Dr. Lisa McGonigal is a Board-Certified Family, Preventive, and Lifestyle Medicine physician with advanced training in Diabetes Management and Clinical Nutrition, and is currently pursuing further specialization in Menopause Management and Preventive Cardiology. She is a devoted clinician, researcher, and educator.
Dr. McGonigal completed her medical degree and residency at West Virginia University and earned her Master of Public Health from George Washington University. After several years practicing as an independent rural family physician in her home state of West Virginia, she pursued fellowship training in Preventive and Lifestyle Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. There she played a central role in integrating Lifestyle Medicine into both the fellowship and medical school curricula by founding the Lifestyle Medicine Task Force, the Medical Student Culinary Medicine Program, and the Healthy Kitchen Nutrition and Cooking Programs for patients with diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. She also served as a Doctoring and Clinical Skills Faculty Mentor to medical students and contributed to multiple research studies evaluating lifestyle interventions in hypertension, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease. She continues to teach and mentor at UMass as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.
Most recently, Dr. McGonigal practiced at a busy, traditional Family Medicine practice in the Boston suburbs, providing comprehensive primary care to patients of all ages. While there, she also established a dedicated Lifestyle Medicine program for adults and adolescents managing cardiometabolic conditions including diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, chronic kidney disease, and overweight or obesity.
Dr. McGonigal’s strengths lie in crafting highly personalized treatment plans that emphasize prevention, health maintenance, and restoration of wellness. She is known for cultivating strong, positive patient relationships grounded in compassion and collaboration. By integrating her clinical expertise and specialized training in Lifestyle and Preventive Medicine, she offers a robust, holistic approach to care that has translated to measurable, meaningful improvements in clinical and subjective health, patient experience, and overall quality of life.
Outside the clinic, Dr. McGonigal enjoys mountain hiking, strength training, cooking (and eating), jigsaw puzzling, listening to good jazz, and visiting as many National Parks as possible with her husband, Phil. She is delighted to be joining Dr. Donahue and Dr. Walkey at Personal Health MD and is currently accepting new patients.
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