Let’s face it, folks – we are all grappling with various levels of stress right now. As if chronic stress wasn’t already a top contributor to general health ailments and chronic disease, now add stress from social isolation, the pandemic, and political strife to the list. That’s why we are so grateful to welcome Dr. Susan Blum MD to New Frontiers. Dr. Blum has worked in preventative medicine as a chronic disease specialist for nearly two decades and is the founder and director of Blum Center for...
Feb 01, 2021•1 hr 6 min
I had the honor to sit down and chat with a leader in our field regarding public health policy and advocacy, John Weeks. What a tremendous force behind the movement of bringing integrative and functional medicine to the forefront of healthcare – and with his 40 years of insight, it was a gift to get a sit-down to discuss where we are, and where we’re going – and how we can get there together. Listen in as we discuss how to create a collaborative and unified vision to light the path for the futur...
Jan 01, 2021•1 hr 10 min
Dr. Joe Raffaele is a busy, brilliant clinician with a successful age management clinic in NYC. This conversation is an update on what we started last year. DNA methylation clocks – where are they now? Telomere biology: the lastest research. Telomere length, immune science, and COVID19: a new, smart hypothesis that CAN be addressed using a systems/functional approach. All this and more, hope you listen, share and comment! ~DrKF
Dec 01, 2020•58 min
Is it fair that I say – yet again – that this was one of my best conversations of the year? A deeply personal, honest, scientific, evidence-informed (and pearl-ladened) conversation on cancer and recovery, and completely from the heart. Dr. Patrick Hanaway, MD is a mentor, a colleague, a friend, and an amazing guy. His journey as a leader in functional medicine through stage IV laryngeal cancer and his embrace of a metabolic approach is profound, and something you’re going to want to hear. His t...
Dec 01, 2020•1 hr 7 min
There’s no better person to have on New Frontiers to talk about the underlying mechanisms that activate an immune response than Dr. Tom O’Bryan, a foremost expert in understanding wheat sensitivity and the development of autoimmune conditions and cognitive dysfunction. What a pleasure to talk to! Settle in: this is a great, fun, and informative podcast covering all the way back to Tom’s first exposure to EMF in 1978 to the hundreds of pounds of toxins we are all exposed to daily. We cover brain ...
Nov 01, 2020•59 min
Dr. Mark Pimentel. We all know him as the clinician/scientist who understands the varied pathogenic underpinnings of IBS/SIBO/IMO. In my recent conversation with him, we cover the definition of terms, causes, when to use a stool test. We discuss the Pimentel low fermentation diet, intervention (including botanicals), and diagnosing hydrogen sulfide (a test is coming soon, but wasn’t available at time of recording). Probiotics: any utility? Elemental diet, and so much more. Grateful to have Dr. P...
Oct 01, 2020•58 min
As a functional medicine clinician and scientist, I absolutely appreciate the deep literature dives my colleagues take. When they come up for air, there is a synthesized body of knowledge that is riveting, satisfying to listen to, trust-worthy and, most importantly, practice-changing. Such was my conversation on all things menopausal hormone therapy with Dr. Doreen Saltiel, currently consulting for Precision Analytical (they’re lucky to have her). She spent the bulk of her impressive career as a...
Sep 04, 2020•52 min
I very much enjoyed my conversation with Dr. Dale Bredesen- from his story of finding functional medicine (it’ll resonate with many of you, as it did me, I’m sure) to where the ReCODE program is now (pay attention to the large clinical trial now underway and the refinements of Dr. Bredesen’s thinking over the last decade) and the launch of The End of Alzheimer’s Program (a goldmine of a resource for clinicians and regular folks alike). Links on the podcast shownotes page -- don't miss these! In ...
Sep 02, 2020•1 hr 8 min
Harvard scientist and NYT best-selling author David Sinclair, PhD and I take a tour around the science of aging. If aging is THE root cause of all of the chronic diseases of aging, then arguably, if we focus on the aging journey itself, we might be able to stop playing “whack-a-mole medicine.” A lot of complex environmental, genetic, epigenetic and biochemical processes go into the aging journey, however, as Dr. Sinclair discusses, it looks like a very heavy lifter in aging is epigenetic changes...
Aug 01, 2020•1 hr
COVID19 is upon us. Months earlier, we scheduled James Maskell to discuss his recent book: The Community Cure. Amazingly, his message today is all the more urgent. James argues for the group visit model, was an early adopter and proponent of group visits (in fact, we discuss the pre-publication Cleveland Clinic group visit research findings, which are astonishingly good; even better than the first JAMA publication comparing functional medicine one-on-one with family medicine.) Now, with COVID19 ...
Jul 03, 2020•47 min
The GI360 is a smart, evidenced-based stool test that is easily actionable by the clinician. Listen to my conversation today with VP of Scientific Support from Doctor’s Data, Dr. David Quig. One of the most useful tools I am aware of in stool testing is the Dysbiosis Test, which identifies and characterizes more than 45 targeted analytes across six Phyla using PCR and compares the patient results to a characterized normobiotic reference population. DDI is also using the Luminex PCR panel for pat...
Jul 01, 2020•50 min
What a superb conversation with leading expert lipidologist and – importantly – clinician of 30+ years, Tom Dayspring, MD. In this tour-de-force conversation, we break down the essential cardiovascular risk laboratory analysis you need to be undertaking on all your patients. We spend a little extra time on Lp(a) and the coronary calcium score. Our conversation is practical; I was fervently taking notes through the entire recording, as I suspect you’ll be doing. I will likely bring Tom back for a...
Jun 04, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Globally, stress and anxiety levels have never been higher. According to one recent survey, a full 70% of Americans are stressed out, with a disproportionate impact on people of color. From worry about getting sick, to sick family members, to financial pressures, to homeschooling, the list of possible contributing factors is long. How do we care for our patients or clients in this climate? Victoria Albina, NP MPH is a family nurse practitioner in NYC – the COVID epicenter. She’s also a cognitive...
Jun 02, 2020•44 min
Many of us in functional/integrative medicine have used organic acid testing for decades to identify nutrient, toxin, and genetic imbalances. I am proud that the lab I once worked in developed one of the original panels – still quite popular and in wide use today. Inspiration for organic acid testing came from inborn errors of metabolism research, where a handful of compounds are (still) measured in newborns to rule out severe genetic diseases. Flash forward to the “Omics” revolution: you know, ...
May 19, 2020•59 min
A nurse wakes in the night in profound anxiety, she can’t breathe, her first panic attack. Her husband is quarantined with COVID19; while she works the frontlines at a large hospital, witnessing what looks like the apocalypse. She begins a series of gentle, EFT Tapping exercises. After three brief rounds, she’s through the panic, able to once again relax. Nick Ortner is the CEO of The Tapping Solution, LLC, and my guest today on NFFM. Tapping is such a simple, elegant, immediate solution to the ...
May 05, 2020•34 min
Dr. Alex Vasquez has been teaching clinicians, publishing articles, books, and also edits his own journal – for decades. If you know Alex, you know he’s a bright light – highly regarded in our field. You may also know he’s struggled with a “tough gut” for years; in fact, this is what brought him to integrative medicine. From our years teaching together, I know Dr. V is diligent – profoundly committed, actually – to trying/vetting/evolving integrative protocols for gut health (botanicals, diets, ...
Apr 06, 2020•54 min
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is used in all settings in China for COVID19, with preliminary outcome data very, very strong. Indeed, outcome data using TCM for prevention and treatment of SARS Cov1 was equally strong. Listen to one of the most important and timely conversations I’ve had to date on New Frontiers with Dr. John Chen, one of the world’s leading experts in TCM (with western pharma training). Framing TCM in language clear for the Western-trained clinician, and translating the ear...
Apr 01, 2020•53 min
We are all familiar with the Wahls Protocol. But how about the story behind the protocol? Did you know, for instance, that her director at U of Iowa (Terry is a clinician researcher) told her to write up herself as a case report? That was the first step. Her “N of 1”; then she wrote up a case series. Then she received a small grant and product for a slightly larger study. Then a million dollars. And now she’s heading into her largest study to date (yes, you will be able to refer patients). Liste...
Mar 19, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Dr. Jocelyn Strand is the Director of Clinical Education at Bio-Botanical AND a great clinician herself. Prepare yourself: this is a very actionable podcast for clinicians using bioB. And for me, a huge pearl on refractory SIBO was unaddressed oral microbiome! In this episode of New Frontiers, learn how Dr. S addresses sibo using BB products. To test or not to test? And the underlying pathophysiology: tune in and listen to current thinking from a great clinician – she’s got to say and you’re goi...
Mar 02, 2020•55 min
This interview was, without doubt, one of the most moving for me. What Dr. Perlmutter and his son, Austin Perlmutter MD, have created is really nothing short of a revolution in returning us to our consciousness. It directly addresses one of the biggest elephants in the room – despite what we know to be good for us, good for others, good for the planet, why do we more often than not fall short of putting that knowledge into action? We. Are. Disconnected. As a people. As a world. Our prefrontal co...
Feb 12, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Dr. Jeff Gladd is a brilliant Fx/integrative physician who is PASSIONATE about all things Fx business. If there is ONE area I get more requests on, it’s business: setting up a practice, platform building, building a reputation, finding one’s focus and passion. Extra-clinic revenue streams. And mentorship: finding your tribe, building your collegial connection, moving off the island of medicine and into your tribe. With that in mind, Jeff – who is the CMO at Fullscript – and I have a tour-de-forc...
Dec 12, 2019•59 min
As FxMed docs, we’re committed to working with the body’s own capacity for health. Dr. Josh Mitteldorf offers a contrarian strategy, one which he says is grounded in a new breed of evolutionary medicine. He tells us that diseases of old age are qualitatively different from the diseases we get when we’re younger, different because in old age, our bodies are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Aging, says Josh, is the body deliberately destroying itself (for the sake of the population),...
Dec 01, 2019•49 min
A work horse laboratory in any functional medicine practice is stool testing. But really gleaning the best insight into our patient’s clinical picture can be tough. What do all of these commensal organisms really suggest? How do they correlate with the inflammatory findings? Of the bell weather bugs (like akkermansia) how can we increase levels? Is there ANY place for microscopy (O&P) and culture in today’s high throughput Omics world? You see where I’m headed. Even for the most seasoned FxM...
Nov 01, 2019•58 min
Marvin Singh, MD is a practicing gastroenterologist with a focus in personalized lifestyle medicine. I met Marvin in 2017 when I was asked to submit a chapter to Oxford University Press Integrative Gastroenterology, 2nd Ed. Marvin has been coediting this behemoth with my IFM colleague Gerry Mullin, MD. (Full disclosure: very large props must go to Nikky Contractor, PhD for the heavy lifting on our chapter). Marvin’s evolution from a very traditional, academic gastroenterologist to integrative ga...
Nov 01, 2019•57 min
By far one of my most wide-ranging conversations on New Frontiers, Dr. Sara Gottfried and I set out to talk about her new book Brain, Body Diet and quickly headed north. Listen to our lively, personal, smart, heart-felt conversation as we dive into her experience using a continuous glucose monitor to address fairly severe nocturnal hypoglycemia, her thoughts on addictions and genetics, taming the dopamine-deprived COMTer, and lots of women’s health. You know that Sara is, of course, extraordinar...
Oct 08, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Take a second and think about this: what clinical presentation would prompt you to prescribe cognitive behavioral coaching, breathwork or meditation? Did GERD make your list? Along with gentle, but powerful botanicals and nutraceuticals (IT’s Motility Activator, DGL Chewables, Heartburn Advantage), these are cornerstone interventions for GERD in the practice of Victoria Albina, NP, MPH. Victoria operates from a patient empowerment position, believing that it’s essential for lasting change in a u...
Oct 02, 2019•55 min
Some of the most extraordinary work happening in medicine right now comes from the GrowBaby team of Leslie Stone, MD and her daughter, Emily Rydbom, CNS. In their mostly Medicaid model, they’ve adopted a systems approach to pregnancy, and thereby doing so, have remarkably improved outcomes. Their rates of autism, eczema, ADHD, premature labor, gestational diabetes and pregnancy-induced hypertension fall well, well below national averages. Learn about their unique program and outcome studies in t...
Sep 05, 2019•1 hr 5 min
If you’re practicing functional medicine, you’re aware of (and likely prescribing) the autoimmune paleo diet, pulling folks off of many foods, lowering carbs, reducing or eliminating lectins (and nightshades). In this terrific podcast with Dr. Datis Kharrazian, we talk about his research in stratifying who’s who with regard to autoimmunity. For example, Dr. K suspects that very roughly about 30% of his autoimmune patients are truly lectin sensitive; they tend to be those with arthritic musculosk...
Aug 29, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Are you thinking about age management with your patients these days? I am. And I’m thinking about it regarding myself, quite frankly. To that end, I just had a tour-de-force conversation with clinician researcher Joe Raffaele, MD. Can we halt, or even reverse, the biological aging process? There are an extraordinary number of variables to consider here, but the take-home appears to be YES. Of course, FxMed is our foundation, but layer onto that telomere biology, and telomerase activation using i...
Aug 29, 2019•1 hr 2 min
In this podcast of New Frontiers, I’m talking with Dr. Elisa Song, a functional medicine pediatrician and superb teacher. If you are practicing FxMed, you’re probably seeing more and more kids if your scope allows (even if you didn’t before). Kids need FxMed, yet there are arguably LESS pediatricians transitioning into FxMed than other disciplines. Thus, working with kids can come with questions – labs, dosing interventions. Listen as Dr. Song and I gallop through loads of foundational informati...
Jul 13, 2019•1 hr 20 min
