If you're reading this, you're probably someone I've had the privilege of caring for. You may be one of my dear patients who is wondering where or when or how I may be able to resume being your Doctor. I wanted to write you something more personal than a form letter, because that's always been how I've tried to practice medicine.

For the last two and a half years, I've been a full-scope OB/GYN with Sutter East Bay Medical Group in Berkeley and Lafayette, where my practice focused heavily on menopause care, sexual health, and routine as well as more complex gynecology care, alongside obstetrics. I have loved this work. I have loved caring for and partnering with you — the patients who trusted me with things that are often hard to talk about, who let me in during pregnancies, transitions, hard diagnoses, and ordinary Tuesday check-ins.

I also know that so many of you found your way to me because a clinician before me had already left a practice — a doctor who retired, moved, or simply couldn't sustain the pace of this field anymore. Some of you looked me in the eye and asked, "You won't leave too, will you?" I want to be honest with you about why, for now, the answer is that I'm stepping back.

Why I'm stepping away, for now

As of November 1, 2026, I am no longer seeing patients in the office at Sutter East Bay Medical Group. I'll continue working in a hospital-based capacity at Alta Bates on Labor & Delivery, but I'm taking a deliberate pause from office-based practice for a few months.

This isn't a retirement, and it isn't really a departure from you — it's a pause to take care of myself so that I can keep taking care of my patients well, for a long time to come. Medicine, and OB/GYN in particular, has been experiencing a lot of turnover and strain lately, and I've felt that toll too. I want to be honest about that rather than pretend it isn't part of the story.

I'm using this time to be very intentional as I consider how to proceed in my professional work. I am spending this time exploring opportunities and building connections, thinking hard about what kind of practice actually lets me do my best work: enough time in the room to really listen, space to be creative and individualize care rather than rush through an important discussion, and a way of practicing that treats you as a whole person — not just a chart. I want to keep caring for patients with a holistic lens and deep human connection, in a way that's sustainable for me as a physician, too. That combination has been hard to find inside a high-volume office model, and I want to give myself real space to figure out how to build it.

What's next

I don't have every detail nailed down yet, and I'm being intentionally patient with that. What I can say is that I expect to keep working in ways that let me expand access to menopause care, sexual medicine, and integrative gynecologic care. I am learning more about group-based visit models and how these can be applied in some circumstances, to provide a beautiful mix of community support with medical care. I am undergoing some advanced training through medical societies that excite me, to reconnect with my passions in this amazing field. I am learning more about possibilities for clinical work in smaller, more intimate practice settings. I expect to return to office-based OB/GYN practice sometime in 2027.

In the meantime

If you're currently a Sutter East Bay Medical Group patient, please don't wait on my account — the group has wonderful physicians, certified nurse-midwives, and nurse practitioners who can continue your care starting now. 

If you'd like to stay in touch and hear where my journey takes me, you are welcome to join my mailing list. I'll only use it to share real updates, not marketing noise.

Thank you for trusting me with your care. I hope this isn't goodbye — just an intermission.

With gratitude,

Dr. Zoe Feld, MD