About Us
Nice to meet you
Hi, I’m glad you’re here. I’ve spent my career in medicine working with people to teach them about health, longevity and investing in themselves. My story starts as most young medical students does- filled with idealism that I was going to have the skills to help people feel better -and as a result, enjoy their lives more. As I progressed through my training from medical school to residency and then beyond into my years of post-graduate study, I encountered many obstacles that seemed to put space between what medicine trained us to accomplish and what practicing medicine in real life was like.
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These included things like pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, mega hospital systems and pharmacies that all seemed financially driven at the expense to my patients.
After observing the effects this had on how I was able to practice medicine and show up for my patients each day, I made a switch to direct primary care (DPC) in 2006, just days after my third child was born.
It was a new beginning for everyone- my family, myself and my patients. I have high regards for this type of practice, which I think does an amazing job of removing those barriers between patient and physician. DPC returns medical care to those who are trained to deliver it (the physicians) and those who need it (the patients). My time in my direct care practice has allowed me more time with family and friends, and also more time to continue my post graduate training in areas that we do not have in depth exposure to in medical school or residency: nutrition, supplements, complex systems management, hormones, meditation, breath work or pranayama, exercise and yoga, fascia, aryuvedic medicine, psychedelics, PTSD and trauma, mental health care, wellness care, weight management and belief systems.
Even though I had completed 7+ years of intensive training, I wanted a more holistic approach to the human body and mind and how health is impacted by relationships and our environment. Throughout my direct care practice, I have been able to deliver higher quality medical simply because I have more time with my patients and more time for my own learning development as medicine evolves. I continued to come up against challenges though. There were certain challenges that I could not appropriately address in one office visit or two or three. There were certain things that my patients wanted to solve for themselves that required more time.
Of course there are things you can do to be more efficient; and things you can have done for you if you pay in order to free up some time, but at the end of the day, one hour for you is one hour for me and everyone else. I started to realize I was only able to give people part of the answer to what they needed to achieve their goals because I was limited by time. I had overcome the obstacles like insurance companies and hospitals. But I had realized that medicine isn’t practiced in a way that allows for a deep dive into all the psycho-social, emotional, physical and financial challenges that keep someone from achieving their goal. I could only do so much in an office visit: referring people to various resources, advising them on diet and lifestyle briefly and prescribing medicines or supplements that would help them to work toward their goal. But it left a large gap between my knowledge and what I was able to pass on in our office visits.
That’s why I created this program for patients to work with me on a more intensive level. It requires commitment and regular weekly meetings for a set time so we can deep dive together into what’s blocking them from getting to their treatment goal and on my end passing on the knowledge I have to get them there. It goes without saying that not every person needs this level of intensity, nor is everyone ready to commit to it. But there are certain conditions which are just not well addressed in a few office visits. Things like:
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Weight loss: treatment of metabolic syndrome and adrenal axis dysfunction
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Mental health: Anxiety/Depression/PTSD/Addiction/Suicidality
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Sexual health: Low libido/Gender identity/Menopause/Andropause
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Chronic illness: Diabetes/Obesity/Long covid/Chronic pain
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Wellness: Nutrition/Sleep/Exercise
All of these above have complex bio and psycho-social components that are interwoven and to require peeling back the layers to make lasting change. Yes, of course there are medications that can get you there quickly and short cut to what you think is your end goal. And those quick wins are great. But they are often short lived as people fall back into old habits unless the underlying fundamentals are addressed. Change takes sustained effort and focus. It’s not an occasional check-in type thing.
This doesn’t mean this program is for everyone or that anyone with something they want to solve on the above list has to do a program like this. You can most certainly solve these for yourself, but as I’ve said above, the cost to you is time-your time. The time it will take to figure it out -to cull through the many resources out there, weed out the ones that are just trying to relieve you of your money or sell you a slickly marketed product that promises to fulfill your dreams – will definitely take time and you still may not end up at your end goal.
Working with me will allow me to filter through all that and direct your focus to what will help you. My medical training was tens of thousands of hours prior to being able to ever treat a patient on my own. Since then, I’ve accumulated tens of thousands of more hours seeing patients, hearing their experiences and learning about their disease pathology. I’ve also spent thousands of hours on Continuing Medical Education (CME) and thousands of hours studying other areas of health and wellness including:
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Yoga
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Pranayama/breathwork
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Meditation
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Nutrition
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Psychedelics including ketamine, psilocybin, DMT, ayahuasca
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Hormones including vitamin D, estrogen, testosterone, melatonin and their role in the body
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Transgender health
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Exercise
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Fascia
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Psychology including trauma training, sexual assault training, addition psychology
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Mind body medicine
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Functional medicine
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Aryuvedic medicine
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Medication pharmacology, supplements and herbal medicines
When we work together, I can utilize many different resources and teachings. There is no one size fits all. My knowledge and training are all from validated resources that backed by research and peer reviewed, not internet based sales testimonials. If you feel like there is something in your life related to your health and wellness that you are ready to work on, I invite you to join one of the tailored programs. Space is limited because I need to still be available to put my best effort into my direct primary care practice (Medlogic Primary Care), my emergency medicine work and of course my family and loved ones.
Please sign up for the wait list and you will be notified once space becomes available for us to work together.
What’s Included
Weekly one on one private sessions for one hour for the entire duration of the program you choose. This can be virtual to accommodate a variety of schedules and availability.
Email/text support with me as needed throughout your program to fine tune the ideas we work on during out 1:1 meetings
If you are not already a member of my DPC practice, you will be included in that was well, even if the practice is closed to new patients. After we complete your program together, you are welcome to stay in the practice if you choose to.
What is not Included
Lab testing costs, should you need them done to help me investigate what we’re working on. These are always offered at cost (no mark up) and are typically in the range of $3-20 per test). A typical panel of labs can be done for less then $50. Functional medicine testing for gut health is more expensive (~$50-$400) if you need this type of testing – typically done to investigate things like weight loss issues, chronic fatigue, chronic abdominal symptoms. There are other tests that may be $50-$100 (certain hormones, viral panels, inflammatory markers). You will always be given the exact cost of any test I recommend, and you can decide if that cost is reasonable for the information it will provide.
Imaging tests- These are also available to you at cost and I do not mark up these up. The cost to you is the cost charged to me by the imaging center. Most people do not require imaging.
Prescription medication or supplement costs- prescription medications can be obtained from a pharmacy or through our office. If we are working with microdosing or off label medications, you may need to utilize a compounding pharmacy and I will give you those resources.
Rainbows and unicorns/ promises to fulfill your dreams/ instant success and gratification-I’m not a magician and have no extraordinary powers to heal you or change you. But I do have a lot of knowledge on how to guide you to change your situation and I’m willing to invest significantly in you if you are willing to invest in yourself. As I said above, change can be challenging and takes real work. You will need to work outside of our weekly 1:1 meetings. Not everyone is ready for change or to take a critical look at their habits and what drives them and that is ok. That is also why I require a deposit and have an application - you need to have some investment that is meaningful. Typically if you are paying for something, you will put in the work and effort. I will be putting in the same work and effort. The reward for changing yourself for the rest of your life is hard to put a price on, but the goal is for the return on investment to be significant.
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Guidelines for a Successful Relationship
You do not need to “clear your schedule” to be successful in this program. You can complete this program while you are busy, working full time, a stay at home parent, traveling extensively or juggling many different roles and responsibilities but you need to be teachable, coachable and willing to invest in yourself.
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There will be small activities that I will have you work out outside of our 1:1 meetings that will take a small amount of your time daily (5-20 minutes), if needed, depending on what we are working on in your program.
My Training:
My background is in Finance and Economics. I spent several years after college working in investment banking (mergers and acquisitions) in New York City. After 9/11, I wanted a change and had always loved science.
I wanted a career that I could help people live healthy lives. I applied to medical school and study at Loyola Medical School in Chicago, IL and then completed my residency training at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Family Medicine.
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Health and wellness have been part of my identity since I was young(er) and working in the ER has only solidified my goal to prevent disease and illness instead of treating the after effects of poor health- both physical and mental. I’ve also trained in many other areas within medicine and areas that complement medicine, which are mentioned above.
Application
This will be emailed to you after you have added yourself to the waitlist and placed your deposit. The questions are intended to help me get a better understanding of what you are looking for and where you are starting from. There is zero judgement on your answers and is solely for me to get a frame of mind on how to best work with you.
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While I prefer that you fill out the intake questions, if you do not feel comfortable doing so, we can go through these together during your first session. Doing so ahead of time though helps me prepare and focus for your care plan.