Dr. Blair Cushing

06/02/2026

When I see a primary diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in my Palliative Care practice, my heart immediately sinks for that patient because we know the outcome will rarely be good. Knowing we have a chance to make a meaningful difference in survival for these patients is something to celebrate! 🙌
AND... This is an advancement that resulted from 40 years of hard work by focused researchers. 🤓
It makes me that much more concerned for all the scientific breakthroughs we may never see come to fruition because of the short sighted policies that have taken a wrecking ball to our academic and research institutions over the past year and a half. Even as someone who promotes Functional Medicine and looks to treat chronic diseases through lifestyle first, it's important to point out that much of what we do IS translational research - bringing scientific findings into clinical practice earlier and for additional indications!
Scientific research improves all of our lives and we should truly consider this everyone's fight. ✊

The overall survival rate for people who got daraxonrasib was 13.2 months, nearly double the 6.7 months people survived on standard chemotherapy alone.

05/13/2026

PCOS was never just about the ovaries!
My patients already know we talk about addressing metabolic dysfunction and insulin resistance as treatment priorities. BUT... it can be hard to accept that advice when you were previously given info that focused only on reproductive organs. 🤔

Changing the name to PMOS (polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome) moves us in the right direction by recognizing abnormalities on the o***y are a symptom, not the cause of what's really going on. And there's so much we can do to treat it beyond birth control!

Need help managing your PMOS? I'm here for you and have new patient visits open this week.
Book now at drblaircushing.com

05/07/2026

How did we allow primary care to devolve into doctors (and now their AI tools) just checking the boxes for insurance reimbursement and ignoring the actual patient in front of us?
I have Palliative Care patients who are likely to die soon from the widespread metastatic cancer we're running out of options to treat and their P*P notes are still referring for mammograms and colonoscopies with ZERO MENTION of the life limiting illness that has made all these metrics irrelevant.🤦🏻‍♀️

When I claim to offer "personalized care," I mean exactly that. By not being beholden to insurance companies I am free to focus on the individual in front of me and create treatment plans that make sense for YOU. The care you NEED, not a stack of questionnaires to make claims about "high quality care" when the patients still leave with none of their questions unanswered.

Come see me if you need a better primary care experience. You deserve better. ❤️

05/01/2026

¿Siente que sus visitas al médico no son útiles porque le dedican muy poco tiempo y ni siquiera hablan su idioma? Dra. Cushing es bilingüe y todas nuestras consultas se programan para durar al menos 30 minutos.

Respire hondo, cuéntenos su historia y reciba su consulta en el idioma que usted prefiera. 🙏
Estamos aceptando nuevos pacientes que tienen más que 12 años.
Haga su cita hoy: https://my.practicebetter.io/ #/695608715a6ec9e0ba976612/bookings?step=services

04/13/2026

How do others feel about AI receptionists? As a small business owner, I find there are sooo many services really pushing this. And as a solo practice with no staff, I get the apparent benefit of reducing "missed" calls from potential patients who will just move on rather than leaving a message and waiting for a call back.

But as a consumer, my experience with businesses using AI receptionists has thus far been terrible. Feels like an extra road block to getting the assistance I'm looking for and I have never even once had it help accomplish what I need.
What say you - does AI answering the phone feel positive or negative when you're interacting with a business?

04/08/2026

Can confirm - playing in the dirt is good for you 😁

Interestingly, we also have some pretty impressive research that one of the best things we can do for kids with significant environmental allergies is to get them exposed to animals. 🐑 🐖 🐮 Petting zoo works, even your regular 🐈+🐕 but the more dirt the better! 👩🏻‍🌾

Whether it’s microbes in the dirt or fresh air—or both—researchers do know this: Gardening is strong medicine.

Dig Deeper: Follow the link in our bio to learn more by reading How Backyard Gardens Can Help Ease Depression and Anxiety: https://www.bluezones.com/2025/06/digging-for-mental-health-how-backyard-gardens-can-help-ease-depression-and-anxiety/

03/20/2026

Question: As a patient, how do you REALLY feel about doctors using AI scribes to record and produce notes from your visit?
Anecdotally, I find most patients say "yes" when I ask if it's okay, but also *seem* uncomfortable with it. I actually deliberately stopped using it after a few weeks trial for this reason. (That and I was doing WAY too much editing, would rather just write my thoughts directly than edit some computer's garbage output.) Also, I believe most of my colleagues are NOT properly consenting folks, meaning many patients don't even realize it's happening.

Sooo... what say you??? AI all good in the exam room, or not so much? 🧐

03/20/2026

I've been so impressed by the community response to this week's revelations about Cesar Chavez. Especially the recognition that these are not isolated incidents perpetuated by one man, but patterns of abuse that are so prevalent among those who attain power.
HEALING also happens most powerfully and sustainably through COMMUNITY. Thank you to those who are stepping up to create these safe spaces for that work to happen. 🙏

03/14/2026

So often patients will tell me, "I eat pretty healthy" but feel like they're also stalling out on their health goals.
A food journal can help us identify what might need to change and is the first step to creating an individualized food plan to meet your needs.

02/14/2026

I was interviewed for this story a few months ago and am extremely pleased to see it finally published and bringing attention to the highly unethical treatment of unaccompanied minors who are pregnant. Particularly notable for those of us in the Valley, this set up is literally taking advantage of the well-known hardships of the region to deliberately place already extremely vulnerable teens in the worst circumstances they could find.

It's a long piece, but very well researched by some outstanding journalists and very worth the read.

Government sources and advocates for migrant children worry the administration is concentrating pregnant unaccompanied minors in Texas to restrict their access to abortion.