Get to Know Dr. Wuse

I’m Mawusi Arnett. I’m a board-certified Family Medicine Physician (MD) with a public health background (MPH).

My friends and family call me Wuse (woose like moose).

I care a lot about health equity and making sure everyone has the resources they need to make healthy choices. That’s why I founded Byte Wellness.

Byte Wellness is a digital wellness education resource that delivers courses via text message. Although we welcome everyone who can use them, our courses were designed to address the specific health experiences shared by Black and women-identifying people.

What Gives Me Life These Days? Handstands.

I also like to swim and run even though I’m a little rusty compared to my college track and field days.

And, I’ll almost never turn down a good cup of earl grey tea or a deep dish pizza.

HoW IT STARTED

I’m a born-and-raised Chicagoan- “a girl from the South Side” as Michelle Obama termed herself. Fun fact: we have a high school, college, and college major in common).

Growing up, I saw first-hand how neighborhood characteristics can impact a person’s health (for better or for worse).

And, I was awestruck by the innovative work-arounds that community members developed as a direct response to a lack of health resources (i.e living in a food desert).

So, when I left Chicago for college, it was a no-brainer that I’d be back. And, when I came back, I’d be armed with the skills to support the health and life chances of people in my community and others like it.

After high school, I spent about a decade in the Northeastern United States. 

I went to college at Princeton University and then straight to the University of Pennsylvania for medical school.  Along the way, I earned a Masters degree in Public Health at Johns Hopkins. 

My residency training to be a Family Medicine physician brought me back home to the Chicago area (to Northwestern Medicine).

After residency, (during the height of the pandemic) I worked as a hospitalist (inpatient) doctor at Northwestern hospital in Lake Forest, IL.

HOW IT’S GOING

Now, I work as a travel doctor while building my own preventive medicine practice to help people make meaningful shifts in lifestyle habits. My husband and I split time in Chicago and Los Angeles, California.

My stint away from Chicago allowed me to spend time in other communities that had a lot in common with the South Side. I taught TONS of nutrition classes in churches and community centers. I even had the privilege of helping some lovely folks in the Philadelphia’s Mantua neighborhood build a grant-funded healthy cooking program.

Byte Wellness pulls together all these experiences to provide health education and healthy habit support to people who need it most.