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healing ways
PERSONALIZED
HEALTH CARE Functional Medicine Leads the Way
by Linda Sechrist
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 alternative approaches morphed into being considered complementary to conventional medicine, warranting studies by the National 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.
30 Central Florida 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 professionals. It’s now maturing into personalized functional medicine.
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 Delusion: 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 understand 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 creates health when in balance or disease when out of balance,” attests 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,
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