Privacy Policy · Ask Dr. Maia

Ask Dr. Maia is a newsletter and educational media platform published by Dr. Maia Hightower, MD MPH MBA. This policy explains what information we collect when you subscribe or visit, how we use it, who we share it with, and what rights you have over it.

We have tried to write this in plain language. If something is unclear, email us at privacy@askdrmaia.com.

What We Collect

When You Subscribe

When you sign up for the Ask Dr. Maia newsletter, we collect:

Email address, required to deliver the newsletter
First name, optional, used to personalize emails if you provide it
IP address, collected automatically by our newsletter platform (beehiiv) at the time of signup, used to detect abuse and comply with legal requirements
Subscription source, how you found the signup form (e.g., website, referral link), used to understand how the newsletter is growing

We do not ask for and do not want your health information, insurance details, medical history, or anything else related to your health. This is a newsletter, not a clinical service.

When You Visit the Website

Our newsletter platform (beehiiv) and any website hosting service we use may collect standard server logs: pages visited, browser type, referring URL, and device type. This information is used in aggregate to understand what content is useful and how the site is being accessed.

We use beehiiv's built-in analytics to track email open rates and link clicks within the newsletter. This is standard newsletter analytics and tells us which topics resonate with readers so we can improve coverage.

When You Click Sponsor or Affiliate Links

Some links in the newsletter are affiliate links or links to sponsored products. When you click these links, the destination website may set its own cookies or tracking pixels. That tracking is governed by their privacy policy, not ours. We have no access to your behavior on third-party websites after you leave.

If a sponsor receives click-level data from a specific campaign, we will note this clearly in the relevant newsletter issue.

What We Do NOT Collect

To be explicit:

No health data. We do not collect, store, or process any information about your health, medical conditions, diagnoses, medications, or health history.
No payment data. We do not process or store payment information directly. When digital products are available, payments will be handled by Lemon Squeezy, which acts as the merchant of record. Your payment data goes to Lemon Squeezy, not to us. Their privacy policy governs how your payment information is handled.
No behavioral tracking beyond email opens and clicks. We do not run retargeting pixels, third-party ad networks, or behavioral tracking systems that follow you around the internet after you leave.
No selling of your data. We do not sell your email address or any other subscriber information. We have never done this and do not intend to.

Who We Share Data With

We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

beehiiv is our newsletter platform and email service provider. They store subscriber data (your email, name, and engagement data) on our behalf. beehiiv acts as a data processor under our agreement with them. You can review beehiiv's privacy policy at beehiiv.com/privacy.

Lemon Squeezy will serve as the merchant of record when digital products become available. If you purchase a product, your transaction data is handled by Lemon Squeezy, not by Ask Dr. Maia. You can review their privacy policy at lemonsqueezy.com/privacy.

Sponsors, only in limited, opt-in circumstances. If a sponsor runs a campaign where clicking a link or downloading a resource requires sharing your email with the sponsor, this will be disclosed clearly in that issue before you take any action. We will not share your data with sponsors without your knowledge and consent.

Legal requirements. We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, court order, or to protect the safety of any person.

We do not share data with data brokers, advertising networks, analytics aggregators, or any third party for marketing purposes.

Cookies

If you visit the Ask Dr. Maia website, the site may use essential cookies, small files stored in your browser, to enable basic functionality (for example, remembering your session or preventing duplicate signup confirmations).

We do not use advertising cookies, tracking cookies, or third-party analytics cookies beyond what is described above. We do not use cookie-based retargeting.

Your Rights

Unsubscribe

Every newsletter email contains an unsubscribe link. Click it at any time to stop receiving emails. Unsubscribing removes you from the mailing list but does not automatically delete the data we hold about you. To request deletion, see below.

Request Access or Deletion

You have the right to ask what data we hold about you and to request that we delete it.

To make either request, email privacy@askdrmaia.com with the subject line "Privacy Request." We will respond within 30 days.

When you request deletion, we will remove your subscriber record from our platform. Note that backups may retain data for a short period after deletion while they cycle out.

EU Residents, GDPR Rights

If you are located in the European Union or European Economic Area, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you the following rights with respect to your personal data:

Right of access, to know what data we hold about you
Right to rectification, to correct inaccurate data
Right to erasure, to request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten")
Right to restriction, to limit how we process your data in certain circumstances
Right to data portability, to receive your data in a machine-readable format
Right to object, to object to processing based on legitimate interests

Our lawful basis for processing your data is your consent, you provided your email address to subscribe. You may withdraw consent at any time by unsubscribing and/or requesting deletion.

To exercise any GDPR right, email privacy@askdrmaia.com. We will respond within 30 calendar days (with a possible 60-day extension for complex requests).

California Residents, CCPA Rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the CPRA) gives you the right to:

Know what personal information we have collected about you and how it is used
Request deletion of your personal information
Opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information (we do not sell or share personal information for advertising purposes)
Non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights

To exercise any CCPA right, email privacy@askdrmaia.com with the subject line "California Privacy Request."

Children

Ask Dr. Maia is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please email privacy@askdrmaia.com and we will delete it promptly.

Security

We rely on beehiiv's security infrastructure to protect subscriber data. beehiiv uses industry-standard security measures including encryption in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and at rest.

That said, no system connected to the internet is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee that your data will never be subject to unauthorized access. We will notify affected subscribers promptly in the event of a data breach that involves their information, consistent with applicable law.

Changes to This Policy

If we make material changes to this privacy policy, for example, adding a new data collection practice or sharing data with a new type of third party, we will notify active subscribers by email before the changes take effect. The updated policy will be posted at the URL where you are reading this, with a new "Last updated" date.

Continued subscription after notification of a material change constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

Contact

Privacy questions, requests, or concerns:

Email: privacy@askdrmaia.com

Last updated: May 2, 2026