The Business of Medicine: Insights from Private Practice September 18, 2025 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Speaker

Dr. Fuisz is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician practicing in Washington, D.C. since 2000. She graduated with honors from Amherst College in 1987, earned her medical degree at Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1992, and completed her internship and residency training in Internal Medicine at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon in 1995. She spent five years as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, where she practiced General Internal Medicine and taught Internal Medicine Residents. Dr. Fuisz returned to the area to join her father, Dr. Lawrenz, in the practice of medicine. Since moving back to D.C. in 2000, Dr. Fuisz has been actively involved with the local American College of Physicians and the Medical Society of D.C. For many years she served as co-chair of the Women in Medicine section of the local ACP chapter. She is the recipient of the ACP chapter leadership award for her work with the Women in Medicine group and the D.C. Chapter Maher Laureate Award. She has served on the Board of Directors of the MSDC.  She served as the Governor to the D.C. Chapter of the ACP from 2012 to 2016. Dr. Fuisz was elected to Mastership of the American College of Physicians in 2018. 

Speaker

Dr. J. Desiree Pineda completed a Endocrinology Fellowship at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIDKK) at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.  She served as a Lieutenant Commander for the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and completed her Internal Medicine training at the University of Connecticut Health Center. She is a native Washingtonian - born at GW hospital and has lived in 16th St. NW. Her diplomatic family moved to the  Dominican Republic where she graduated cum laude as Doctor of Medicine.  After medical school she conducted research as a National Service Award Fellow at the National Institute of Health. Third generation Washingtonian medical doc. Dr. Pineda has been in private practice in DC since 1993.  She is a Past President of Medical Society of the District of Columbia and a past American Medical Association Delegate for DC. She has one son in college and one Coton de Tulear dog.

Speaker

Dr. Anna Sattah is a board-certified critical care physician who spent nearly a decade working long ICU shifts, managing some of the sickest and most complex patients in the hospital. Her experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, where she saw that outcomes often hinged more on a patient’s underlying chronic disease at the time of their acute infection, reinforced her concern that conventional medicine intervenes too late. Determined to shift the focus from end-stage intervention to prevention and root-cause care, she retrained in functional medicine through the Institute for Functional Medicine, the Kalish Institute mentorship, and became certified in Dr. Dale Bredesen’s protocol for reversal of cognitive decline.

Dr. Sattah founded Insight Functional Health, a private practice in Silver Spring, Maryland, dedicated to neurocognitive health, chronic illness prevention, and recovery from complex conditions such as Long COVID, autoimmune disease, and chronic fatigue. She has successfully navigated the transition from hospital-based employment to entrepreneurship, building a clinic that integrates advanced diagnostics, genomic analysis, and patient education into highly personalized care plans. Her practice also offers group medical visits, including a long-running Long COVID program, blending clinical expertise with sustainable business strategies. Drawing on her ICU-honed precision, Dr. Sattah brings to this panel a firsthand perspective on launching and scaling a mission-driven medical practice while maintaining both professional fulfillment and patient-centered care.

Speaker

Dr. Ankit B. Shah is President of Sports & Performance Cardiology in Chevy Chase, MD. Dr. Shah earned his B.A from Boston College with a degree in Economics and his M.D. and M.P.H. from Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed his training in internal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, fellowship in cardiovascular disease at Lenox Hill Hospital and fellowship in sports cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine and Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. He is team cardiologist for USA Swimming, cardiology consultant for the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee and on the NBA Cardiac Advisory Panel. He is also Chair-Elect for the Sports & Exercise Section for the American College of Cardiology.   

Moderator

Dr. Nicole P. Singh is a passionate advocate for creating positive change through healthcare and community. She is a board-certified internal medicine physician who has practiced for 24 years in the metropolitan Washington DC region. Her focus is on preventive medicine and wellness and she works alongside her patients to improve their health outcomes. She has been recognized by Washingtonian magazine as a top doctor since 2010. She is currently a partner in a private practice located in Washington DC and the co-chair for the Private Practice Physician Section of MSDC. In 2020 Dr. Singh created a global forum in which she built a multi-generational community connecting doctors and students going into medicine. She moderated virtual community conversations with the goal of improving wellbeing for doctors and students and addressing disparities in the medical field. She fervently believes in our potential to empower every student, doctor and patient to improve individual and collective health outcomes.