Lotus Center for Women is a Chattanooga practice run by women nurse practitioners that focuses on women over 40. Lauren Barlew owns the practice. The team treats perimenopause and menopause along with sexual health problems like low desire, painful sex, vulvodynia and interstitial cystitis. Hormone therapy is offered, and there are non-hormonal options for women who can't or don't want to take hormones. Well-woman exams are only for patients already being seen for midlife care, never at the first visit. Lauren herself currently sees only established patients, and new patients are booked with the other nurse practitioners.
Galen OB/GYN East is the obstetrics and gynecology side of Galen Medical Group, a large Chattanooga physician group, and McLelland is one of more than twenty providers at the Gunbarrel Road office. She has practiced there since 1998 and still does obstetrics and gynecologic surgery, so midlife care is one part of a wide practice rather than all of it. Galen is the one that puts her forward on menopause, and she went on a local podcast to talk through the physical and hormonal changes of midlife, writes a Substack on women's health, and has a book due out in 2026. In recent years she has trained in functional medicine through the Institute for Functional Medicine, and she writes that she would rather start with lifestyle change than go straight to a prescription when that will do. Her provider page also lists a long shelf of patient handouts she uses, on hormonal symptoms, osteoporosis and gut health. Visits are in person at the Gunbarrel Road office, and the group arranges video appointments by phone.
