Physician | Patient | Author
Andrea Hayes M.D.
Sharing stories from both ends of the stethoscope
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about Andrea
After nearly three decades in the trenches of medical practice as an endocrinologist treating thousands of patients with blood sugars tsunamis, thyroid upheaval, hormone mysteries, insurance battles, and preposterous problems—Dr. Andrea Hayes now turns her life in medicine into story. A physician who has also spent much of her life as a patient, she writes from both sides of the exam table with candor, compassion, and wry wit, exploring illness, resilience, absurdity, and the strange comedy of being human.
Physician
Owner of Hayes Endocrine and Diabetes Center est. 1997, her practice served a large population of patients throughout Tennessee and beyond.
Patient
Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 15, Dr. Hayes first learned medicine from inside her own body—an experience that ignited her passion for the study of medicine.
Author
Andrea finds meaning in writing hard-won truths, personal insights and brings wry wit in all it’s glory to understanding the human condition.
As an endocrinologist, Andrea spent three decades caring for patients with diabetes, thyroid disease, obesity, hormonal disorders, and the many strange ways the endocrine system goes awry. She built and ran a large independent endocrine and diabetes practice, where she learned that medicine is equal parts science, detective work, counseling session, business management, and circus performance. Her clinical career gave her a front-row seat to the best and worst of healthcare: brilliant recoveries, heartbreaking losses, unforgettable patients, impossible insurance companies, professional betrayal, and Big Pharma—all doing their part to remind us that absurdity comes free with the price of admission to the human race.
Andrea first learned the language of medicine from the other side of the exam table. Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 15, she grew up counting carbohydrates, calculating insulin doses, checking blood sugars, and learning the nuances of her own body. Over the years, she has also lived with hypothyroidism, multiple sclerosis, trigeminal neuralgia, and two near-death experiences that left her with both a deep respect for modern medicine and a highly developed appreciation for the fragility of life. Her years as a patient have shaped the way she sees illness—not as an abstract diagnosis, but as a daily negotiation between science, fear, resilience, and stubborn hope.
As an author, Andrea has found her next calling as she explores her personal insights from the intersection of medicine, illness, humor, faith, frustration, and survival. Her work blends sharp observation with emotional honesty, using wit to illuminate the messy realities of being both healer and human. She writes about the body in all its glory and betrayal, the healthcare system in all its dysfunction, and the people who stumble through both with courage, denial, snacks, and occasionally wildly inappropriate questions. Her voice is candid, compassionate, irreverent, and deeply rooted in humility.
Her memoir will be published in Fall of 2027 through She Writes Press. Her humorous, satirical medical essay collection is coming soon. Check back for updates!.