Yasmine S. Ali, MD, MSCI, FACC, FACP

Bestselling Author | Award-Winning Public Speaker | Cardiologist | Consultant | Personal Development Coach

Dr. Yasmine (pronounced “Yes-meen”) Ali is a board-certified preventive cardiologist, bestselling and award-winning author, award-winning public speaker, and optimist. As CEO of LastSky Writing, LLC and Founder of its Positive Vibes media brand, she brings nearly 35 years of clinical experience and 40 years of published authorship to her transformative work with organizations and high-performing individuals.

Dr. Ali has published across genres and formats, including medical writing, blogging, fiction, prescriptive nonfiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. As a speaker and consultant, she has worked with Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 companies on 5 different continents.

Professional Background

Dr. Ali obtained her Doctor of Medicine with highest honors from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. She also holds a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI), as well as a BA (summa cum laude) in history and in molecular biology, with a minor in chemistry, all from Vanderbilt. She is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt.

She is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology (FACC) and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians (FACP). She is also a longtime Premium Professional Member of the American Heart Association, and has served in leadership positions with the American Medical Association and the Tennessee Medical Association as well as with the Tennessee Chapter of the American College of Physicians.

Leadership Expertise

Dr. Ali’s unique ORCHID Leadership Model (TM) integrates medical science with organizational psychology, showing how Optimism, Resilience, Creativity, Health, Innovation, and Determination directly impact business performance and productivity. Her work with Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 companies, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and startups has demonstrated that passion-driven leadership creates measurable results. As a speaker, consultant, and executive coach, she helps leaders create healthier, more optimistic organizations where people thrive, and she helps high-performing individuals design their own lives to do the same.

Publishing & Writing Career

Dr. Ali has published across genres and formats, including medical writing, blogging, fiction, prescriptive nonfiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is the bestselling author of Walk through Fire: The Train Disaster that Changed America, a narrative history of the Waverly Train Disaster of 1978 and the creation of FEMA. This riveting, minute-by-minute account of one of the worst train explosions of the 20th century, which occurred in her own hometown of Waverly, Tennessee, was hailed as an “amazing story with important lessons for all of us” by Country Music icon Loretta Lynn.

Her debut novel, The View from the Cliffs, a work of literary medical fiction, was released to great international acclaim in December 2024 and has thus far reached readers on 3 different continents. It is the first book under her own publishing imprint, LastSky Books.

As a medical writer and editor, Dr. Ali has 35 years of experience serving in various capacities and with multiple media:

Chief Editor of the cardiology sections of Medscape Reference Drugs and Diseases (from WebMD) for 16 years
Physician Editor for MCG Health, LLC, for nearly 10 years, aiding in the creation and revision of evidence-based clinical care guidelines
Medical editor, writer, and CME speaker for MedStudy, specializing in board review materials in internal medicine and pediatrics
Obesity Expert for Verywell Health (from DotDash Meredith), creating the Obesity site from scratch
Medical reviewer for Verywell Health and Health.com
Extensive publications in peer-reviewed medical journals

Her writing has been featured in Vogue magazine, Real Simple magazine, WebMD, The Tennessean, Reader’s Digest, Trains magazine, Healthline, Hearst Health, Circulation, and much more.

Media, Speaking & Consulting

Dr. Ali has been an award-winning public speaker for 4 decades in multiple media and live events. She has appeared on CBS and ABC affiliates, C-SPAN, NPR, the Southern Festival of Books, multiple radio programs and podcasts, webinars, and in live events across the United States as well as globally.

As a medical consultant, Dr. Ali has contributed her expertise and research skills in cardiovascular medicine, clinical lipidology, and healthcare to:

International investment firms
Medical device manufacturers
CME companies
International food and nutrition companies
Law firms
Medical communications firms
National disability and workers compensation insurance providers
Health and wellness organizations
Employee wellness programs
Clinical research ventures

Positive Vibes

Through her Positive Vibes media brand, Dr. Ali shares practical strategies for maintaining optimism and wellness in high-pressure environments. Her Positive Vibes newsletter delivers good news and fosters a spirit of healthy optimism, with the motto “Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side…” and following Alex Haley’s advice to “Find the good and praise it.”

Professional Memberships

Dr. Ali is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Premium Professional member of the American Heart Association, and a member of the American Medical Association, the American Medical Writers Association, the Authors Guild, and the Alliance of Independent Authors.

Connect with Dr. Ali

You can keep up with her author news, events, and subscriber-only specials by signing up for her free Positive Vibes newsletter. To contact her or her team directly, please see the Contact Page.

“Leading with Optimism, Leading with Passion”