; they care about you,their patients,  probably a lot more than you care about them.

These bloggers’ viewpoints often surprise and challenge me; I don’t always agree with them and you may not either.  By recommending them, I don’t endorse their opinions, nor do I benefit financially.  

We’ll explore these 10 over several days so check back often, or subscribe by email to make it easy to keep up.

The accompanying photos are illustrative only, and are not necessarily affiliated with the blogs or bloggers mentioned.

James Marroquinn, M.D.

Dr. Marroquinn writes on health, bioethics and the practice of medicine.

He practices internal medicine in Austin, Texas, is  fellowship-trained/board certified in palliative care and works from time to time at an inpatient hospice facility.

Battleship Texas sign
The last of the battleships to participate in World War I and II, Battleship Texas became the first battleship memorial museum in the U.S. in 1948.
the Battleship Texas
The Battleship Texas State Historic Site is in Houston.

His goals for his self-titled blog are

“to inform people (including myself) about health science, ponder philosophical, political, theological issues associated with medicine, and make sense of my experience as a physician.”

Dr. Marroquinn posts infrequently; his posts are timely, articulate and informative.

Here is a post I especially enjoyed about Boxing and Parkinson’s Disease. He discusses a video about 60 Minutes news correspondent  Leslie Stahl and her husband who has Parkinson’s Disease.

In this post, he offers three reasons why physicians and other health practitioners should recognize and address the spiritual component of their patients’ lives. 

medicine for real– Navigating the healthcare system

is written by  blogger Dr. Shirie Leng, an anesthesiologist, who writes,

“I have worked in health care both as a nurse and as a doctor for 15 years.  The health care industry is just that, an industry.  As such it doesn’t have a whole lot of concern for the “customer”.  I write about the processes, redundancies, red-tape and pure pointlessness of much of medicine, so that you can make decisions and navigate for yourself.”

pre-op area of hospital
I suspect Dr. Leng spends much time in places similar to this.

Besides healthcare, she writes about education, insurance, end-of-life issues, motherhood, and the history of medicine.

Dr. Leng had not posted in awhile because, as she explains it, “nothing health-care related has outraged me recently.  And I definitely write better when agitated about something.”

But she did post  this piece recently, Health Is For Us, Not you , in which she touches on mass shooters, Syrian refugees and ISIS.

freud & fashion

BECAUSE IT’S STYLISH TO TALK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH, ESPECIALLY HOW WE MAINTAIN OUR OWN.

THE WRITINGS OF A YOUNG, MODERN & NEWLY-GRADUATED PSYCHIATRIST

 

You’ve met Vania Manipod, D.O when I shared her post about New Year’s Resolutions.

In this post, Dr. Manipod gives tips on recognizing and controlling anger

musicians on California beach
Dr. Manipod comes from California , which I found to be an interesting place.
flowers along the Pacific Ocean shore
And beautiful.
Dr. Aletha

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