In case you weren’t aware of what has transpired over the last 6 months for Camel City Women’s Wellness, I’ll give a birds eye synopsis: November 2024 I officially hired Whitney as my co-pilot PA extraordinaire, in December 2024 we moved to our new (I think permanant?) location in Winston Salem and hired our rockstar patient care coordinator Mikel, and in January 2025 we opened a second office in Cornelius, NC! It has been a whirlwind of change around here, and I wanted to dedicate a post to Whitney and our new location. But, I’ll let Whitney tell you all about it!
What made you curious about Camel City Women’s Wellness?
I must give credit where credit is due, and that is to my sister, Cole Kampen of Triad Pelvic Health PT, for initially putting Christina and CCWW on my radar. On first hearing of CCWW, it sounded like a far-away mystical land (Christina – “it is!”) I could only dream of visiting; I had no idea how a Physician Assistant with traditional western medicine training could wind up with such a significant and impactful presence in the sexual medicine field, especially considering the lack of training in medical school. To put it mildly, students don’t receive any training in this field, regardless of the school.
There was an open-panel “Sex Talk” discussion at an Adam and Eve in Greensboro, where I watched Christina and other providers in action. As a medical provider, I had never encountered anyone (PA, NP, MD, DO) doing similar work. I was floored. It was mind-blowing to see a fellow provider claiming space in the sexual health realm like that, and I felt my perspective and trajectory shifting in that moment.
Serendipitously, at the time I was earning my Sexual Health Counselor Certificate from the University of Michigan, a certificate Christina also has in her armamentarium. She and I connected in the parking lot after the event, and I’m not sure whether she felt my moth-to-a-flame vibe, but I imagine it was strong. So there we were, two women under the streetlights in an Adam & Eve parking lot, sharing stories and audacious feelings of casting aside traditional medicine indoctrinations. Once I started learning more about CCWW, there was no other direction for me to go. CCWW or bust.
What need did you see in Cornelius? What do you love about Cornelius?
Whitney: Cornelius has a plethora of great healthcare facilities and providers. However, the needs I see here mirror those of many communities: an evidence-based, sex-positive, forward-thinking and collaborative provider. Consider for a second what you were (or weren’t) taught about sex by family, church, or school. That became the foundation of your sexual health knowledge, and this is the same basis of knowledge all medical providers have. There is no deep dive in medical school, especially regarding women’s bodies. So, how can we expect our providers to navigate that during a healthcare visit? The short answer is, we can’t. We have tons of fabulous providers here, but a shortage of clinical sexologists. The beautiful thing about that is, it takes a strong multi-disciplinary team to provide the well-rounded care patients need. And I’m excited to collaborate with the providers of my community.
Something I’m also seeing is the ubiquitous deluge of information. Nowadays, the issue isn’t a lack of information, but rather an overwhelming amount of resources—podcasts, influencers, books, magazines—especially regarding menopause. While some information is accurate, helpful, and actionable, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, particularly for mid-life women. The key is to have someone who can help navigate all the things, discuss all the options/risks/benefits/
I love the small-town feel of the Cornelius/Davidson area, there are so many small businesses, local shops and art spaces, bars and restaurants. You can always find something that suits your fancy whether it’s trivia night, Wine Wednesday, the farmer’s market, a walk on the greenway, or live music. We are an active, friendly, progressive, and forward-thinking community and I feel lucky to be a part of it.
Who’s your ideal patient?
I love the seekers; women who are asking questions perhaps they have never thought to ask before or those who refuse to settle for answers that no longer serve them. More specifically, I would have to say my ideal patient is the woman who has made the decision and commitment to herself to find support and solutions for the first time (maybe ever). She may not know where to start or what to do, but she does know “you’re normal” or “there’s nothing we can do”is no longer acceptable. Her momentum toward self actualization can not be stopped, and this process is significant, deserving of respect and joy. Every woman has a different story, set of experiences, past trauma(s), and a unique approach to discovering herself, and it’s an honor to be a part of that journey. I love meeting women where they are and learning how I can best provide support in that moment, which occasionally is as simple as offering permission: to question, feel, discover, demand, explore. The power of validation in those moments cannot be overestimated.
What has been the most surprising thing about practicing medicine in a direct care/ membership based setting?
The most welcome aspect of this care model is the space that opens up for my patients to explore what really matters to them. It’s the space which is otherwise consumed by insurance, administration, and the pressure on providers to see more patients. I love having the time for conversations to flow in ways that simply aren’t possible in a 15-minute visit. I have the opportunity to get to know and understand my patients in a way that helps me optimally navigate their care with them. This joint decision making process is much more of an intimate and personalized way to provide care. To me CCWW is a reformer of health care, not just because of the practice model but because of the approach to care. It is the missing link, making the leap from traditional medicine’s “absence of disease with normal lab values” to using a biopsychosocial approach to caring for the woman in her entirety.
We know PAs often times have an untraditional path to medicine, which makes us unique because we bring lived experiences to our patient care. What were you up to before PA school?
As a young lady, the world of medicine wasn’t on my radar. I earned my undergraduate degree in Television Journalism at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. My freshman year coincided with the winter Olympics (That was 2001, for any of you not born yet), where campus was the host site for the Olympic Village. I got a gig with NBC escorting VIP guests into the games and I was able to watch the events as well. After those glory days, I hopped a plane to southeast Asia and backpacked around for 3 months before coming home and starting my first job as an overnight TV news writer. In spite of a persistently unsettling feeling of making the wrong career choice, I spent the next 4 years working my way to the prime time news producer position.
Passion and joy for me was found outside of work with my friends and my ravenous appetite for playing in the mountains. I spent most of my time rock climbing, hiking, BASE jumping, skydiving, snowboarding, mountain biking and participating in general tomfoolery. Fun fact: I was in a pilot for a BASE jumping reality TV show that didn’t go anywhere.
I decided to take a Wilderness Medicine course in case any backcountry adventures went sideways. This was the moment I fell in love with medicine, so I quit my job at the TV station to become an EMT. It would prove to be much more difficult to get a job as an EMT than anticipated, so I got a gig doing the only other thing I had experience in: reckless adventure. I was a TV stunt person for a few seasons playing around with cars, motor bikes, jet skis, wenches and giant inflatables while transitioning into the EMT realm. I then worked in an Emergency Department, the Snowbird Ski Resort Clinic and I also taught Wilderness Medicine. Once I finally realized I didn’t want to have a broken back or live on $10/hr for the rest of my life, I did a post-bacc, applied to PA school and was accepted to Elon University. The rest is history.
Fun fact – Whitney and I (Christina) graduated from PA school the same year in 2017, but we were at different schools and we didn’t know each other. However, I love a particular PA school story from Whitney from PA school when she was sent to the principals office for dressing up as a vulva for Halloween, but we will save that for another post.
Our office in Cornelius is located inside the Edmund Center at 20605 N Main St, Cornelius, NC 28031. You can contact us by giving us a call at 336-585-7312, or you can navigate to the New Patient tab and get started there!
