Tampa nurse practitioner urges women to vet testosterone providers ahead of FDA menopause workshop

Tampa Bay family nurse practitioner Maribel Dixon is urging women considering testosterone therapy for menopause to ask more about provider training as the FDA prepares a Sept. 17 workshop on the topic. The debate highlights growing interest in off-label testosterone use for menopausal women, along with major evidence gaps on safety and long-term outcomes.

Why it matters: - Testosterone use for menopausal women is growing, but FDA-approved testosterone products are only cleared for men, making treatment for women an off-label decision that should be based on careful clinical judgment. - The FDA says key gaps remain around sexual function, cognition, mood, musculoskeletal health, testosterone testing and interpretation, and long-term cardiovascular and breast cancer safety. - Women evaluating hormone care are being urged to look closely at a provider’s hormone-specific training, not just licensure.

What happened: - Maribel Dixon, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, founder and clinical director of South Beach Wellness Center in Lutz, Florida, called on women to ask more questions about prescriber training ahead of a national FDA workshop on testosterone in menopausal women. - The FDA Office of Women’s Health and the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research will hold the hybrid workshop on Sept. 17 at FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, with virtual access nationwide. - The workshop will bring together clinicians, researchers and the public to examine off-label testosterone use in menopausal women.

The details: - Dixon said patients should ask where a provider received hormone-specific education, what that training included, how treatment decisions are made and what will be monitored after therapy begins. - Dixon said licensure and specialized hormone training are not the same thing. - South Beach Wellness Center provides menopause and perimenopause care, hormone replacement therapy and primary care. - Dixon is a board-certified family nurse practitioner who has practiced in Tampa Bay since 2012. - Before opening South Beach Wellness Center, Dixon worked for five years alongside an internal medicine physician managing patients with chronic health conditions. - Dixon has also taught registered nursing students and precepted nurse practitioner students. - Dixon earned a Master of Science in Nursing with a Family Nurse Practitioner specialty and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from South University. - Dixon was inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. - Dixon later completed advanced hormone education through WorldLink Medical and earned an Advanced Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy certification. - WorldLink Medical describes that credential as advanced clinical education in hormone therapy followed by a competency-based exam, and its legacy pathway requires four training modules before certification. - WorldLink Medical distinguishes the credential from physician specialty board certification. - South Beach Wellness Center serves English- and Spanish-speaking patients in Lutz, Wesley Chapel, Land O’ Lakes, New Tampa and surrounding Tampa Bay communities. - Dixon immigrated to the United States from Cuba at age 9, and says communication and patient education have remained central to the practice.

Between the lines: - The FDA workshop signals that testosterone in menopause is moving from a niche clinical question to a broader national conversation about evidence, safety and standards of care. - Dixon’s message reflects a larger push to separate marketing-driven hormone care from individualized medical evaluation. - The February 2026 FDA labeling changes to six menopausal hormone therapy products, which removed boxed-warning statements about cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and probable dementia, have added momentum to the debate. - Dixon argues that more attention to menopause medicine should lead to more careful diagnosis, not automatic treatment. - Dixon said symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disruption, mood changes, weight change and cognitive complaints can happen during the menopause transition, but they can also have other causes.

What's next: - The FDA workshop is expected to sharpen discussion of where testosterone may fit in menopause care and where evidence is still lacking. - Dixon says patients should keep asking why a treatment is being recommended, what alternatives were considered, what is being monitored and what would trigger a dose change or stop order. - South Beach Wellness Center says it will continue using a patient-centered model that weighs medical history, symptoms, medications, laboratory findings and overall health rather than relying on a single hormone level or standardized protocol. - Dixon says menopause care should focus on safer, better decisions for each patient through education, evaluation and monitoring.

The bottom line: - The FDA is putting testosterone in menopause under a national microscope, and Dixon’s advice is simple: patients should choose providers with real hormone training and a clear monitoring plan.