healing ways


Institutes of Health. Responding to public interest, an integrative model of care that focuses on the whole person has taken root in medical institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio. T e latest evolution to a systems-oriented, patient-focused


clinical model of functional medicine, which seeks to address causes of illness, rather than simply treat symptoms, has been garnering increasing interest by the public and pioneering medical profession- als. It’s now maturing into personalized functional medicine.


HEALTH CARE Functional Medicine Leads the Way by Linda Sechrist


PERSONALIZED


Historical Overview During the last 25 years, a less drug-based grassroots model for dealing with chronic illnesses in the U.S. has emerged. First labeled holistic, the movement gained momentum as alterna- tive approaches morphed into being considered complementary to conventional medicine, warranting studies by the National


New Standard of Care One of the best-prepared, traditionally trained medical professionals in explaining this approach is Jeff rey S. Bland, Ph.D., recognized as the father of functional medicine, and author of T e Disease Delu- sion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer and Happier Life. He co-founded, with his wife, Susan, the Institute for Functional Medicine, in Washington, which provides a system geared to understanding the complexity of chronic illness and design individualized programs for more eff ective healing. “Medical science didn’t have the advanced technology 25


years ago to perform the research that now helps us better un- derstand the complexity of chronic illness, as well as our present ecological view of the body. Today we’re examining how all the networks of our biology intersect in a dynamic process that cre- ates health when in balance or disease when out of balance,” at- tests Bland, whose career has focused on searching for a unifying principle behind all healing that can be used to discern the best possible therapy for specifi c individuals. Incorporating what he learned from Linus Pauling, Ph.D.,


two-time Nobel Prize laureate, and Lee Hood, M.D., Ph.D., as well as systems biology and practicing lifestyle medicine, Bland founded the nonprofi t Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute (PLMInstitute.org) in 2012. Seeking to transform the entire medi- cal approach to chronic illness, the Seattle-based organization is a virtual and onsite hub for health professionals, researchers, educators and the public to share ideas and converse about how personalized functional medicine can be delivered to everyone as an improved standard of care.


Role of Genetics T e National Human Genome Research Institute, in Bethesda, Maryland, maintains that an evolved approach to medicine starts with using an individual’s genetic profi le to determine the best path to preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases. By 2003, scientists had delivered the fi rst essentially complete sequence and map of all the genes in the human body. T ree decades ago, the medical fraternity had few reliable


explanations for the origins of chronic health issues. Today, accepted factors include predispositions for a specifi c disease related to an individual’s genome, along with contemporary epigenetic infl uences such as nutrition, environment and lifestyle. None of these elements, however, necessarily defi ne our destiny. “T is genomic personalized medicine approach is creating


friends among all healing arts practitioners because it facilitates our using information to design a less-toxic environment, lifestyle,


10 Austin Edition AustinAwakenings.com


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