Health at Every Size® Healthcare Provider Listing
Kristina Johnson, MD
(she/her)
Family Physician
Monroeville Direct Primary Care LLC
Monroeville,
Pennsylvania,
United States
Contact Me:
Make an Appointment:
Special Instructions: Interested patients can schedule a free, virtual meet and greet with Dr. Johnson. They will receive an enrollment link after the meet and greet.
Specialties & Areas of Focus:
- Transitions
- Healing from medical gaslighting
Modalities & Theoretical Lenses:
- Critical consciousness
- Antiracism
- Intersectional feminism
- Trauma-informed
- Cultural humility
Age Groups Served:
- Children (birth through 12 years)
- Teens (13-18 years old)
- Adults (18 years old and up)
- Older Adults (65+ years old)
- Children (birth through 12 years)
- Teens (13-18 years old)
- Adults (18 years old and up)
- Older Adults (65+ years old)
Additional Populations Served & Allied Groups:
- LGBTQIA+
- Transgender and Gender Non-comforming
- BIPOC
- Folks with history of medical gaslighting and trauma
Languages Services Offered In:
- English
- English
My Philosophy of Care
My mission is to provide a medical home where evidence-based care meets radical compassion. My role as a physician is to critically evaluate the evidence and provide guidance that takes into account each patient’s unique context. I work in partnership with my patients: they are the experts of their own bodies and experience, and I am the expert on the medical evidence. When it comes to a patient’s weight, the evidence is clear: body shaming and prescribed weight loss are harmful. I believe that everyone deserves access to high-quality, patient-centered care. I offer the time and flexibility necessary to ensure every patient is seen, heard, and cared for without judgment. I strive to create an inclusive and supportive practice that allows everyone to access high-quality care, especially those who have experienced medical gaslighting and trauma in the past. This means being intentional with my equipment (e.g., a range of blood pressure cuff sizes), my protocols (weights only with permission and when medically necessary), and language (no pathologizing diagnostic codes).
About Me & My Practice
I have a background in academic medicine. I taught medical students and family medicine residents through the University of Virginia and Forbes Family Medicine. My clinical interests included gender-affirming care and refugee medicine. My academic interests focused on evidence-based medicine and health disparities. I created medical school and residency health equity curricula that examined the historical role of racism in the development of racial health disparities in order to build a foundation of critical consciousness. I came to Health at Every Size® through the intersections of evidence-based medicine and racial health disparities. The structure of employed practice restricted my ability to provide high-quality care to my patients; appointments were too short, my next available appointment was sometimes months away, and my patients had a hard time reaching me between appointments. The clinical environment was sometimes traumatizing–including patients being weighed in the hallway just off the waiting room. With high turnover, care was often impersonal–with nuances about the needs of particular patients being lost. Patients and providers were expected to fit in our prescribed boxes. These conditions negatively impacted my patients with marginalized identities the most. I left academia to start a direct primary care practice, where I can control the environment of care as well as my time with and availability for my patients.
Accessibility Considerations
As a new solo practice, I am actively working toward my vision of a fully accessible medical home. My office is located on the second floor of a medical building. The entrance to the building has a heavy manual door without an automatic opener. There are stairs and an elevator. The lobby of the building has gendered multi-user restrooms with stalls. My office has a single-occupant restroom with a grab bar near the toilet. The toilet is a low 15” height. The doorway clearances (in inches) of my office suite: main door 34”, exam and consultation rooms 30”, restroom 28.5”. My waiting room and exam room each have one sturdy arm chair with a seat 27 inches wide and a weight capacity of 500 pounds. My consultation room includes a loveseat. My scale is tucked in a back room and is only used with permission. The scale capacity is 350 pounds. My exam table is sturdy vintage construction with a weight capacity of 450 pounds; it is 26 inches wide and has a step up, which could be a challenge for folks with mobility limitations to navigate. My blood pressure cuffs fit a range of upper arms up to 66 cm. I am hoping to purchase a tronco-conical blood pressure cuff. I am able to access local interpretation services for many languages, including ASL. I practice trauma-informed and gender-affirming care. My patients are reminded that they are in control of the consultation and exam–it is okay to decline to answer questions or to undergo all or any portion of an exam.