Sparks & Favor PC

We are very pleased to welcome Dr. MacKenzie Malek to Sparks and Favor. We will begin scheduling her appointments within the coming weeks (watch for announcement on our social media pages). She will be seeing patients in early August!

Undergraduate Education: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Medical Education: University of Alabama School of Medicine
Residency: The Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine – Scott & White
Board Certified: American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Fellow, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Dr. MacKenzie Malek grew up in Huntsville, Alabama. Her interest in the sciences did not surprise…

For the Class of 2023, graduation events are mostly behind you, and the time until move-in day doesn’t seem like nearly enough for all your summer plans. Whether you are starting college or taking your first step into a career, a wellness exam might be on your summer to-do list.

Colleges and employers vary in whether they require a formal physical exam or other health-related assessments. Most require some health information, but regardless, this is a perfect time to take charge of your own health. Changes in your environment, diet, stress, sleep habits, and exposure to…

There may be a delay in receiving your mammogram or other imaging results. The radiology practice that reads mammograms for our office and mammograms and other imaging for Brookwood’s Women’s Diagnostic Center recently had damages to its facility. No studies were lost, but it is taking time to recover and catch up on the backlog of reports.
We will be working diligently to release your results after receiving them from the radiologist.

Sign up for the patient portal so that your results can be released to you electronically instead of having to wait for a letter in the…

As the average age of first-time mothers continues to creep upward, more women have questions about future fertility and fertility-extending technology. According to the CDC, this average age has reached 27.3 years (2021). And women sometimes delay their pregnancy plans far beyond this age for professional and personal reasons.
“Should I freeze my eggs?”
We hear this question in the office more frequently as more women become aware that the technology exists. In fact, the number of women seeking oocyte cryopreservation (freezing eggs) has increased dramatically over the last decade. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine no…

FOR COLORECTAL CANCER AWARENESS MONTH: THIS POST HAS BEEN REVISED TO INCLUDE NEW INFORMATION ABOUT COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING AND GENETIC TESTING.
We understand that, through a large part of her life, her gynecologist may be the only physician a woman sees every year. While our focus is your reproductive health, we want you to be well-informed about other health issues you may face now or in the future. Colorectal cancer is one of these risks.
Despite the fact that these cancers are highly preventable and very treatable in earlier stages, they are the third leading cause of cancer deaths…

What’s for dinner tonight? Chances are good that it’s not a fish or seafood meal. The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that 8 ounces of fish/seafood per week are part of a healthy eating pattern. Most Americans (80 to 90%) do not reach that goali. We may be missing out on nutrients that benefit our overall health.
Why is Fish an Important Nutrient Source?ii
(For everyone, but especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or might become pregnancy.)

Fish is an excellent source of protein—one of the critical building blocks of tissue growth, repair…

As we come to the end of Heart Month, we’d like to remind women about unique heart-health risks you may face decades before the menopause years. In the U.S., cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death during pregnancy and the postpartum period (the weeks after delivery). 

An essential part of your pregnancy-related healthcare visits, both before conception and throughout your pregnancy, is a measure of your blood pressure. If your blood pressure is not normal, we often recheck it again later in your visit. James Martin, M.D., chair of the Pregnancy and Heart Disease…

Every January the news and social media recap events from the year gone by and try to forecast the headlines of the year ahead. New Year’s Resolutions are always a popular topic even though most of us seem to recycle the ones we made last year. Statistica (a leading supplier of marketing and consumer data) tells us that this year’s top three resolutions were to exercise more, eat healthier, and lose weight—no surprise there. We recognize that excess weight and its associated health risks are a serious national problem. But 2023 may bring us new possibilities for…

The Pap Test Changes Cervical Cancer Survival
Most women regard a Pap Test as a routine part of their reproductive health care. Sometimes you don’t even notice the moment during your exam when your doctor swabs or brushes the cervix to collect cells from its surface. This small sample of cells is sent to a lab where it is examined to look for pre-cancerous or cancerous cells within the sample.

In 1943, Dr. George Nicholas Papanicolaou published his description of a simple procedure that could distinguish normal from abnormal cells taken from swabs of the vagina and cervix…

Happy New Year 2023! Over the years, we’ve posted many greetings in this space suggesting healthy resolutions to start the year. The typical list includes weight-loss, smoking cessation, exercise, preventive healthcare, and so on—worthwhile goals for any new year.

This year we decided to change it up a bit. We begin 2023 with resolutions to make you happy. While none of these “resolutions” can minimize the burden of life’s serious challenges, they might offer you a few more smiles, moments of fun, chances to relax, or personal satisfaction over the next twelve months. Our list got…