Breast cancer awareness holds a special place in my heart, particularly because I am a breast cancer survivor. This personal connection has deepened my commitment to raising awareness for all my patients.
Recently, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Women’s Health, where I discussed the breast cancer risk assessment tool that proved to be lifesaving for me.

Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi is on a mission. The ob-gyn to the stars treats celebrities like Olivia Munn, Rihanna, and the Kardashian-Jenner family. But it took caring for herself like one of her own patients to uncover a shocking diagnosis of stage I breast cancer—and unlock her goal of spreading awareness to empower women to be proactive about their health.
“In my ideal world, I would want every single woman walking on this planet to know her lifetime risk of breast cancer,” she says.
She uses a free interactive tool with all her patients to determine their risk level: the Tyrer-Cuzick Risk Assessment Calculator for breast cancer. The tool looks at personal, familial, and genetic factors, like age, alcohol usage, body mass index, family history, and menstrual and reproductive history.
After SZA had her own score calculated, the singer took out her implants on Dr. Aliabadi’s recommendation. And, in a hugely impactful social media moment, Munn shared how Dr. Aliabadi helped her detect her breast cancer using the tool.
The calculator is also how Dr. Aliabadi discovered her own cancer, in 2019, at the age of 49. Her mammogram had shown atypical cells, but her doctors said a biopsy showed no cancer present.
However, after talking with a colleague, Dr. Aliabadi realized she had never used the risk calculator on herself, despite using it on her patients for a year.
Like many women who come to her office, she assumed she wasn’t in danger. “I didn’t have any risk factors,” she says. “I didn’t smoke. I didn’t have a family history. I didn’t do drugs. I was not overweight.”
“I started punching in all my numbers, and I hit enter, and that lifetime risk came out to be 37.5 percent. I almost fell off my chair,” she says. (The average risk is about 12.5 percent.)
After seeing that result, she requested a double mastectomy. But her doctor cautioned her against it, saying it was too aggressive for her age. The surgery would be difficult—and she might not like the results, her doctor warned.
More on breast cancer awareness month
So Dr. Aliabadi searched for another surgeon. And when she finally found a doctor willing to do it, she still got pushback. But she went ahead anyway: “I love my husband. I love my children. I love my job. I live a great life. I didn’t want to have breast cancer.”
A week after the surgery, she got a call from the plastic surgeon doing her reconstructive surgery. They had found stage I breast cancer. She didn’t require radiation or chemotherapy after the diagnosis, and she takes an estrogen blocker to help lower her risk for recurrence.
“No one’s going to advocate for you,” she says. “And in order to be your own advocate, you need to be educated.”
Dr. Aliabadi says she’s “never lost a patient” under her care to cancer
“You can’t tell me that’s luck,” she says.
The moment you step into Dr. Aliabadi’s Beverly Hills office, you sense that this isn’t your average doctor’s waiting room. Gone are the sterile lights and uncomfortable chairs. Here, crystal pendants create areas of soft light, and patients sit on plush, velvet couches. A wooden fertility statue stands among florals.
“She saved my life… She was there as my doctor, a breast cancer survivor, and my friend.” – Olivia Munn
The vibe makes sense for one of Hollywood’s most sought-after ob-gyns, who is becoming a celebrity in her own right. She’s made appearances on Keeping Up With the Kardashians and The Culpo Sisters. She recently delivered Hailey and Justin Bieber’s son. “Ninety-five percent of the time, I have no idea who people are,” she says of her boldface-name clients. “People don’t believe me, but I don’t watch TV, and I don’t read gossip magazines. I don’t have time.”
Plenty of noncelebs also clamor for appointments, which can take more than a month to book and reportedly cost up to thousands of dollars out of pocket. Dr. Aliabadi stopped taking insurance years ago so she could spend more time with her patients: “This allows me to truly listen, provide accurate diagnoses, and educate my patients about their conditions.” A typical appointment involves a pelvic ultrasound and a lifetime breast cancer risk calculation.
In March 2024, actress Olivia Munn went public on Instagram with her breast cancer story, which started in April 2023. She had a clear mammogram and underwent genetic testing for breast cancer. But when Dr. Aliabadi calculated her breast cancer risk assessment score, the number came out high—37 percent. Dr. Aliabadi ordered an MRI that revealed a tumor and led to an eventual breast cancer diagnosis.
“Dr. Aliabadi was there every single step of the way,” Munn told WH exclusively. “For god’s sake, she’s not even an oncologist, but she sat in the operating room through my entire 10-hour double mastectomy and partial reconstruction. She was there as my doctor, a breast cancer survivor, and my friend. She saved my life in more ways than one.”
Dr. Aliabadi spreads her message of preventive care to about 25 in-person patients a day—and thousands more via her podcast
The Iranian-born doctor moved to the U.S. during her senior year of high school, speaking minimal English. She launched her podcast She MD in March 2024 alongside fashion designer and women’s health advocate Mary Alice Haney. They invite other doctors and Dr. Aliabadi’s celebrity patients to talk about their experiences with everything from endometriosis (Halsey) to psoriasis (Kim Kardashian) to miscarriage (Tiffany Haddish) to lupus (Toni Braxton). “This way, I can educate [listeners] at home, so they can get that list ready when they go to their doctor,” she says.
A few months ago, a stranger approached Dr. Aliabadi and asked if she could give her a hug: “She said, ‘I listened to your podcast. I calculated my lifetime risk. It was high.’”
The woman’s doctor told her that she didn’t need an MRI since a recent mammogram and ultrasound were normal. But she insisted—and refused to leave until she got an MRI order. The screening uncovered stage I breast cancer.
“It’s not difficult to catch breast cancer early,” says Dr. Aliabadi. But you must be proactive. One in eight women will get diagnosed with breast cancer, and the majority of them do not have a family history, says Dr. Aliabadi
There are two widely used interactive tools to screen for risk: Tyrer-Cuzek Risk Assessment Calculator (also called the IBIS model) and the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT, also known as the Gail model). Dr. Aliabadi features the Tyrer-Cuzick calculator prominently on the home page of her podcast.
While the BCRAT tends to underestimate risk, the IBIS tends to overestimate it, so doctors use both to find a common range, Jason Aboudi Mouabbi, MD, a medical oncologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, previously told Women’s Health.
The Tyrer-Cuzek Risk Assessment Calculator was released in 2017 by Jack Cuzick, PhD, whose work has been funded by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation since 2011. The online questionnaire calculates a woman’s risk for breast cancer within 10 years and throughout her life. If that number is less than 15 percent, you’re considered low risk. Women should use the tool starting at 25 and reassess every few years, says Sadia Zapp, a Breast Cancer Research Foundation spokesperson.
Since most doctors don’t calculate patients’ scores, women can go through life unaware and end up getting diagnosed at a later, more dangerous stage, says Dr. Aliabadi. “One reason we don’t see this tool used more often is that both patients and doctors may not be fully aware of it,” says Dr. Aliabadi.
Stamatia Destounis, MD, chair of the American College of Radiology’s breast-imaging committee, says the calculation should be done with a health-care professional, like an ob-gyn or a genetic counselor. “I don’t think patients should go online and try to do this on their own,” she says. “There are a lot of things that go into it.”
“Breast cancer is a treatable disease, but you have to catch it early,” Dr. Aliabadi says. “And it’s not difficult to catch breast cancer early.”
“I would want every single woman walking on this planet to know her lifetime risk of breast cancer.” – Dr. Thaïs Aliabadi
Can’t see Dr. Aliabadi? Here’s how to get her level of care—without the cost
You don’t need to be a Kardashian-Jenner to receive concierge care. Here are Dr. Aliabadi’s top tips for women to make sure they are being proactive and getting the medical attention they need.
- Bring a list of questions to your appointment. Dr. Aliabadi suggests asking ChatGPT to compile a list based on your symptoms. “Educate yourself before you go to your doctor,” she says. “Look up those questions. Write down the questions.”
- Shop around for the best doctor. If your questions aren’t answered, or you feel as if you’re being dismissed, find a new provider. “You need to search for another doctor who has more time to spend with you and get to the root of the problem,” she says. Compare your insurance provider’s directory of in-network doctors to patient reviews, and ask for recommendations from friends, family, or colleagues.
- Consider genetic testing. Dr. Aliabadi urges every person with any family history of cancer to take the Myriad Genetics cancer risk assessment test, to look for underlying gene mutations. “It’s covered by insurance, and it’s the most accurate diagnostic test,” she says. “And it’s available to the public.” (If you don’t have insurance, the test costs $249.)
Make Dr. Aliabadi your OB/GYN today!
A breast cancer survivor herself, Dr. Aliabadi is intimately familiar with how a diagnosis can turn your world upside down. Along with her warm, compassionate team, Dr. Aliabadi provides medical care and support to women in every stage of their lives, from routine exams to pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. If you have questions or concerns about your breast cancer risk, we invite you to reach out to Dr. Aliabadi and her expert team.
We invite you to establish care with Dr. Aliabadi. Please make an appointment online or call us at (844) 863-6700.
The practice of Dr. Thais Aliabadi is conveniently located for patients throughout Southern California and the Los Angeles area, near Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, Culver City, Hollywood, Venice, Marina del Rey, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, and Downtown Los Angeles, to name a few.
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