Dr. Kara Fitzgerald | New Frontiers in Functional Medicine, Longevity, Epigenetics

How do we approach patients with mental health disorders? How do you engage someone who's really depressed to get off the couch and get outside? To turn the TV off or put the phone down? The pandemic has led to an increase in mental illness, with more people reporting symptoms of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. My guest in this podcast, Dr. Jonathan Prousky ND, has been deeply entrenched in the world of integrative medicine to support patients with mental illness. Dr. Prousky has worked in the field of mental health as a naturopath, chief medical officer, and professor at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, and was inducted into The Orthomolecular Hall of Fame for his commitment to mental health. Together, we dive into the essentials for supporting patients with targeted supplementation, including mechanisms of action and dosages, how to best engage patients who are struggling with mental illness, and how to create safety planning for suicidal patients. You won’t want to miss this episode — I’ve been thinking about it every day and so will you after listening. Please let me know your thoughts — share, comment and rate if you would be so kind. Thank you! ~DrKF

We’ve been eager to put together a podcast on men’s health – prostate cancer, low testosterone, foundational vitamin and botanical supplements, nutritional interventions – and folks, it’s finally here! There’s a wealth of GREAT pearls to bring into your own practice from this month’s interview with our guest Dr. Geo Espinosa, ND. Dr. Geo is a long-time friend, a fellow naturopathic functional medicine physician, and a (if not “the”) definitive voice in urology and men’s health. His passion about men’s health helped him bridge the gap between conventional and naturopathic medicine. Together we discuss how to engage men in self-care, specific nutritional interventions to support men’s health, laboratory panels and optimal ranges, and some of his favorite vitamins and botanicals for his male patients. There’s a ton here, so settle in and take notes! We hope you come away from this podcast with some ah-ha moments and additional tools for your clinical toolkit – I know I did. Listen, learn, and if you would be so kind, leave a review on iTunes or wherever you hear my voice. Thank you! ~DrKF

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 Health. Her focus is on supporting patients in their recovery from autoimmune and immune-related conditions, and now educates and coaches patients through mind-body medicine tools and behavior modification to rebalance their autonomic nervous system and downregulate the stress response. Together, we talk about her personal journey dealing with stress, how she approaches the topic with each patient, and why this is one of the most important considerations for your clinical practice as we navigate the current and post-pandemic era. Let us know what you think!

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 future of medicine – which will help patients, clinicians, and our entire community. The conversation left me invigorated and inspired and I’m confident it’ll do the same for you. Listen in, and let us know what you think by leaving a comment, review, or shooting us an email. Thanks as always, for the gift of your time. ~DrKF

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

Dr. Patrick Hanaway, a leader in functional medicine who battled stage IV laryngeal cancer, shares his personal journey and explores the role of a ketogenic diet in cancer treatment. He also discusses the importance of immune resilience and nutritional and herbal interventions. The podcast touches on topics such as the transformative power of cancer, personalized nutritional therapeutics, optimizing the gut microbiome for immunotherapy, copper chelation for treating cancer, and the challenges of a cancer treatment protocol.

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 health (of course!) and Tom shares which labs he uses and why, how to interpret them, and the interventions he’s using to help fix his patients’ brains. Clinicians: you’re sure to grasp great insight to share with your patients, and we (practitioners or not!) can all learn A TON about food sensitivity and autoimmunity with this master teacher and clinician.

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. Pimentel on the podcast, and know you will benefit from this insightful convo. Thanks for listening, please leave a review if you can! ~DrKF

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 an interventional cardiologist (although confesses she wanted to go into OBGYN) and jumped into integrative and functional medicine after her own “ah-ha” healing journey, involving hormone replacement therapy, relatively early on in her life. The first solid debunking Doreen provides are the findings from WHI. IT’S TIME these ideas are PUT TO BED. I asked Dr. S about the political backstory for the WHI debacle – it’s a good listen, and like me, you’ll probably want to read more. We then dive into the solid body of evidence for transdermal estradiol, oral progesterone. We discuss compounding, dosing, testing, addressing metabolites … and SO MUCH MORE. Keep a pen or your phone handy for note-taking, there’s tons of info in this podcast. Thanks as always, to Precision Analytical, creators of the DUTCH test, for bringing Dr. Saltiel to our listeners. She’s incredible! Please share New Frontiers with your network, and if you would be so kind, leave us a comment and review wherever you listen. As always, thank you listening! ~DrKF

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 this episode of New Frontiers, he talks with me about the pandemic of Alzheimer’s disease, which is now the third leading cause of death in the United States, and what he’s learned over decades as an expert in neurodegenerative diseases. Enjoy this podcast, and please share and leave us a review wherever you listen to New Frontiers! ~DrKF