Welcome to my practice
My focus is evaluating and treating children and teenagers with chronic health conditions, and providing personalized preventative care.
Welcome to my practice!
I am a physician, board-certified in pediatrics, and integrative and holistic medicine.
My focus is evaluating and treating children and teenagers with chronic health conditions, and providing personalized preventative care. Some of the chronic concerns that have been found to be responsive to an integrative approach to management include chronic abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, headaches, fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, chronic musculoskeletal pain; recurrent ear and sinus infections, eczema, allergies, asthma, stress, mood disorders, behavioral concerns, as well as autoimmune conditions such as arthritis and diabetes.
As a consultative practitioner, I am unable to be your child's primary care doctor and require all patients have a primary care provider for routine care including physical examinations, vaccinations, school forms, acute medical issues, and after-hours or on-call medical concerns in the event of an urgent need or emergency.
Please be aware that my practice at the Santa Cruz Integrative Medical Clinic closed on December 17, 2021. I will be joining Sutter Health's Institute of Health and Healing in February of 2022 to continue to provide Pediatric Integrative Medicine consultations, in this insurance based model of care.
Please visit my Contact page for more details about my move to Sutter Health, including scheduling an appointment with me, insurance information and the referral process.
What to expect at the initial visit:
The first visit begins before we actually meet. I review your child's Health Journey Questionnaire and Medical Symptoms Questionnaire that you will have filled out before our visit so I can be better prepared to address your needs.
Our initial visit together will last one hour and in this time I will obtain a comprehensive medical history, including a review of current symptoms and lifestyle factors. To get to the root cause of ongoing health problems, each patient is treated as an individual in order to learn of specific factors affecting health and well being. This entails a detailed conversation about your child's current state of health, health history, family history, diet, sleep, habits, response to stress, etc. Any physical exam that is indicated will be performed whether this is a virtual or in person visit.
I will then discuss potential approaches and possibly recommend dietary modifications and laboratory work up. More specific advice will be deferred until after lab results are in and there has been time to thoughtfully consider your child's case.
Second visit:
The second visit is generally scheduled a few weeks later, once enough time has gone by for laboratory tests to be resulted, and it is at this time I will discuss the review of findings. This includes a detailed discussion of what may be contributing to your child's ongoing health issues, as well as any further dietary and lifestyle modifications and possible supplements (vitamins, minerals, herbs, etc) that may be appropriate for your child's care.
Follow up visits:
Follow up visits are usually scheduled in approximately 6-8 weeks from this visit to evaluate progress and make any adjustments to the plan.
Further visits are then scheduled based on ongoing progress and why your child is being treated.
Pre-visit homework:
In order for me to prepare for our initial visit, I will need to receive your child's completed Health Journey Questionnaire and Medical Symptoms Questionnaire (via the patient portal) at least a few days before our initial appointment. You will find these forms via the patient portal when you register your child as a patient.
Post-visit communication:
Communication between visits will be electronic rather than by phone via Sutter's My Health Online electronic communication system. This way, I can keep an electronic record of our communication, which will become part of your child's chart.
Please note that email communication is reserved for brief messages pertaining to issues arising from our visit. A follow up in person visit will be recommended for any complex concern or new medical issue.
Please do not send any acute or urgent questions to me as this is a consultative practice. Any acute or urgent medical issues should be addressed by your child's primary care provider.
I make every effort to respond to online messages as quickly as possible. Please do allow for up to three business days for a reply.
I am happy to talk to your primary care provider and to facilitate referral to other specialists if needed.
Insurance:
Details about insurance coverage for my services at Sutter Health will be added to my Contact page as I am made aware of details from Sutter Health.
Laboratory Fees:
All conventional laboratory tests I recommend may be covered by a patient's medical insurance. Specialty testing from laboratories such as Genova and U.S. BioTek have none to some coverage depending on the lab's arrangement with medical insurance companies. I provide my patients with specific lab fee information for any specialty labs that are considered.
Services NOT rendered:
Chelation Therapy
Intravenous (IV) Vitamin Therapy
Medication Management and Refills of Narcotics, Stimulants
