By Jennifer Schaffer Leone
At Still Rise Farms, Dr. Monique Gary blends science and soul in the service of survivorship
As a breast surgical oncologist and medical director of Grand View Health, Monique Gary, DO ’09, MS/Biomed ’05, has built a career defined by precision medicine and radical empathy. Her patient-first philosophy extends beyond the operating room into the fields and quiet spaces of a place she has dreamed of for decades: Still Rise Farms.
Nestled on 40 acres in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Still Rise Farms is a living, breathing sanctuary. It is a place where women living with cancer can reconnect with their sense of self, restore their bodies through nourishment and rediscover healing in its most holistic form.
“I knew I wanted to create a space where people could simply be,” Dr. Gary shares. “There is a deep need for stillness—for renewal, for learning how to live well again.”
That vision is rooted in personal experience. At just seven years old, Dr. Gary lost her mother to cancer. Later, her grandmother faced breast cancer. This profound sense of loss not only shaped her choice of medical specialty but also sparked a lifelong devotion to healing in all its dimensions.
Dr. Gary performs some of the most intricate procedures in medicine with surgical precision. But she knows that removing the tumor is just the beginning. Healing truly starts when patients begin to ask, “What should I eat? Can I fight cancer naturally? How should I live?”
Her answer is Still Rise Farms—a balm, a prayer, a place that echoes the resilience of Maya Angelou’s poetic verse: “But still, like air, I’ll rise.”
At its quintessence, Still Rise speaks to both motion and repose. “If you’ve ever seen the sunrise at the farm, you would understand,” she says. “It commands you to be still. It is a place to be still—so you can recharge and get back up again.
“The name is a play on words,” Dr. Gary explains. “The historical significance of a Black woman owning 40 acres is not lost on me. And, culturally, we are still grappling with what equity means. We see disparities in land ownership and food sovereignty. We are still rising.
“Patients are looking for more than survival,” she says. “They want a way to live fully—to rise again after everything they’ve been through.”
The osteopathic philosophy informs every dimension of Dr. Gary’s work: as a surgeon, as a farmer and as a guide through survivorship. “We’re not just treating disease. We’re restoring wholeness. This is how I view my role in medicine. This is how I view my role in society,” she says.
At Still Rise Farms, Dr. Gary welcomes patients into a healing environment grounded in evidence-based practices that complement traditional treatment—from guided meditation and yoga to tai chi, journaling and gentle movement. A medical advisory board ensures all programs align with clinical best practices. Physicians lead workshops that reflect current research and real-life concerns: clinical trials, gut health, symptom management through food, stress and its physiological effects, nutrition for comorbid conditions and conversations around sex and intimacy during and after treatment.
Still Rise is also piloting precision oncology tools that offer personalized wellness recommendations and help patients monitor their integrative care beyond the retreat.
Dr. Gary’s belief in food as medicine especially comes alive in this environment. Organic vegetables grown on-site nourish both body and spirit. Cooking demonstrations highlight anti-inflammatory ingredients like turmeric, ginger, garlic, berries, citrus fruits, and omega-3-rich fish—foods that support immunity, reduce inflammation and ease side effects of cancer treatment.
For patients who are newly diagnosed or overwhelmed, she encourages starting simply. “Start with one meal at a time. Find the medicine in every meal,” she says. “Lifestyle changes don’t have to be daunting. I talk about substitutions rather than subtractions and offer healthy alternatives.”
Dr. Gary prefers that patients turn to food, not supplements, to meet their nutritional needs. “I always say, expensive supplements often just make for expensive urine. Whole foods offer more than nutrients. They offer healing.”
Based on current research, Dr. Gary emphasizes that while the role of nutrition in treating cancer is evolving, the link between poor nutrition and cancer development is well defined. “Focusing on the things we can control—our meals, our movement, our mindset—can make a powerful impact not only on cancer but on overall health. The synergistic effect improves outcomes across every chronic condition.”
She routinely recommends increasing intake of antioxidants and trace minerals like zinc, chromium and selenium, as well as boosting protein where medically safe. But beyond these guidelines, she keeps the emphasis personal. “I follow up with patients to see how they feel when they eat certain foods, how they’re healing and how their other conditions are improving through intentional nutrition.”
Although she jokes about learning to be a farmer—tending vegetables and maintaining barns and ponds—Dr. Gary sees each moment on the land as part of a deeper calling.
“It’s medicine in another form,” she reflects. “This land is teaching me how to slow down, listen and care in new ways.”
Still Rise Farms is, at its core, a return to purpose.
Her farm overflows with leafy greens like kale, chard and spinach; cruciferous vegetables; squash and tomatoes; berries; and fruit trees bearing peaches, pears and cherries. But the harvest isn’t just for nourishment. It is for justice.
“This year, we’re using the farm not only as a classroom but as a source of support,” Dr. Gary shares. “We’re providing CSA produce boxes for cancer patients at reduced or no cost. When you’re fighting cancer, it’s an expensive journey. Not everyone has access to the foods they need to heal.”
Her philosophy is simple but powerful: wellness should be democratized. At Still Rise Farms, that belief is planted in every row—and passed on, one box of fresh produce at a time.
© 2025 Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
