The IFM forges collaborations with other leading institutions to transform medicine globally. By building partnerships with organizations that share common goals, IFM can advance our mission of making Functional Medicine the standard of care. IFM is particularly committed to developing partnerships that enhance Functional Medicine education, clinical practice, access, economic viability, and research.
Functional Medicine Leaders in the Field
Jeffrey Bland, PhD, FACN, FACB, CNS
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Jeffrey Bland, PHD has been an internationally recognized leader in the Functional Medicine field for over 35 years. He has authored five books on nutritional medicine for the healthcare professional and six books on nutrition and health for the general public including The Disease Delusion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer, and Happier Life (HarperWave, 2014), Your Health Under Siege: Using Nutrition to Fight Back, and Genetic Nutritioneering. He is also the principal author of over 120 peer-reviewed research papers on nutritional biochemistry and medicine. With his wife, Susan, Dr. Bland founded The Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991, a non-profit organization focused on educating healthcare practitioners on effective approaches to treating and preventing chronic disease. He has provided lectures and medical education events to more than 250,000 health care providers in more than 50 countries. Dr. Bland was Chief Science Officer of Metagenics, Inc., and President of MetaProteomics, where he led a research team of more than 100 scientists and clinicians worldwide that conducted both laboratory and clinical studies focusing on chronic conditions. In 2012, Dr. Bland founded the Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute (PLMI), a non-profit organization which seeks to be the intersection of Personalized medicine, Lifestyle and Patient activated Health Care.
Dr. Mark Hyman
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Mark Hyman, MD, believes that we all deserve a life of vitality—and that we have the potential to create it for ourselves. That’s why he is dedicated to tackling the root causes of chronic disease by harnessing the power of Functional Medicine to transform healthcare. Dr. Hyman and his team work every day to empower people, organizations, and communities to heal their bodies and minds, and improve our social and economic resilience.Dr. Hyman is a practicing family physician, a ten-time #1 New York Times bestselling author, and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, educator, and advocate in his field. He is the Director the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. He is also the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center, chairman of the board of the Institute for Functional Medicine, a medical editor of The Huffington Post, and was a regular medical contributor on many television shows including CBS This Morning, Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and The View, Katie and The Dr. Oz Show.
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Dr Frank Lipman
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A pioneer and internationally recognized expert in the fields of Integrative and Functional Medicine, Dr Frank Lipman is the founder and director of Eleven-Eleven Wellness Center in New York City, where his personal brand of healing has helped thousands of people reclaim their vitality and recover their zest for life.
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Dr Kara Fitzgerald
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Dr. Fitzgerald received her doctorate of naturopathic medicine from National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first CNME-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix (now Genova) Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, Ph.D. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Fitzgerald is lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine, a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine’s updated Textbook for Functional Medicine. She has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Fitzgerald is on faculty at the Institute for Functional Medicine, and is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner. She was formerly on faculty at University of Bridgeport in the School of Human Nutrition and the School of Naturopathic Medicine. She is a clinician researcher for The Institute for Therapeutic Discovery. Dr. Fitzgerald regularly lectures internationally for several organizations and is in private practice in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Dr. Fitzgerald is lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine, a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine’s updated Textbook for Functional Medicine. She has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals.
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Dr Sara Gottfried, MD
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Dr. Sara Gottfried M.D. is a Harvard-educated physician, speaker, and author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Brain Body Diet, The Hormone Reset Diet, and her latest best seller: Younger. For the past 20 years, Dr. Gottfried has been dedicated to practicing and helping women reclaim their health. Dr. Gottfried has a delivers cutting-edge women’s health to as many women as possible by using technology – including teleseminars, group coaching, webinars, and social media – to reduce stress among today’s overly busy women, while teaching them how to balance their hormones naturally, regardless of age and location. Dr. Gottfried also conducts mentoring and mastermind programs for practitioners to learn The Gottfried Protocol, her proprietary 3-Step Evidence-Based method for natural hormone balancing. As an integrative gynecologist, Dr. Gottfried is a firm believer in treating the root cause of problems, not just the symptoms.
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