Insight Pt. 1: Twin Sister Docs—Dr. Elana McDonald and Dr. Delana Wardlaw (re-air)

Meet the Twin Sister Docs—Dr. Elana McDonald, a Board Certified Pediatrician, and Dr. Delana Wardlaw, a Board Certified Family Medicine Physician. On their biweekly podcast, now streaming on YouTube and Spotify, they break down health topics that matter most to our communities—from nutrition and mental health to the impact of social media. 

🌐 Website: thetwinsisterdocs.com
📸 Instagram / Threads / X (Twitter): @TwinSisterDocs
📘 Facebook: Twin Sister Docs
💼 LinkedIn: Elana McDonald | Delana Wardlaw, MD, FAAFP

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today, we'll hear from doctor John Porter of Cooper University
Healthcare on a life saving men's health event. Also from
Joanna o'tera Cruz of Women Against Abuse as she launches
the eighteenth annual Eye Pledge campaign. And we'll also hear
from Nicole Figueroa, founder of Survivor Warrior, on her upcoming
domestic Violence Awareness Walk. But first, I met these two

(00:24):
extraordinary women a number of years ago when they were
honored by wdas's Women of Excellence Luncheon, and they are
certainly well worthy of being honored. They are twins, and
they're known as twin Sister Docs, and they are doctor
Elena McDonald and doctor Delena Wardlow, and they are the

(00:48):
twin sister docs who are raising our awareness, making sure
that we are as healthy as we need to be.
And they actually have their own podcast, they're on YouTube
and Spotify. So we're going to talk about them and
all the good things that they're doing. So, first of all,
thank you so much for joining us here today. And
of course I have to ask you a few twin questions,
because you know that's how it goes. So you are twins,

(01:11):
identical twins, and often it is said that identical twins
have similar interests, and in your case, you both are doctors.
How did that all come about? Did one of you say, yeah,
I want to be a doctor and the other one
said yeah, me too, or you just had that joint
desire and passion for medicine. Let's talk with doctor McDonald.

(01:33):
Let's talk to you, Lena.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, so we absolutely have similar tastes across the board,
but when it comes to medicine, I was linked to
the party trying to decide to become a physician. I
originally thought I was going to be an attorney, but
I got a summer job at a law office in
Philadelphia over the summer and quickly realized that I did

(01:55):
not want to be an attorney. But I knew I
wanted to help people, and I wanted to make a
difference in people's lives, particularly children, And that's how I
landed on medicine. I but definitely was not my first choice.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Delena, tell us about your journey. How did you decide
to become a doctor.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Ironically, medicine was my second choice as well. I thought
I was going to be an elementary school teacher. Atlanta
and I we are our products of the Philadelphia Public
school system. We're probab graduates of Central High School. But
our teachers had such a positive impact on us from
pre K through twelfth grade that I naturally wanted to

(02:33):
be a teacher because they were such great people and
they poured into us so much. But then you know,
as you're going through your journey, you realize your likes
and your dislikes. And one of the things that prompted
me to go into medicine was that our grandmother, our
maternal grandmother, died at the age of fifty three of
breast cancer. And we all know that if breast cancer
is diagnosed at early stage, then there's a higher chance

(02:55):
of survival. Well, we were eight years old when she died,
but we didn't realize what she died of till we
were in high school. And it was at that time
that I wanted to live. People want people to live
longer lives. The grandma died at a very young age,
and I just wanted people to live longer lives, and
I wanted to become a doctor.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
So important to have representation in the medical field because
we know that there are health disparities in communities of color,
and I know that that is also something that you
both are very engaged in is making sure that we
can narrow that gap. And there is a tremendous gap,
and you deal with so many different issues related to

(03:34):
health in communities of color. So I'm wondering if you'd
could talk a little bit more. Let's start with you,
doctor McDonald, about your mission, because your mission is to
spread the word of ways in which we can be
healthier and live longer lives.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
To one sister, Docs was really born out of the
idea that people would always come to us and say,
can I ask you a question because I don't feel
comfortable talking to my doctor, And we would say, well,
that's problem number one. You know, you need to go
to a physician that you can absolutely feel one thousand
percent comfortable with to talk to. So we realized that

(04:12):
we had a bigger we needed to have a bigger
reach outside of our offices where we're providing quality care.
But also, as the studies have shown, there are significant
health care disparities in our country, and African Americans and
other people of color and marginalized communities are significantly impacted

(04:34):
by those They're negatively impacted by those disparities. So twin
sister doctors there to increase the awareness of health care disparities,
but also help us to close that gap. And we
want to close that gap by one providing individuals with
information that will allow them to go back to their
doctors and have a conversation, which leads to more of

(04:57):
a partnership between the physician and the patient and lead
to more compliance and lead to transformational outcomes.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
Well, you know, doctor Wardlaw, I think that something your
sister said really struck me, and that is that people
would come up to her and say, I don't feel
comfortable talking to my doctor, but I feel comfortable talking
to you. And I think that is at the core
of the issue that so many of us don't feel
comfortable because we don't feel heard. And so often women,

(05:28):
particularly women of color, but you know, people of color
in general, face that unconscious bias that doctors are not
always even aware that they're exhibiting, and yet they are,
and that has tremendous impact on the health of individuals,
wouldn't you say, doctor Wardlaw.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Oh, absolutely, And that unconscious bias, that implicit bias, that
lack of cultural competency. It comes out during the visits,
and so the patients feel like they are not you know,
they're not being heard, they feel like they're not being understood.
And so it is important for the medical establishment, the

(06:07):
medical professional in general, to make sure that people and
our profession are aware of implicit bias, aware of cultural competency,
and that these things are mandatory aspects of curriculums, because otherwise,
as you said, the physician may not even know that
they have this bias, but that they are not culturally competent.

(06:27):
And if you are not aware of the challenges of
the community that you are observing, if you're not aware
of their challenges, then you're going to miss the boat
on some certain issues.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Absolutely, doctor McDonald. The podcast that you do addresses so
many different issues. We're not only talking about what we
often think of as the things doctors talk about, you know, disease,
but you talk about nutrition, you talk about exercise, mental health, sleep,
social media. All of these factors have a tremendous impact

(06:57):
on not only our health but our well being. So
tell us more about why you've decided to focus on
these types of issues.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
We created the podcast because we know that podcasts are
very popular, but podcasts one wanted to extend our reach
outside of our office, outside of the local community. Podcast
gives us more of a broader reach nationally, but also
it also reaches individuals who feels like they're not being seen,

(07:25):
not being heard, and the overall goal of the podcast
is to help people live their healthiest best lives. You
will hear us say that multiple times on the podcast,
and by providing information to just about healthy nutrition, physical activity,
mental health, vaccines, preventative care, mammograms, pap smears, colonoscopies, it

(07:49):
gives our listeners the information they need to go back again,
talk to their doctors and also live the healthiest life possible. Again.
Am I do I need to eat more fruits? Do
I need to eat more vegetables? I need to come
back on the coffee with all of the sugar and cream?

Speaker 1 (08:07):
You know?

Speaker 2 (08:07):
Do I need to cut back on the fry foods
and the processed foods. Do I need to make sure
I'm getting more sleep?

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (08:12):
And then I get my mammogram. The here that I
get my colonoscoped. So our goal is every time someone
listens to the podcast, they get another piece of information
that will allow them to live a healthier life.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
And doctor Wardlow. How can people find you?

Speaker 2 (08:30):
So? You can find us on all social media at
Twin Sister Docks. That's Facebook, that's Instagram, that's threads. You
can also find us on our website at dtoinsisterdocks dot com.
You can also find us on our podcast, the Twin
Sister Docks Podcast, which is on Spotify and on YouTube.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
Fantastic doctor Elena McDonald Board Certified Pediatrician, doctor Delina Wordlow,
Board Certified Family Medicine Physician. They are twins and they
are awesome, and I want to thank you both for
joining us here today and check out the podcast both
on Spotify and I'm sure all the different platforms you
can find podcasts and on YouTube as well. Thank you

(09:10):
so much for joining us today.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Thank you, thank you so much for having us Loreene.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
We'll have more insight after these messages.