Past Shows

•    Erik Lundquist, MD
•    Kelly McCann, MD

The Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to announce our November Functional Forum, Co-Creating Immunity. Please join our second-to-last Forum of 2023, the year of connection.

We are intimately connected to our environment, and environmental toxins contribute to chronic illnesses. In particular, the link between environmental illness and immunity is an area where functional medicine is really coming into its own.

We are excited to showcase local practitioners who are at the cutting edge of this topic. We will also hear from presenting community members who are innovating their clinical practices, business models and technology.

• Our first guest speaker, Kelly McCann, MD, has been a leader in environmental medicine for over a decade. Dr. McCann was one of the first hosts of the Orange County Functional Forum in 2015-2016. Expect deep clinical insights from Dr. McCann as she shares her tips for building immune health.
• Our second guest speaker will be Erik Lundquist, MD, who has an innovative business model and clinical approach. He will present on stress and the immune system and share methods for improving immune function in your patients.

As always, this Functional Forum will be hosted by James Maskell. We will showcase how practitioners are helping patients build immunity through innovative in-person and virtual group care models. We will also highlight lessons from the field on how capitation and value-based care are creating the right incentives for functional medicine to flourish in many ways.

Bonus: Watch Dr. Lundquist’s clinical case presentation on post-COVID patient treatments.

COVID Long-Hauler Clinical Case Presentation

The Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to announce our October Functional Forum with content captured at the Functional Pharmacy Symposium on September 23 in Nashville, TN.

In recent months on the Evolution of Medicine podcast, we have been sharing conversations that show how pharmacies and pharmacists are at the forefront of functional medicine delivery. Attending this event is a fantastic opportunity to connect with the community and learn from presentations by leading educators and thought leaders in the functional pharmacy space.

The 8th Annual Functional Pharmacy Symposium is called Cardiometabolic Patient Care: Foundational Strategies and Emerging Concepts. Our Functional Forum speaker highlights from the symposium include the following:

Featuring:
Robin Berzin, MD

The Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to announce our September 2023 Function Forum featuring a returning guest, Robin Berzin, MD, who is the founder and CEO of Parsley Health. Dr. Berzin was a keynote speaker on the second-ever Functional Forum and a keynote speaker for us at the kickoff of the first Evolution of Medicine summit in 2014.

This show will follow an atypical format that only focuses on one practitioner, featuring a conversation between James and Dr. Berzin recounting their ten years of friendship and a chronicle of Dr. Berzin’s journey through developing Parsley Health. Here’s a preview of her journey:

1. Dr. Berzin started Parsley Health in 2015 using a micropractice model and working off of a laptop at a coworking space in New York. Parsley Health began as a tech-enabled, low-overhead, membership-based practice, which also made Dr. Berzin a key successful example in James Maskell’s first book, The Evolution of Medicine.
2. As you will hear, she was responsible for establishing Parsley Health’s first 300 patients as their physician, but as the practice grew, she hired more clinicians, opened three physical locations and even initiated further telehealth services.
3. Now, Parsley Health is the largest functional medicine clinic in the world. They have locations in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and they offer telemedicine services across all 50 states. They have over 40 doctors and have treated tens of thousands of patients.
4. You will hear how Parsley Health fared, both positively and negatively, during the pandemic, and how it has recently established relationships with both insurance companies and employers. Currently, they are in-network for 10 million insured Americans.

What an incredible journey she’s had. There are so many lessons Dr. Berzin shares for practitioners and leaders at any stage of their organization development. We hope you can join us to learn from her inspiring and enlightening journey.

•    Robert K. Naviaux, MD, PhD
•    Andrew Heyman, MD, MHSA
•    Ritchie Shoemaker, MD

In 2019, we brought our cameras to an event in Dallas hosted by The George Washington University, where we learned about and captured presentations on the role of mitochondria in health and disease.

This topic is rapidly evolving within the personalized and functional medicine communities.

In October of this year, we will attend the A4M conference on mitochondria in Dallas to bring you updated research in presentations from new and returning speakers.

The 2019 conference focused on mitochondria as the powerhouse of the cell. However, the latest research demonstrates mitochondria possess a much broader range of functions involving many bodily systems, including the immune system.

In our August Functional Forum, we will share with you a presentation clip featuring Robert K. Naviaux, MD, PhD, one of the 2019 conference keynote speakers.

Dr. Naviaux is internationally known for his expertise in human genetics, inborn errors of metabolism, metabolomics and mitochondrial diseases. At the University of California San Diego (UCSD), he runs the Robert Naviaux Laboratory, which researches mitochondrial dysfunction genetics. He is also the founder and co-director of the Mitochondrial and Metabolic Disease Center at UCSD, the co-founder and a former president of the Mitochondrial Medicine Society, and a founding associate editor of the journal Mitochondrion.

In addition, we'll have special interviews with two other speakers: Andrew Heyman, MD and Ritchie Shoemaker, MD.

Dr. Heyman is a pioneer, scientist, clinician and educator, and he is currently the Program Director of Integrative and Metabolic Medicine at The George Washington University and the Director of Academic Affairs for the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M). He is triple board certified in family medicine, integrative medicine, and anti-aging and regenerative medicine. Dr. Heyman is considered a world expert in biotoxin illness and chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS).

Dr. Shoemaker is well-known for his work on infections and how they drive downstream inflammatory pathology. He has devoted his career to unveiling the complexities of CIRS, which can be caused by exposure to damp buildings, cyanobacterial blooms, dinoflagellates, spirochetes, apicomplexans and recluse spiders, among others. He began the first biotoxin illness practice in the United States in 2002 and has treated over 10,000 patients with CIRS and related illnesses. His research has led to the publication of 11 books, several book chapters and over forty peer-reviewed publications.

Deepen your understanding of the role of mitochondria and catch up on the most exciting and universally relevant area within medicine.

•    Robert Lustig, MD
•    Victoria Maizes, MD
•    Lara Salyer, DO

The Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to present the July 2023 Functional Forum, streaming on July 10.

In 2016-2017, we shot five Functional Forum episodes at the Royal Society of Medicine, with Dr. Ranjan Chatterjee as the host.

This time, we will bring you footage from two events in the UK: The Integrative & Personalised Medicine (IPM) Congress and the London Functional Forum relaunch event. Our coverage will feature video content of James Maskell as well as speakers at both events, including:

Dr. Robert Lustig, UCSF Professor emeritus of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology. He is a leading educator focusing on the metabolic health pandemic.

Dr. Victoria Maizes, who worked with her team at the Andrew Weil Center to create and implement some of the most innovative and effective integrative medicine educational programs, which are scaled to train thousands of health professionals collectively serving more than ten million people.

Dr. Lara Salyer, one of the very first graduates of the Practice Accelerator (2017) who has since built a successful practice and now mentors other physicians on creating effective membership models and unlocking their creativity.

We will also introduce our new London Functional Forum Community Host, Kirkland Newman, who is the founder and editor of MindHealth360.

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Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to be heading back to the Institute for Functional Medicine's (IFM) Annual International Conference (AIC). After the event, the Functional Forum will highlight keynote speakers and conversations with practitioners and community members from around the world.

Since 2015, Evolution of Medicine has brought our cameras to IFM’s AIC, capturing the energy and spirit of the meeting and documenting the major presentation themes.

The content focus has varied over the years: In 2015, we learned about genetics; in 2016, the focus was on lifestyle; in 2017, we discussed brain health; 2018 was dedicated to autoimmunity; and in 2019, the talks connected the entire functional medicine community.

After three years of meeting virtually with IFM, we are happy to be getting together again in person.

We look forward to reconnecting with our community members as we continue to collectively grow the functional medicine ecosystem.

Check out our coverage of previous IFM AICs:

• June 2019: A Root Cause Approach to Stress, Pain and Addiction
• June 2018: Reversing Autoimmunity
• June 2017: The Evolution of Neurology
• May 2016: Post-Conference Session
• August 2015: The Future of Functional

•    Austin Perlmutter, MD
•    Elizabeth Boham, MD, MS, RD
•    Shilpa P. Saxena, MD

For the Functional Forum this month, we are thrilled to share with you content captured from the sold-out Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute (PLMI) conference, Cardiometabolic Function: The Intersection Among Neurology, Endocrinology, and Immunology.

Each year, PLMI brings together leaders within lifestyle medicine to provide in-person opportunities for connection and education. Since this event has sold out quickly for the past couple of years, we are excited to be able to share our favorite segments on video, including recorded lectures and exclusive, one-on-one interviews.

You’ll recognize many faculty members' names from past Functional Forums and the podcast. Presenters include Shilpa P. Saxena, MD; Elizabeth Boham, MD, MS, RD; Michael Twyman, MD; Nathan Bryan, PhD; Thomas G. Guilliams, PhD; Cheng Ruan, MD; Regina S. Druz, MD, MBA, MS, FACC; Jeffrey Bland, PhD; Austin Perlmutter, MD; and David Perlmutter, MD, FACN.

This event has an exciting lineup, with presentations covering uric acid, dysautonomia, nitric oxide, technological innovations, and the connections between metabolic health, dementia, and depression—plus many other cardiometabolic topics.

•    Jeff Hunter, NP
•    Christopher Mote, DC, DO
•    Natalie Kunsman, MD

The Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to present our next live, in-person Functional Forum.

This Functional Forum will be held on Monday, April 3, 2023 in Denver, CO, and it will be hosted by Justyn Dow, who is the host of the Denver Functional Forum community.

We are seeing more and more practitioners—and even entire healthcare systems—transition away from conventional medicine into functional medicine. Alongside this progress, more providers are specializing, and communities are forming.

During this event, we will hear from functional medicine practitioners who have unique professional and educational backgrounds as well as experience with different payment and business models. They will share with you their tips and tricks for professional and clinical success.

Jeff Hunter trained as a nurse practitioner in the Colorado Springs area, and more recently, he built a successful practice called Upstream Functional Medicine. He is also a cohost of the Denver Functional Forum community. During this event, he will share his clinical perspective on gastrointestinal issues as well as his journey building his business.

Dr. Christopher Mote is the founder of Cornerstone Health Community. He started his career as a chiropractor before going back to school to become a doctor of osteopathic medicine. He will present an autoimmune patient case study.

Dr. Natalie Kunsman is a medical doctor who focuses on hormonal health and operates a practice based in Colorado Springs. She will share with us examples of how she has resolved patient cases using a functional medicine approach.

• Mimi Guarneri, MD
• Regina Druz, MD
• Aseem Malhotra, MD

This Functional Forum continue our recent focus on cardiovascular health, which we kicked off at last month's Forum on endothelial health.

On Monday, March 6, we will be hosting several phenomenal guests, all experts on cardiovascular health care who are challenging the status quo of conventional cardiology.

Mimi Guarneri, MD, a returning guest of the Forum, has mentored integrative and conventional cardiologists alike. She will share her perspective on the current state of her field and how she thinks the cardiology landscape will shift in the future. She will also share her best practices and tips for clinical success.

Regina Druz, MD is an international expert in cardiac imaging, a digital health innovator and a functional medicine practitioner. She recently became the National Director of Cardiology with ChenMed, a value-based care delivery entity. Dr. Druz will teach us about that payment system and how it has the potential to bring functional cardiology into the mainstream.

And finally, we'll feature a special interview with Aseem Malhotra, MD, who has been a proponent of lifestyle-based interventions for chronic disease for years. More recently, he has advocated for the suspension of the mRNA vaccines because of their impact on cardiovascular health. He will discuss malfeasance within the pharmaceutical industry and how statistics can be misrepresented to push certain drugs, such as statins.

Please subscribe to the Functional Forum YouTube channel, or sign up to receive our emailed newsletters for updates and to receive event recordings when they are available.

• Mark Houston, MD
• Michael Twyman, MD
• Kristine Burke, MD

As we approach the ninth anniversary of the Functional Forum, the Evolution of Medicine is pleased to announce our upcoming event on February 6, 2023. The interactive discussion will address cardiovascular health and feature panelists Mark Houston, MD; Michael Twyman, MD; and Kristine Burke, MD.

Dr. Mark Houston is a specialist in cardiovascular disease and hypertension, and he currently serves as the Director of the Hypertension Institute at Saint Thomas West Hospital. With a background in nutrition and functional medicine, Dr. Houston has published over 150 articles and scientific abstracts and authored over 70 clinical research studies in hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Michael Twyman will join to offer his expert knowledge of the endothelium, including its importance on heart health and how clinicians can better support heart health by understanding the function of the endothelium.

Also joining the Forum live will be Dr. Kristine Burke, an established functional medicine doctor who claims that none of her clinic’s patients have ever suffered a heart attack. We’ll hear from her how and why she thinks this is the case.

You can expect a powerful, educational and timely discussion from this event. Please join the conversation and invite more clinicians to attend live.

• Zach Bush, MD
• Nathan Price, PhD
• Jeffrey Geller, MD

Following up on our 2022 year of growth, we are thrilled to announce our theme for 2023: connection.

As a natural progression of our work from the last eight years, the concept of connection will be the focus of the live January 2023 Functional Forum. Throughout the year, we will continue to ask questions, like, "What does it mean to be connected?" and "How does connection enhance the practice of medicine?"

Our first panelist will be Zach Bush, MD. He is a triple-certified board physician who has become a permanent voice in our space. Dr. Bush is well known for talking about the connection between individuals and environmental health. He is also a strong supporter of regenerative agriculture and soil health. From his perspective, human health depends upon our connections.

We will also be joined by Nathan Price, PhD. For many years, Dr. Price was a professor with the Institute for Systems Biology. He speaks about interconnectedness and will talk about his interest in tracking chronic disease reversal. We look forward to having Dr. Price join the Functional Forum for the first time.

Our third guest, who was also pivotal in developing the Community Cure, is Jeffrey Geller, MD. He has been delivering group care to the underserved for over twenty years and has become an expert in bringing patients together. He'll bring a strong interpersonal approach to this stellar panel.

I hope you can watch live, and please take advantage of the time we have with our guests by submitting questions for them to answer using #functionalforum on Twitter.

We look forward to connecting with you throughout 2023.

•    Jade Teta, ND
•    Russ Reiter, PhD
•    Carrie Jones, ND
•    Leon Schurgers, PhD

Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to announce the December Functional Forum, which was recorded at the October A4M symposium, Stress and Healing: New Advances in Restoring and Rebuilding the Resilience of Your Chronic Disease Patients.

We captured some of the best content from the event, including exclusive interviews with the speakers.

The Forum will begin with an interview and presentation excerpts from Dr. Jade Teta. He opened the conference with a powerful message about finding meaning and purpose in life and how that mindset shift is a catalyst for positive—and often necessary—lifestyle changes for patients.

We will also share footage of Dr. Russ Reiter, featuring quick tips, an exclusive interview and a clinical presentation. Dr. Reiter is a world-renowned expert on melatonin with exceptional insights on the clinical benefits of the hormone, from immune to cardiovascular support.

Finally, we will share an interview with Dr. Carrie Jones, a nationally recognized stress and hormone health expert, and then move to our concluding speaker, Dr. Leon Schurgers, who is a leading expert on vitamin K.

If you enjoyed the Stress and Healing symposium or were unable to attend, this Forum offers a full spectrum of highlights, clinical tips and insightful perspectives to close out our year of growth.

•    Chris D'Adamo, PhD
•    Lisa Koche, MD
•    Kelly Brogan, MD
•    Teresa Iribarren, MD

Lisa Koche, MD Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to announce our first live Forum in Miami since 2016! With its rapid growth, booming economy, strong health and health-tech focus, we are really excited to not only bring our live show back to Miami, but to relaunch the local Functional Forum practitioner community there.

Joining us for this special event are four practitioners with unique backgrounds and perspectives. Dr. Kelly Brogan is a holist psychiatrist and author. She was our very first guest on the Functional Forum and will join us again in Miami to discuss her perspective on chronic disease reversal, based on her decade of experience helping patients get off psychiatric medication.

Dr. Teresa Iribarren a board-certified specialist in internal medicine, assistant professor and expert in disease reversal using lifestyle modification.

Dr. Chris D'Adamo is an epidemiologist with expertise in the synergistic effects of healthy lifestyle practices on human health and wellness. He is the Director for the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where he has led numerous interventional studies of nutrition, physical activity, stress management modalities, and other modifiable lifestyle factors. Dr. D'Adamo has also brought his expertise in the application of research methods to the field of functional medicine in serving as a senior research advisor to the Institute for Functional Medicine. Of further relevance, he emerged as an advisor to Governor Ron DeSantis as Florida implemented the most health-focused policy ever launched by a government entity, HealthierYou. While the rest of the world focused exclusively on vaccines and lockdowns, Dr. D'Adamo will share examples of how Florida exemplified a more comprehensive approach to public health in promoting lifestyle medicine and healthy supplementation as part of a more sustainable solution to the viral pandemic.

Dr. Lisa Koche, is a leading functional and integrative physician from the Tampa region. Having run a successful integrative practice for more than a decade, Dr. Koche is also a sought-after speaker, and has presented on some serious stages, including that of Tony Robbins. She will share some of her pioneering work using a deep clinical toolkit to get to the root cause of complex chronic illness, her methodology and how she has uniquely combined not just modalities, but providers in a synergistic and effective way.

•    Melody Hartzler, PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM
•    Elroy Vojdani, MD
•    Vincent Pedre, MD
•    Kirsty Washam, PharmD
•    Dani Williamson, FNP

Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to announce our October 2022 Functional Forum. We will address several critical topics in healthcare and functional pharmacy.

On the back end of the COVID-19 era, many practitioners are asking questions about how medicine needs to evolve to better handle the next crisis and how we can address what the pandemic left behind. Polypharmacy has been a major driver of negative health outcomes in America for some time, especially over the past few years.

These topics and more will be explored at the October Forum, where we will share James’ favorite content captured during the September 24, 2022 Functional Pharmacy event. You’ll recognize several of our former guests, including Elroy Vojdani, MD; Vincent Pedre, MD; Kirsty Washam, PharmD; and Dani Williamson, FNP.

Joining James live will be Melody Hartzler, PharmD, BCACP, BC-ADM, the founder of Functional Medicine CE, which provides continuing education for pharmacists. Melody joins the Forum to share her expertise on working within a clinical team as a pharmacist to reverse chronic illness and deprescribe, when appropriate.

No matter what kind of provider you are, if you’re interested in helping patients avoid or recover from polypharmacy, this Forum will be worth the listen.

•    Jade Teta, ND
•    James LaValle, RPh, CCN

Evolution of Medicine is thrilled to announce our live September Functional Forum, featuring Jade Teta, ND and James LaValle, RPh, CCN. We will be exploring the theme of building resilience, especially for chronic disease patients.

Our guests, who are speakers at the upcoming A4M conference, Stress and Healing: New Advances in Restoring and Rebuilding the Resilience of Your Chronic Disease Patients, will discuss this topic from their unique perspectives.

Dr. Jade Teta is an expert in physiology, and his approach to health encompasses metabolism and hormones, fitness and self-development. Life coaching and behavior change psychology also inform his work.

James LaValle, RPh, CCN is a thought leader in drug/nutrient depletion issues, an internationally recognized clinical pharmacist, author, board-certified clinical nutritionist, and expert and educator in integrative and precision health.  James is best known for his expertise in personalized integrative therapies uncovering the underlying metabolic issues that keep people from feeling healthy and vital.

Our guests will provide novel and relevant insights that can aid any healthcare provider, given the increasing prevalence of immune-, autoinflammatory- and stress-related diseases.