About Dr SSM

I am Dr Saima S Mughal, a medically trained doctor with a background in General Practice. I completed my medical degree at St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 1998, followed by GP training in 2002 and postgraduate qualifications including MRCGP, DCH and the Diploma of Family Planning. Over the course of my clinical career, I developed interests in women's health, rheumatology, dermatology, paediatrics and evidence-based nutrition.

This website grew from a longstanding curiosity about the intersection between nutrition, chronic disease, immune function and the human microbiome. For more than 15 years, I have been exploring how diet, metabolic pathways and microbial ecosystems shape health — not just from textbooks or journal articles, but through my own lived experience. Personal health challenges shifted my focus away from clinical practice and toward academic research and self-directed study. During this time I completed accredited training in nutrition with Monash University (Australia), undertook a research project entitled The Role of Microbiome in Medicine, and began writing about topics that are often poorly understood or insufficiently discussed in routine healthcare.

My approach blends medical training, scientific literature, clinical reasoning and personal narrative. I am particularly interested in how emerging research can coexist with lived experience, and how complex health stories can be better understood outside the narrow language of symptoms and diagnoses.

What to Expect Here
This site is a space to explore ideas, discuss evidence, reflect on health journeys, and share recipes and practical insights related to nutrition, gut health, fasting and the microbiome. It is not a medical service, and I do not offer personalised advice or consultations. The content is educational in nature and intended for those who are curious, self-directed, or simply navigating their own questions about health.

What I Hope To Contribute
My hope is to contribute clarity, nuance and humility to a field that is rapidly expanding, scientifically rich, yet still deeply human. I am currently working on writing projects related to these themes and plan to develop this site further as a place to share that journey.