About Dr. Stacey Denise | The Neuroaesthetic MD™
From trauma to ritual. From surgery to sensory healing.
Founder, SDM Medical PLLC | Lifestyle Medicine Physician | Doctoral Researcher Trauma-Informed Neuroaesthetics & Sensory Medicine ORCID: 0009-0007-6127-4194
"Medicine must move beyond symptom-suppression and acknowledge the full landscape of lived, emotional, and sensory experience." — Dr. Stacey Denise
From High-Performance to High-Presence
I Was Trained to Cut.
Now, I Teach Women to Feel.
I began my career as one of the first Black female pediatric surgeons in Texas, a milestone wrapped in silence.
Surgical training rewarded emotional suppression and mirrored my childhood, where feelings signaled weakness and perfection promised safety. I carried that survival script through medicine, marriage, and motherhood until it shattered me completely.
I wasn’t just burned out. I was emotionally bankrupt, living in what trauma researcher Dr. Stephen Porges describes as a functional freeze, doing everything while feeling nothing. That breaking point became my breakthrough, launching a journey I now call The Neuroaesthetic Reset Method™.
Today, I help high-functioning women who’ve spent decades performing “normal” finally come home to their bodies through nervous-system-centered care that honors both science and sensation.
My path from surgeon to sensory healer wasn't linear, it was necessary.
Tools for Alexithymia
A Diagnosis I Never Saw Coming
A diagnosis I never saw coming
Alexithymia changed everything.
At midlife, I discovered I wasn’t “too sensitive” or “cold”. I had undiagnosed traits of autism and alexithymia, a neurological condition that made naming or feeling emotions nearly impossible.
As a Black Gen X woman, I had spent decades doing rather than feeling, over-functioning to survive and dissociating to cope.
Like many women I now serve, especially those navigating metabolic changes, menopause belly, and insulin resistance. I had been running on empty for years, my nervous system stuck in overdrive while my body kept the score.
From canvas to clinical practice
That is when art became my lifeline.
To heal, I had to innovate. I traded my scalpel for sensory tools, using art, color, and ritual to rewire my own nervous system. That personal survival strategy became the foundation of my doctoral research and clinical practice today.
My work blends emotional neuroscience, sensory anchoring, and trauma-responsive design to support regulation and recovery in midlife.
Today, I practice lifestyle medicine through a neuroaffirming, sensory-aware lens.
with See Her Digital Artwork
Signature Frameworks & Methods
The Neuroaesthetic Reset Method™
My work is guided by a framework I developed called The Neuroaesthetic Reset Method™.
This method integrates lifestyle medicine, nervous system science, and neuroaesthetic principles to help women make sense of the changes happening during perimenopause and menopause.
Rather than chasing symptoms one at a time, The Neuroaesthetic Reset Method™ focuses on identifying the underlying pattern and restoring biological rhythm across the systems most affected in midlife.
The question is whether they are being interpreted through the right lens.
The framework is organized around three pillars.
Pattern Recognition
Care begins by identifying the pattern behind your symptoms.
Sleep disruption, metabolic changes, nervous system overload, and hormonal shifts rarely occur in isolation. Through structured assessment, symptom mapping, and clinical context, we determine which patterns are most active in your physiology.
This step replaces guesswork with clarity.
Sensory Regulation
Through a neuroaesthetic lens, I incorporate strategies that support nervous system regulation, including pacing, environmental awareness, and sensory-informed practices.
The Color Reset Method™ is one tool within this framework that helps women understand how visual and environmental cues can influence emotional and physiological regulation.
Clinical Rhythm Restoration
Once the pattern is clear, care moves into physician-guided treatment and lifestyle medicine.
This may include sleep-focused interventions, metabolic stabilization, hormone-informed decision-making, and personalized strategies that restore biological rhythm and improve daily function.
The goal is not symptom suppression alone. The goal is restoring coherence across the systems affected by menopause.
Academic & Clinical Focus
Innovating Science, Healing, and Empowerment
Today, I channel 25+ years of clinical leadership into pioneering research at the intersection of sleep-centered medicine, metabolic resilience, and creative emotional healing.
As a PhD candidate at Lifestyle Prescriptions University, my work challenges the traditional medical model by centering the lived experience of neurodivergent and high-functioning women.
All publications, and research data are available through my ORCID profile.
The Work I Do Now
Today, I provide physician-guided perimenopause and menopause care focused on sleep disruption, metabolic instability, and nervous system regulation.
Credentials & Leadership
Mini Bio Snapshot:
- Board Certification & Licensure
- Board Certified, Surgery (Retired Clinical Surgeon)
- Medical Licensure: Texas, California, Maryland & Ohio (Telehealth)
- Member: The Menopause Society, American College of Lifestyle Medicine
- Academic & Research
- PhD Candidate, Lifestyle Prescriptions University (Focus: Neuroaesthetics)
- ORCID Registered Researcher
- Creator, The Neuroaesthetic Reset™ Clinical Hub
- Design & Innovation
- IACC-NA Certified Color Consultant
- Founder, Ceyise Studios (Neuroaesthetic AI Consultancy)
- Host, The Nervous System Eats First Podcast
Medicine Must Move Beyond Symptom-Suppression
For women seeking a physician to manage their menopause journey.
In my licensed medical practice, I serve as your doctor. We prioritize sleep as the primary vital sign to unlock metabolic and hormonal repair:
Sleep-First Diagnostics: We analyze your sleep architecture first to understand your metabolic and hormonal baseline.
Precision Labs: Comprehensive panels connecting your cortisol, insulin, and hormones to your sleep data.
Medical Management: Bio-identical hormone therapy (BHRT) and prescription support to restore rhythm and regulation.