Dr. Dawn Mussallem
DO, DipABLM
Dr. Dawn Mussallem
DO, DipABLM
Integrative Oncologist
Stage 4 cancer survivor and heart transplant recipient. Mayo Clinic consultant, Fountain Life CMO, and the first person to run a marathon one year after a heart transplant.
A Note on My Relationship with IM8
I serve as Founding Scientific Advisor to IM8 Health and have a financial relationship with the company. I want to tell you that upfront, because I believe transparency is the foundation of trust — and because it does not diminish what I am about to share. I have been skeptical of the supplement industry for most of my career. I reviewed the science behind IM8 before I agreed to be part of it. I take this product every single morning, not because I am paid to say so, but because after everything my body has been through, I give it only what I genuinely believe in.
Every Morning at 5 AM
Before the clinic. Before the calls. Before the world fully wakes up — I mix one scoop into water and take a moment to be grateful.
That ritual did not start with a supplement. It started with a stationary bike in a hospital room in Arizona, at 4 in the morning, overlooking a mountain sunrise, when I was 26 years old and had been told I had three months to live.
I had stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Aggressive. Three months into medical school. I joined a clinical trial. Chemotherapy. Radiation. A bone marrow transplant that required four months of hospitalization. My medical team couldn't keep me still, so they brought an exercise bike to my floor. I rode it before the other patients woke up. I watched the sun rise over the mountains. And I thought: the body has more capacity than we think. We just have to give it every possible reason to fight.
"I saw other patients in their beds and they looked so sick. I am not sure I would have survived if I hadn't committed to continue my healthy lifestyle even when I was sick."
I survived. I graduated medical school. I became the integrative oncologist I had always wanted to be, spending over 20 years at Mayo Clinic. I married. I had a beautiful daughter. And the treatments that saved my life slowly damaged my heart.
In 2003, I was diagnosed with advanced heart failure. I managed it for nearly two decades — through lifestyle, medication, and the stubborn conviction that how we live is medicine. Then, during a presentation to my colleagues at Mayo Clinic, my heart went into ventricular fibrillation. My internal defibrillator fired multiple times before it brought me back.
By early 2021, I was hospitalized, on IV support, waiting. On February 5th, the call came. A matching heart was available.
"It's so hopeful. But it's hard to be excited when someone has died to give you life. I carry that gift with me every single day."
Two weeks after my transplant, I walked out of the hospital unassisted. Three and a half months later, I ran my first 5K in twenty years. And one year and one day after receiving my new heart, I ran a full marathon — the Donna Marathon in Jacksonville — becoming the first person in history to complete a marathon just one year after a heart transplant.
I share all of this not to impress you, but to tell you: I understand what it means to fight for your health. And I understand, more deeply than most, what the body needs to not just survive — but to truly feel fully alive.
Why Most Supplements Failed My Patients — and What We Built Instead
For most of my career, I was skeptical of supplements. Still am, frankly. I have watched an unregulated industry sell hope in bottles at inadequate doses, with poor bioavailability, to people who deserved better.
But I have also watched what happens when patients are given the right nutritional support at meaningful doses. Energy returns. Sleep deepens. Digestion settles. And something harder to measure — a sense of vitality — comes back online.
When IM8 approached me, I did what I do with every clinical decision: I reviewed the science. I pushed back on formulations. I asked the hard questions about dosing, bioavailability, and clinical validation. What I found was a team that wanted to build something genuinely different.
We brought together NASA's former Chief Scientist Dr. James Green — because astronauts face accelerated aging in microgravity and NASA has spent decades learning how to combat it — alongside cardiologists, nutritionists, and researchers from Mayo Clinic and Cedars-Sinai.
We did not start with a formula and work backward. We started with the science of what the body actually needs and worked forward.
The result is two products that function as a system. Let me tell you what each one does and why I believe in both.
IM8 Daily Ultimate Essentials Pro — The Foundation Your Body Has Been Missing
Most of us are walking around with nutritional gaps we cannot see or feel — until we fill them. Magnesium deficiency quietly sabotages sleep and muscle function. Low vitamin D blunts immune response. B-vitamin gaps erode cognitive clarity. These are not rare edge cases. They are remarkably common, even among people who eat well.
Essentials Pro is 90 nutrient-rich ingredients in one scoop, replacing 16 or more daily supplements, delivering clinically meaningful doses across all nine major organ systems: cardiovascular, immune, digestive, musculoskeletal, neurological, endocrine, skin and hair, urinary, and metabolic.
This is not a greens powder. It is not a multivitamin. It is a comprehensive physiological foundation — the kind I wish had existed when I was managing my own health through cancer treatment and heart failure.
Every ingredient is third-party tested, NSF Certified for Sport — meaning it is free from over 280 banned substances, heavy metals, and contaminants. The same standard trusted by Olympic athletes and professional leagues.
The 12-Week Clinical Trial Results
San Francisco Research Institute, NCT06655597 — a 12-week randomized, controlled clinical trial. The gold standard of nutritional science applied to a daily supplement.
95%
Felt a noticeable improvement in daily energy
85%
Experienced less bloating and improved digestion
80%
Reported better sleep quality
70%
Noticed sharper focus and mental clarity
*Results from a 12-week randomized, controlled clinical trial conducted by the San Francisco Research Institute. These results are for the Essentials Pro foundation.
Daily Ultimate Essentials Pro
The all-in-one foundation for everyday wellness — $89/month
- 90 nutrient-rich ingredients in one scoop
- Replaces 16+ daily supplements
- Supports all 9 major organ systems
- NSF Certified for Sport — trusted by Olympic athletes
- Clinically proven in a 12-week randomized trial
IM8 Daily Ultimate Longevity — Where the Science of Aging Meets Daily Practice
Essentials Pro gives your body the foundation. Longevity asks the deeper question: what if we could address why we age at the cellular level?
In 2013, researchers published a landmark framework: the Hallmarks of Aging. Twelve measurable biological processes — genomic instability, telomere shortening, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, and more — that determine how quickly your body deteriorates. Updated in 2023, this framework has become the roadmap for serious longevity science at Harvard, Stanford, and yes, Mayo Clinic.
What excites me as a physician is that we can now target each of these hallmarks with specific compounds. This is not science fiction. It is peer-reviewed biology translated into daily practice.
Daily Ultimate Longevity contains everything in Essentials Pro plus a powerful 5-complex advanced formula:
300mg NMN for NAD+ Restoration
NAD+ is essential for cellular energy production. It declines by up to 50% between ages 40 and 60. NMN replenishes it — activating the longevity genes known as sirtuins, restoring the cellular energy that makes us feel vital.
Triple Senolytic Formula
Senescent cells — what researchers call "zombie cells" — accumulate as we age. They do not die when they should. Instead, they release inflammatory signals that accelerate damage to surrounding tissue. Fisetin, Quercetin, and Trans-Resveratrol target and remove them.
Spermidine for Autophagy
Autophagy is your body's cellular cleanup system. It removes damaged proteins and organelles before they accumulate and cause harm. Spermidine activates this process — essentially giving your cells a deep clean.
"Anti-aging tries to reverse damage after it's done. Longevity prevents the damage from happening in the first place. That is the paradigm shift. And it is why I take IM8 Daily Ultimate Longevity every single morning."
Daily Ultimate Longevity
Everything in Essentials Pro + advanced longevity compounds — $119/month
- Everything in Essentials Pro (90 ingredients, 9 organ systems)
- 300mg NMN for NAD+ cellular energy restoration
- Triple senolytic formula for zombie cell removal
- Spermidine for autophagy cellular cleanup
- Targets all 12 hallmarks of aging
Hear It from Dr. Dawn
Dr. Dawn shares why she takes this formula every single morning.
This Is What I Give My Body Every Morning
I wake up at 5 AM. I mix one scoop of Daily Ultimate Longevity into water before I do anything else. It takes thirty seconds. And it represents everything I have learned — as a physician and as a patient — about what it means to truly support the body at the cellular level.
I am not just a Scientific Advisor to IM8 Health. I am a user. I take this because I believe in it — because after surviving cancer, heart failure, and a transplant, I do not give my body anything I have not personally vetted, reviewed, and trusted.
Whatever brought you here today — curiosity, a health goal, a diagnosis, or simply the desire to feel better — know this: the choices you make every day matter more than any single intervention. Start with what I start with. And know that every scoop represents the best of what longevity science can offer, built by a team that includes a former NASA Chief Scientist, world-class physicians, and one very stubborn oncologist who has been on both sides of the stethoscope.
"Every day is a gift. My journey has taught me that. I want to help you feel fully alive in yours."
Dr. Dawn Mussallem is a board-certified integrative oncologist with over 20 years of experience at Mayo Clinic Florida. After surviving stage IV cancer at 26 and receiving a heart transplant at 47, she became the first person in history to complete a marathon just one year after a heart transplant. Her mission is to help people not just survive, but truly thrive.
Current Positions
Mayo Clinic
Integrative Oncologist, Hematology Oncology
Fountain Life
Chief Medical Officer
IM8 Health
Founding Scientific Advisor
Education & Certifications
Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO)
Board Certified Physician
DipABLM
Diplomate, American Board of Lifestyle Medicine
Board Certified
Integrative Oncology
Personal Journey
Heart Transplant Survivor
February 2021
First Marathon Post-Transplant
One year after receiving new heart
Stage IV Cancer Survivor
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 26