Aug. 6, 2026

Medicine, Motherhood, and Medical Marijuana

Medicine, Motherhood, and Medical Marijuana
Season 1

She built a career around one question: what do you want more?

For the first time on Spark Me, Michele interviews a sibling — her sister, Dr. MaryFrances Koester. And what starts as a conversation about becoming a doctor turns into something much bigger: a masterclass in pivoting, protecting your life, and knowing exactly what you're willing to trade.

MaryFrances knew in third grade she wanted to be a surgeon. She went through all of medical school with that single focus, applied for surgical residency, and was already in it when she watched the residents around her drop their kids at daycare at five in the morning and pick them up at seven at night. She went to dinner with her husband and told him she was quitting surgery for emergency medicine. It was a decision that took real soul-searching — she loved surgery — but she chose shift work, and she chose a life she could actually be present for.

Then there's the other role she never applied for: the doctor in a family of six siblings. Michele and Liz go deep on what it costs to be the one everyone calls — the translator, the advocate, the person who gets the text with the photo of the weird rash. And when their parents got sick, that role became something else entirely. MaryFrances describes being the intermediary between oncologists, neurologists, and five siblings all asking her the same questions at once, while carrying knowledge none of them had yet. She calls it the most stressful time of her life.

When COVID emptied out the ER, MaryFrances started researching how to become a medical marijuana physician on the drive home from Florida. She started with a large certification company, didn't like what she saw — she describes it as a card factory — and left to build her own practice. Now she runs what she calls a true medical practice, and she's candid about all of it: what cannabis genuinely helps with, where Pennsylvania's program falls short, why she thinks the state's real motivation is tax revenue, and the honest line she draws with her own patients between medicating and numbing. Michele — whose son has struggled with marijuana misuse — pushes on both sides of that, and the result is one of the most balanced conversations you'll hear on this topic.

In This Episode You'll Learn:

  • Why MaryFrances left surgery mid-residency, and the question she asked herself to make the call
  • How to set boundaries when you're the family's go-to expert — without shutting the door completely
  • What it's like to be both the doctor and the daughter while your parents are dying
  • The "wall" she's built in emergency medicine, and why it makes her better at her job
  • The difference between THC and CBD — and why she believes CBD is the most underrated part of the plant
  • Which conditions she most commonly certifies patients for, and why she thinks people dismiss "anxiety" too quickly
  • How cannabis may help with perimenopause and menopause symptoms, especially sleep
  • Why she believes 70% THC products shouldn't be on dispensary shelves for most patients
  • The question she asks every patient: are you using this to numb, or to medicate?
  • Why she deliberately scaled her business back when it started taking off

Resources From This Episode:

Keep Sparking

If this conversation resonated with you:

  • Follow Spark Me wherever you listen to podcasts so you never miss an episode
  • Share this episode with a friend who's the "designated expert" in her family — or with anyone weighing a career pivot against the life she wants
  • Leave a rating or review — it helps other women in their second act discover the show