Gretchen San Miguel, MD, chief medical officer (CMO) for Medi-Weightloss, is board-certified in family medicine and obesity medicine, and she is a geriatrician. While running her practice for 10 years, she also had the opportunity to work with the administration of Florida Hospital, now known as AdventHealth, in a leadership role where she helped failing physician offices thrive. By Cindy Charette
Gretchen San Miguel, MD, chief medical officer (CMO) for Medi-Weightloss, is board-certified in family medicine and obesity medicine, and she is a geriatrician. While running her practice for 10 years, she also had the opportunity to work with the administration of Florida Hospital, now known as AdventHealth, in a leadership role where she helped failing physician offices thrive. San Miguel soon discovered that she loved the administrative and corporate aspects of medicine as well as the medical and clinical aspects.
With over 100 locations sold in 27 states, Medi-Weightloss was seeking a CMO to be available to franchisees and their staff on a full-time basis. When San Miguel was invited to interview with Medi-Weightloss in early 2019,
she could not have been more pleased with the experience. “I was so impressed and blown away by the true clinical, scientific and evidence-based backbone that this company and the program has,” she said. San Miguel accepted the position and loves how the brand has a solid commitment to its scientifically sound, evidence-based program. This means Medi-Weightloss will not include anything in its weight loss program that is not backed by science.
At headquarters, San Miguel, as CMO, leads the medical affairs team and works as medical director for corporate. Since every franchise also needs to have its own medical director licensed to practice in that state, San Miguel oversees the medical directors in each location. Her department also develops and implements programs and materials for all medical, prescription, nutritional and exercise guidelines. Additionally, she provides all training to the franchise owners, staff and their medical providers. San Miguel shared, “When owners buy the franchise, a lot of them are not in the medical industry. They are typically business owners who want to own a medically supervised weight loss program. Over the years, we have perfected how we provide the right education and the proper support. We thrive on educating the entire staff. The entire team is educated on the entire aspect of the business.” For continued support, should a franchisee have any questions about the clinical or medical aspects of the business, they can call or email and will receive a response within 24 hours from San Miguel or her team.
For more information on a Medi-Weightloss franchise, visit mediweightlossfranchising.com.
– Cindy Charette