This two part evaluation consists of an initial 1-2 hours of face-to-face time with the doctor in which a client's entire family history, medical history, current issues and lifestyle are profiled and analyzed in a peaceful non-clinical uninterrupted setting. During this first visit, missing pieces of the "personal puzzle" and a targeted "to do" list will be generated, which may include lab testing and diet and supplement suggestions. During the second visit, we will discuss the analysis and full explanations of any abnormalities. You will leave with a written list of recommendations and a follow up schedule as well as access to a private electronic communications channel and Dr. Dawn's cell phone.

Genetic predisposition, environment, diet, behavior, prior injury and constitutional deficiencies all play a role in shaping the matrix of an individual in ways that affect their risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, cancer and a host of other diseases. Many of these factors can be modified but where do you start? Most of the information conventional doctors receive is filtered through the interests of pharmaceutical and device manufacturers and addresses the greatest common denominator, the "average human."
The more important information about genetic functional markers, nutritional and herbal manipulations, and the successful ways of changing your odds of developing a disease to which you are predisposed is buried in the experimental research literature and is not well known to most physicians. The exception is functional medicine, which data-mines the biochemical, nutritional and subspecialty journals and abstracts the clinically relevant findings 5-10 years ahead of the curve of conventional medicine.

Type A personality and adrenal exhaustion are two risk factors for heart disease that cannot be identified by simple blood tests, but together they account for most of the heart attacks and strokes in so called "average risk" individuals. Heart rate variability is an established marker for increased risk of cardiac sudden death in patients with no known heart disease. In a healthy nervous system there is a dynamic balance between the sympathetic and the parasympathic nervous systems; this adaptive system allows the body to rev up to deal with urgencies then to slow down to relax and recover. Chronic stress, whether the source is internal or external, impairs this balance and increases the probability that the heart rhythm will oscillate out of control. This testing is similar to an EKG (electrocardiogram) but a complex computer algorithm is used to read the relative dominance and functional reserves of the sympathetic and the parasympathic nervous systems. The relative effectiveness of a person's stress reduction strategies can also be measured by this technique.

Many people spend significant funds on nutritional supplements and would like to be sure they are getting their money's worth. The patient and doctor construct a personalized database with all of their current nutritional supplements listed and cross indexed for total doses of nutrients across all of their supplements. Then, in an extended office visit, they are provided with state of the art information on optimum and toxic dosages, drug/herb interactions, appropriate antioxidant balance and alternative food-based sources for nutritionals. If they are established functional medicine patients, the visit included a highly personalized "tune-up" of their supplement regimen with respect to their individual vulnerabilities, risks and goals.