Functional Medicine

In Office or Telehealth appointments

 

It’s All About You..

Functional medicine is a personalized and integrative approach to healthcare that focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of illness rather than just treating symptoms. Functional medicine services combine traditional medical practices with evidence-based alternative therapies to create individualized treatment plans. These services often involve comprehensive testing, nutritional guidance, lifestyle coaching, and herbal compounds & supplements to help patients achieve optimal health. By considering factors such as genetics, environment, and lifestyle, functional medicine aims to restore balance and promote long-term wellness. This approach is particularly effective for chronic conditions, autoimmune diseases, hormonal imbalances, and digestive issues.

A quote from Sir William Osler (1840-1919)

Founder of John Hopkins School of Medicine, surgeon, and one of the first practitioners of acupuncture in the United States

It is much more important to know what sort of patient has the disease than what sort of disease the patient has.

Dr. Dawn Ann Molina specializes in the following:

Metabolic Health

This area of Dr. Molina’s practice focuses on optimizing the body's metabolic functions to improve overall health and prevent chronic conditions. These practices center around education about how the body processes and uses energy from food, including the regulation of blood sugar, fat metabolism, and hormone balance. By addressing metabolic imbalances, Dr. Molina helps her clients to prevent and manage conditions like diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular diseases. Metabolic healthcare includes personalized nutrition plans, exercise recommendations, stress management techniques, and sometimes targeted therapies or supplements. The goal is to support long-term health by enhancing the body's ability to maintain optimal energy levels and metabolic efficiency.

Women’s Health

With an emphasis on both physical and emotional well-being, women's health care with Dr. Molina takes a holistic approach. She Uses both modern medical and traditional practices to ensure personalized treatment plans that support women in achieving optimal health at every stage of life. Dr. Dawn can help her patients with a variety of conditions specific to women's health. These include: 

  • Menstrual disorders 

  • Endometriosis 

  • Menopause-related symptoms 

  • Infertility 

  • Migraines/headaches 

  • Stress, anxiety, and depression 

  • Pregnancy-related symptoms

  • Abnormal weight-loss and weight-gain

  • PCOS

Psychoneuroimmunology

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) explores the complex interactions between the mind, nervous system, and immune system, recognizing how psychological and emotional factors can impact physical health. This approach is grounded in the idea that stress, emotions, and thought patterns can influence immune responses, potentially contributing to chronic conditions, inflammation, and disease progression. Dr. Molina uses PNI-based treatment therapies like mindfulness, stress reduction techniques, and counseling using TCM’s 5E adaptation types to promote mental well-being and, in turn, enhance her patient’s immune function. By addressing both psychological and physical factors, PNI can restore balance in the body, strengthen resilience, and improve overall health outcomes.

Digestive Health

Dr. Molina provides digestive health care combining her wisdom in both Food Science and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Dr. Molina’s treatment protocols will often combine education, acupuncture, herbal medicine, dietary adjustments, and techniques like acupressure & yoga to stimulate the flow of Qi and to improve the digestive function of her patients. By aligning the body’s energy with deliberate lifestyle modification, optimal digestion and overall well-being can be attained. Specific areas of expertise include:

  • Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome, IBS-C, IBS-D, IBS-M, and IBS-U

  • Post-cholecystectomy dietary care

  • Celiac Disease

  • Fatty Liver dietary care

  • Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)

  • Gut-skin axis acne / digestive acne

  • Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infections

  • SIBO and other opportunistic bacterial infections