Men’s Health · Health Improvement Institute · Cherry Hill, NJ
Men die earlier.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Varun Verma, M.D.
After 14 years treating the consequences of metabolic disease inside some of the country’s leading hospitals, I now work upstream — identifying risk early, addressing it directly, and staying genuinely involved before small problems become irreversible ones.
Request a ConsultationAvailable via telehealth · In person in Cherry Hill, NJ · Licensed in NJ, NY, CA, FL & PA
Men die 5 years earlier than women on average. Heart disease at a rate 38% higher. Suicide four times higher. Liver disease twice as high.
Some of this gap is biological. Most of it isn’t.
Early warning signs
Do any of these sound familiar?
These aren’t just inconveniences. They’re signals. The metabolic dysfunction driving your weight gain, low testosterone, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol builds quietly — until it doesn’t.
Weight creeping up despite your efforts
Energy and drive declining — not feeling like yourself
Low libido, poor sleep, brain fog
A1C trending toward prediabetes (5.7–6.4)
Blood pressure rising or requiring more medication
Cholesterol numbers getting worse every year
You’re 40, 50, 55 years old. You watched this happen to your father.
You’re here because you don’t want to become another statistic.
Why I built this
I’ve seen this story too many times.
A 55-year-old man does everything right — yearly checkups, takes his meds, follows the plan. Everyone says things are “stable” — until one morning his life changes in an instant. Not because he ignored the warning signs. Because the system did.
In 14 years of hospital medicine, I saw men arrive in crisis carrying things they’d never brought to a doctor — embarrassment, silence, and years of brushed-off symptoms. Concerns about energy, libido, weight, their mood. Things they’d convinced themselves weren’t worth mentioning. By the time they were in front of me, the window for prevention had often closed.
The numbers tell that story plainly. Men die from cancer at significantly higher rates — colorectal cancer, once the fourth-leading cancer killer in men under 50, is now first, driven largely by delayed screening. Liver disease kills men at twice the rate of women. Suicide claims men’s lives at four times the rate of women’s.
Some of this gap is biological. But research is clear that a large part is structural — men avoid routine care, delay screening, and operate in a system that has never been designed around how they actually engage with their health.
This practice is built for men who are ready to engage — and designed to make that easier than it’s ever been.
What sets this apart
Not your regular 10-minute visit.
Time to actually talk
60–90 minute visits with no clock watching, no rushing, no judgment. A lot of men tell me things in the first visit they’ve never said to a doctor before.
A physician who knows your history
Continuity means I know your labs, your trajectory, and your goals — not meeting you fresh every time and starting from scratch.
Direct access — no phone trees
No phone tree, no anonymous portal replies, no starting over every time — you hear from me directly during business hours.
Action, not “wait and see”
I intervene early and treat problems directly. Most of my patients had been told their numbers were fine — until we looked more carefully.
The plan
What we’ll work on together.
Evidence-based, individualized, and built around your life — not a template.
Nutrition
- Maximizing your protein intake
- Developing a nutritious, sustainable eating plan
- Feeding your gut microbiome
- Intermittent fasting when appropriate
Movement
- Zone 2 cardio — 30 min, 5x/week
- Strength training to preserve muscle
- Consistency over intensity
- Built around your real schedule
Medication
- FDA-approved medications when indicated
- Careful dose titration
- Side effect monitoring
- Physician oversight at every step
Supplements
- Evidence-based recommendations only
- No upsells, no commissions, no pseudoscience
- Vitamin D, magnesium, omega-3, creatine where indicated
- Honest conversation about what actually works
Areas of focus
The conditions that quietly shorten men’s lives.
Low Testosterone
Comprehensive workup to identify the cause, not just the number. Testosterone replacement when clinically indicated — with ongoing monitoring and optimization.
Obesity & Weight Management
Physician-led medical weight loss with evidence-based strategies and GLP-1 medications when appropriate. No gimmicks, no shortcuts.
Cardiovascular Risk
LDL management, blood pressure optimization, and advanced risk stratification — targeted at optimal outcomes, not guideline minimums.
Metabolic Syndrome & Prediabetes
Early intervention on A1C, insulin resistance, and the cluster of conditions that drive long-term disease risk. Reverse the trend before it becomes a diagnosis.
Medications we prescribe
Clinically appropriate. Physician-supervised. No shortcuts.
Every medication is prescribed only when the clinical picture supports it — with proper workup, dose titration, and monitoring included.
Testosterone Replacement (TRT)
For men with confirmed hypogonadism and symptoms — fatigue, low libido, body composition changes, poor sleep. A full workup (LH, FSH, estradiol, prolactin) is done first to understand the cause, not just treat the number.
GLP-1 Agonists (Weight & Metabolic Health)
Tirzepatide (Zepbound, Mounjaro) and semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic) — the most effective FDA-approved tools for sustainable weight loss and metabolic improvement.
Metformin
For prediabetes, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome. One of the most evidence-backed, well-tolerated medications in medicine — and frequently underutilized in early metabolic disease.
Statins
For elevated LDL and cardiovascular risk reduction. I target optimal goals for high-risk patients — not just “good enough.” Prescribed and monitored with lipid panels and liver function as indicated.
Patient results
Real outcomes. Not before-and-after photos.
Every case is different. That’s the point.
Case study · Details changed for privacy
M., 44 — Healthcare Professional
At start
A1C 5.8
BP 135/80 on 2 meds
194 lbs
At 6 months
A1C 5.4
BP 120/80 on 1 med
178 lbs
16 lbs lost · A1C normalized · Reduced from 2 BP medications to 1
Tirzepatide · Zone 2 cardio 4x/week · Time-restricted eating · Personalized nutrition protocol
Case study · Details changed for privacy
J., 48 — Surgeon
J. came in concerned about low energy, disrupted sleep, and declining drive — and specifically wondering about testosterone. A full workup confirmed secondary hypogonadism with intact LH and FSH. Before starting anything, we also ran a comprehensive cardiovascular panel. His ApoB came back above 90 — a meaningful risk signal in a man with a demanding career, a young family, and decades ahead of him.
We initiated testosterone replacement at the lowest effective dose — targeted to his symptoms and baseline, not an arbitrary number. Simultaneously we added rosuvastatin to address his cardiovascular risk. The goal wasn’t just how he feels today. It was protecting the life he’s built.
Case study · Details changed for privacy
S., 51 — Executive
S. came in for a comprehensive baseline. What we found surprised him — and would have been missed entirely in a standard visit. Mercury levels were elevated, blood pressure was above goal, ApoB was elevated, and vitamin D was significantly deficient. After reviewing his diet, the likely culprit emerged: a long-standing pescatarian diet high in fish with elevated mercury content.
We built a structured 12-week plan — reduce high-mercury fish consumption, retest labs, and monitor carefully. Meanwhile we addressed his cardiovascular risk profile directly: blood pressure medication optimization and statin therapy for ApoB. Vitamin D was repleted — a deficiency linked to everything from energy and mood to immune function and certain cancers. Four changes. Meaningful impact on his long-term trajectory.
Getting started
The first step is a conversation.
Complimentary Introductory Call
The first step is a brief conversation — to hear what’s going on, answer your questions, and determine whether this practice is the right fit for you.
If we decide to move forward, I’ll outline a care plan and we’ll discuss what that looks like — including fees — before any commitment is made.
This is a premium direct-pay practice. Physician services are not billed through insurance. A superbill is available upon request for HSA/FSA reimbursement.
The physician
Varun Verma, M.D.
Board-Certified · Internal Medicine & Obesity Medicine
Fourteen years as a hospital physician at UCSF, Brigham & Women’s, Mount Sinai, and Jefferson Health taught me something I couldn’t ignore: most chronic disease doesn’t suddenly appear in the hospital. By the time patients are sick enough to be admitted, the process has usually been unfolding quietly for years.
What we call a health crisis is often the predictable result of missed opportunities — in prevention, in primary care, in lifestyle, and in the way modern healthcare is structured. That’s not a personal failure. It’s a systems problem.
That realization pushed me upstream. Today I run a direct-pay practice in South Jersey for adults who want to stay ahead of disease instead of reacting to it after the fact.
“Protocols and research tell us where to start. Your labs, your history, and how you actually feel tell us where to go. The doctor-patient relationship is something I hold sacred.”
Is this right for you
Built for men who are ready to stop accepting “fine.”
You’re likely a good fit if any of these resonate.
- You’ve noticed weight creeping up, energy declining, or labs trending wrong — and want to address it before it becomes a crisis.
- You’ve wondered about your testosterone — or been told it’s “normal” without anyone actually asking how you feel.
- You have metabolic risk factors — prediabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history of heart disease — and want more than “watch and wait.”
- You see multiple specialists and feel like nobody is looking at the full picture or coordinating your care.
- You want physician-led care — not a med spa, not an online subscription, not a 10-minute visit where half the time is paperwork.
- You’ve never had a doctor who had time to actually talk. You’re ready for that to change.
Scope of practice
What I focus on.
- Testosterone optimization and men’s hormonal health
- Medical weight loss and GLP-1 management
- Cardiovascular risk reduction and cholesterol management
- Metabolic health, prediabetes, and insulin resistance
- General internal medicine — as a board-certified internist, you don’t need to limit the conversation
If any of this resonates,
let’s have a conversation.
No commitment. Just a brief call to hear what’s going on and see if this is the right fit.
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