Functional medicine is focused on understanding the factors that support health, and identifying the underlying causes for the development of disease. This is vastly different from my conventional training which focused on diagnosis of disease through laboratory testing and imaging studies and treatment of disease through the use of pharmaceuticals and invasive procedures.

As an ICU physician, still in practice, I am very familiar with the latter approach. It can be lifesaving for treating acute diseases, and stabilizing chronic disease. I would encourage all of my patients to continue to see their primary care provider. I see functional medicine as filling a gap in healthcare to address issues before they progress to the level of acute disease.

I can work with patients with a range of conditions, but have focused on those listed below. If your primary concern is not on that list, it does not mean it would not respond to functional medicine approaches. In general I have found that supporting the underlying tenets of health is a very flexible approach and can help patients with a vast array of concerns. Long COVID Fatigue Healthy Aging Chronic GI discomfort Autoimmune disease Brain fog Adrenal dysfunction Detoxification Cognitive decline* And More

*Cognitive decline is a complex topic with numerous contributing factors, some of which are easier to address than others. In this area in particular, early intervention and family support is key. I by no means consider myself an expert in this, but I have completed the ReCODE 2.0 training under Dr Dale Bredesen as well as additional training in neurodegenerative diseases with the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. The potential for improvement is encouraging, but it is by no means certain.

Yes, when medically appropriate. Our goal is to use the least invasive and most effective tools, sometimes that includes prescriptions, sometimes targeted lifestyle and functional approaches are enough.

Yes. We use stool, hormone, nutrient, mitochondrial, inflammation, and genomic testing when clinically useful, not routinely.

Yes. Pediatric functional medicine covers a broad spectrum of conditions from chronic GI discomfort to skin conditions to autism. For neurologic conditions like autism, PANS and PANDAS, we offer NeuroGenomics, which can be particularly helpful to decrease some of the trial and error in treatment approaches. For more information on our pediatric genomics approach click here

No. My residency training was in general surgery, and my fellowship was in critical care. My first-line blood pressure medication is an IV drip in the intensive care unit with the nurse at your bedside. Primary care physicians have gone through at least 3 years of residency training in either family medicine or internal medicine and are inherently better suited for outpatient management. Functional medicine and primary care go hand-in-hand, but do not replace each other. My goal is to help identify underlying causes of chronic illness, but that is not a rapid process and won't replace the need for acute care. For example, if you have uncontrolled Crohn's disease, I still want you to be working with your primary care and GI doctors to get your symptoms acutely under control. We can work together to try to identify causes that may have contributed to any acute flare and make them less likely to return. Those strategies complement each other, but I believe patients do best with both approaches.