20 years ago, I came to Colorado for medical school and began a lifelong journey learning about health and medicine. While the focus of conventional medical training and practice is all about disease, over time I found that my calling as a physician was to help others create health.
Meet Dr. Dave, MD
How did I get here?
While the story is long, the summary is simple. Basically, I listened to my patients. Early in my career, I did everything the way I was trained. However, listening to patients, I quickly realized I wasn’t helping them be healthy. In fact, for their chronic issues, the treatments I was taught and told to implement didn’t help and just kept them in a state of general poor health. I was quite troubled. After spending seven grueling years of training to then realize I didn’t know how to help others get healthy was pretty traumatic.
So what did I do?
I started exploring. I spent several years learning about how other disciplines work. I learned how chiropractors approach health. I learned how acupuncturists approach health. I learned how psychologists approach health. I met and learned from a wide range of non medical practitioners, as well as other physicians who were focused on health creation. As I learned about options that intuitively felt right or had the science to support them, I educated my patients and helped them use these methods.
And guess what… people started getting better!
After seeing success with a variety of methods I had never learned about, I continued my education and exploration and kept implementing new tools to help my patients. I focused my work and education on creating health and broke free of the dogma that focuses only on managing disease.
And that brought me here…
I hope 4 Pillars Functional Medicine can be your educational home. I want to empower you to create optimal health. Learning about and incorporating the 4 Pillars — food, movement, relaxation and community — are the bedrock of controlling your own destiny, understanding root causes of illness, and not be reliant on a dysfunctional system that stresses drugs and procedures at the expense of true health. Your team should be there to educate, guide and support you, not just hand out quick fixes. Check out my community partners, the 4 Pillars Facebook Group, and the articles on this site for knowledge and guidance to help you get and stay well.
My Credentials
- Institute for Functional Medicine, Certified Practitioner
- Board Certified, Integrative Medicine
- Board Certified, Internal Medicine
- Diplomat – Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine
- Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency – University of Colorado
- Medical Doctor – University of Colorado
- Bachelor of Science in Biology – University of California, Los Angeles
My Philosophies
I believe in trying to create optimal health. Optimal health is not simply the absence of disease, but rather when you have energy and vitality, are free of pain, and can achieve the goals you have.
I believe everyone has the ability to heal and they deserve the opportunity to make that happen.
I believe that 4 key pillars… food, movement, relaxation, and community are the cornerstones to achieving optimal health.
I believe that Functional Medicine, the new paradigm for preventing and reversing chronic illness, is the best structure in which to help you achieve your health goals.
Functional Medicine is the model in which I believe; it’s the model by which I personally live; and it’s the model in which I practice.
My Life
The 4 pillars… food, movement, relaxation and community… are cornerstones in my own life. My wife, Anne, and I, along with our two children, Jeremy and Danielle, live in East Denver. Most days, I can be found riding my bike to work and love to jump on my road bike when I get a chance. Whenever it’s nice out, I’m hopefully playing tennis, a sport I picked up a few years ago and really love, both for the activity as well as the community it brings. We try to get up to the mountains for hiking, camping, skiing, and boarding as much as we can. I don’t always have the time, but I love to cook and explore different recipes, flavors and ingredients. We really enjoy traveling and experiencing the food, the culture and the history seeing other places brings. And I certainly don’t want to forgot my favorite furry friend, Dexter, who we rescued in 2014 and patrols our house keeping us safe from all the big dogs that walk by our front door.
