ABOUT SELF PRINCIPLE

A nonprofit built to make evidence-based health education free.

SELF Principle is a physician-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We turn medical evidence into clear, practical health education and help Southern California students participate in organized sports through the Exercise pillar of SELF: Sleep, Exercise, Love, and Food.

Sean Hashmi, MD, teaching kidney and metabolic health

Why this exists

Thuha Hashmi and Sean Hashmi, MD co-founded SELF Principle after Sean’s sister’s death and their family’s experiences with serious illness. Those experiences shaped a commitment to make trustworthy health information understandable and freely available.

What we teach

Kidney health

Kidney disease is often silent. We explain the blood and urine tests that find it, what results mean, and the treatments and habits that help protect kidney function.

Metabolic health

We explain weight, blood sugar, insulin resistance, and GLP-1 medicines without hype, including where lifestyle and treatment can reduce risk.

Protecting kidney and metabolic health can help preserve function, independence, and quality of life.

How we work

  • Every recommendation comes from peer-reviewed research and named clinical guidelines.
  • When the evidence is early, small, or mixed, we say so.
  • This website and newsletter carry no paid health advertising or sponsored editorial content. No advertiser or sponsor pays to influence what we teach.
  • Education, not individual medical advice. Always talk to your own physician.
Read our editorial standards

Board of Directors

Thuha Hashmi

Thuha Hashmi

President

Thuha Hashmi co-founded SELF Principle with her husband, Dr. Sean Hashmi, out of a shared desire to give back. Her own health experiences helped inspire SELF Principle and its focus on Sleep, Exercise, Love, and Food. As President, she brings a personal connection to the organization’s mission of helping others lead healthier lives.

Sean Hashmi, MD

Sean Hashmi, MD

Co-founder

Dr. Sean Hashmi is a board-certified nephrologist and obesity medicine specialist and co-founder of SELF Principle. His work makes evidence-based kidney and metabolic health education accessible to everyone. Through SELF Principle, he also helps Southern California students access organized sports, putting the Exercise pillar of Sleep, Exercise, Love, and Food into practice.

Bandana (Bella) Chawla, MD

Bandana (Bella) Chawla, MD

Board Member

Dr. Bandana Chawla is a board-certified internal medicine and lifestyle medicine physician with more than 25 years of experience in primary care, preventive medicine, and physician education. She has mentored medical students, residents, and nurse practitioner students. Through volunteerism and community health outreach, she is committed to expanding access to compassionate, evidence-based care for underserved populations.

Munish Chawla, MD

Munish Chawla, MD

Board Member

Dr. Munish Chawla is board-certified in diagnostic radiology and lifestyle medicine, with extensive experience in physician leadership, behavior change science, mindfulness-based interventions, patient education, and community health. He is a published author, educator, and founder of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing health and wellness in under-resourced communities.

About Dr. Hashmi

Sean Hashmi, MD is a board-certified nephrologist and obesity-medicine specialist. He publishes new teaching on YouTube that explains kidney and metabolic health in plain English.

Watch on YouTube
Sean Hashmi, MD companion site

What your support does

Everything here is free, and it stays that way because people fund it. Charitable support helps produce the videos and guides, keep the website and newsletter running, and provide the SELF Principle Sports Scholarship for Southern California students in grades 4 through 8.

Support the mission

SELF Principle is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN 82-2660081.

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