About Dr. Susan
What I stand for
I believe that becoming our healthiest, happiest future selves starts with the choices we make today.
Health is about far more than preventing disease or treating symptoms. It’s how we care for our bodies, our relationships, our minds, our sense of purpose—and our capacity for joy, connection, fun, and play. When we understand what matters and learn how to turn that knowledge into conscious action, we can begin creating our own Best Elder Day.
After more than 25 years of caring for women, I know that midlife can be so much more than managing symptoms and accepting the changes that come with age. It’s a chance to understand what’s happening in our bodies, rethink what’s possible, and make intentional choices about the decades ahead.
I’ve also learned that knowing what’s good for us is rarely the problem. Most of us already know we should eat well, move our bodies, get enough sleep, nurture our relationships, and make time for the things that bring us joy. The harder question is how we turn what we know into a life we actually want to live.
That’s where I believe the real work—and the real opportunity—begins. Rather than forcing ourselves into another set of habits we think we should follow, we can make conscious choices today that move us toward our own Best Elder Day: the healthiest, strongest, most connected and fulfilled version of ourselves in the years ahead.
Whether we’re talking about hormone optimization, nutrition and exercise, sleep, friendships and intimate relationships, purpose, or simply making more room for fun and play, none of these things exists in isolation. They’re all part of creating the life we want as we age.
My work is about helping women get there—with good science, honest conversations, truly individualized care, and a clear understanding that the choices we make today help create the women we become.
That philosophy shapes my work, but it’s also deeply personal.
My professional bio will tell you where I trained, what I’ve built, and the work I’ve done. But there’s more to a person than a résumé. So, if you’d like to know me beyond the credentials, here are a few things that have shaped who I am.
- I grew up in Auckland, New Zealand, and came to the United States intending to stay for a year. More than four decades later, Houston is home—but my New Zealand roots still shape how I see the world.
- I’ve never been particularly interested in following a predetermined path. I left New Zealand before starting medical school, worked my way through college, became a surgeon, built one of the country’s largest all-female OB/GYN groups, and eventually chose to begin again with a practice devoted entirely to women in midlife.
- I became an endurance athlete as an adult—not because I was naturally athletic, but because I discovered I could become one. Since then, I’ve completed more than a dozen marathons, nine full Ironmans, and more than 35 half Ironmans. That experience changed what I believe about the limits we place on ourselves.
- Some of the most important chapters of my life began when I was willing to leave a successful one behind. Stepping away from the practice I built over nearly two decades gave me the opportunity to rethink what I wanted my work—and my life—to become.
- I believe deeply in continuing to learn, change, and challenge my own assumptions. Medicine has taught me that what we once accepted as inevitable can look very different when we ask better questions and remain open to new evidence.
- At this stage of my life, I care less about doing more and more about living deliberately. Health matters enormously to me—but so do relationships, purpose, adventure, joy, and having people around the table whom I love.
Want to learn more?
Connect with me and
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COMING FEBRUARY 2027
Create Her
A new book by Dr. Susan Hardwick-Smith
Create Her is an honest look at aging for midlife women, drawn from 25+ years as a gynecologist, menopause practitioner, and life coach.
Balancing acceptance of who we are now with the agency to move toward the elder we want to become — aging into our best future self, with intention, joy, and ease.