For over a decade, my journey in the medical field has been driven by a deep desire to help people reclaim their health. My passion for medicine started long before I ever set foot in nursing school. As a child, I helped my grandmother care for my grandfather, who was a diabetic with end-stage renal disease. I rode with him to dialysis appointments and doctor visits, making sure to tell his doctor what he had eaten that week that he shouldn’t have. That experience planted the seed for my career in healthcare—I wanted to help people navigate their health the way I had helped him. I started my career in a hospital setting, on a team treating cardiac care patients and working within the traditional medical system. While I witnessed firsthand the incredible advancements in acute care, I also saw the limitations of our healthcare model when it came to long-term wellness. Our system is exceptional at crisis intervention—saving lives in emergencies—but when it comes to comprehensive, preventative care, it falls short. We are the most medicated society in history, yet chronic disease is at an all-time high. I knew there had to be a better way. Later, during nurse practitioner school, my focus shifted toward preventative care and functional medicine after experiencing personal losses. My father passed away at the age of 57 before I could finish my program due to complications from COVID, but his health struggles had started long before. Like my grandfather, he had diabetes and kidney disease, and watching his decline made me question how much of it could have been prevented with better care. More recently, my mother battled triple-negative breast cancer. Thankfully, she is now in remission, but her journey made me even more passionate about exploring alternative and adjunct therapies to traditional treatments. Through all of this, my mission has become clear—helping people prevent or reverse chronic disease, not just manage it.
My search for answers led me to functional medicine, a field that takes a root-cause approach rather than simply managing symptoms with prescriptions. Functional medicine gave me the framework to understand how the body operates as an interconnected complex system rather than isolated parts. This approach resonated with me deeply, yet the focus in medical schools and nurse practitioner programs typically boils down to X problem gets Y prescription.
In leaving traditional medicine, I joined a well-known functional medicine clinic where I treated high-profile athletes and public figures. While the connections were great, I much preferred working with those individuals who have lost hope in their primary care provider because they have been told so many times that they are “normal” when they don’t feel normal. I loved helping the 40-year-old dad who had been on Ambien for over half of his life but actually had a simple magnesium deficiency and is now off the meds and sleeping better than ever. Or, the 29-year-old mom who just wasn’t feeling herself after childbirth due to an undiagnosed autoimmune disorder but is now feeling like herself again. Or, the 62-year-old grandfather who barely had the energy to get out of the couch and thought this was just part of getting old but is now consistent in the gym and thriving. Functional medicine helped my patients understand why they were feeling the way they were and empowered them to reclaim their health. The results were undeniable—patients experienced transformative improvements in their health when given the right tools and support.
My goal has always been to foster a true ongoing patient-provider relationship, one where I can deeply understand each person’s unique health journey and provide ongoing, personalized support. I want my patients to be my patients, not just another name in a crowded schedule. That’s why I founded Core Functional Medicine. Here, I prioritize individualized care, ensuring that patients are seen within two weeks of completing their lab work. I believe in providing direct, ongoing support rather than one-off consultations. At Core Functional Medicine, the focus isn’t on rushing patients through an overloaded system—it’s on giving each person the time, attention, and care they truly deserve. My passion lies in helping everyday people who have been let down by the conventional system, guiding them toward sustainable health and real, lasting change.
If you’ve ever felt unheard or dismissed in your healthcare journey, or simply think that how you feel today is just a part of getting older, know that there is another way. Functional medicine is not just about treating symptoms—it’s about restoring your body’s natural ability to heal. I’m honored to walk this path with my patients, providing care that is truly centered on them. This is what medicine should be.
