Asma Siddiqi, MD

Asma Siddiqi, MD, is a board-certified physician specializing in providing integrative medicine for oncology patients. In collaboration with the Alina Health Cancer Institute oncology team, Dr. Siddiqi offers face-to-face or virtual visits for her patients.

What is your practice philosophy? To treat the whole person and meet them where they are on their journey towards optimal wellness.

What are you passionate about? Love. I am passionate about finding a balance between self-love and love for others, as I believe love can cure so many problems and challenges in this world.

If I wasn't a provider, I would be a: This is an interesting question for me. In the past year, I’ve found a sweet balance between my career and my passion. I have always enjoyed being a physician, but over the last few months, I’ve had time to reflect on some of my other passions. I’ve always wanted to open a quaint tea shop that brings community together after I retired - but with how unpredictable life has been in 2020, I decided there was no better time than the present. I’m proud to say that I’ve opened my own tea business - and it has been a beautiful reminder not to give up on my dreams.

Why did you become a provider? To connect with humanity at a deeper level and bring kindness and humility to the sacred relationship between a physician and a patient.

Something I have learned from my patients is: Loving kindness and patience. Every patient-provider relationship is special and brings uniqueness to my day. I feel honored and humbled to say that their life experiences and concerns have helped me become not only a better physician, but a better human.

One of the challenges of this career that I enjoy is: Not everything is in our control in the patient-physician relationship. But empathic listening, motivational conversation, and bringing spirituality into the dialogue helps to build a foundation for a strong, beautiful relationship.

My personal health goal is: To partake in heartfull meditations, journaling and writing with intention, service to my community, and to practice more self-care.

What’s the best thing you’ve done for your health or the best health advice you’ve received? Pausing occasionally to self-reflect. By doing so, I’ve learned what I’m passionate about - and I’ve been able to connect more deeply with my purpose in life.

What are you most proud of? Marrying the right person. Having a supportive partner who always has your back makes such a huge difference in your life.

What are a few of your personal achievements? Like many parents, 2020 was not an easy year, but I am proud to say I homeschooled my two boys and they succeeded not only academically but emotionally too.

Is there anything else you'd like your patients to know about you? The recent advances in targeted therapies and molecular oncology have resulted in new hope for patients and many have already shown promise in improving outcomes. There remains, though, a need to address common issues such as chronic fatigue, anxiety, sleep disorders, and fear of recurrence. This gap in supportive care is due to the lack of access to high quality integrative care, which leaves patients at risk as they make unguided decisions in the most vulnerable time of their lives.

I hope to bridge this gap by providing holistic, individualized care, and adopting healing strategies that are patient centric and evidence based. My two year Integrative Medicine fellowship, as well as my experience as a physician who has partnered with many cancer patients for supportive wellness, has made me appreciate the impact a holistic approach on not just how patients adapt to their diagnoses and therapies, but also how hard clinical endpoints can be positively affected.

I am looking forward to the next steps and hoping to become a part of this new model and visionary practice.