“Functional Medicine determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual.” – The Institute for Functional Medicine
For all of us here at the clinic, functional medicine is a calling. It’s a desire to do better for our patients, to pursue optimal health (whatever that means for each individual), and to meaningfully address many of our society’s significant health burdens. You can read more about our mission here.
We also want to help mobilize the practice of functional medicine, for patients and practitioners alike. It’s why we offer behind-the-scenes clinic training for new (and not-so-new!) functional medicine practitioners, and why we work so hard to provide as much easily accessible and high-quality information as we can. We also recognize that telling stories, and sharing the personal sides of who we are and what we do is important too—these help forge connections and in many instances have ignited that moment of decision, for a practitioner who is thinking about jumping into our field, or a patient who’s on the fence about seeking functional care. We absolutely love receiving that feedback when it happens!
To that end, our amazing physician team shares their own, unique journeys into functional medicine below. I’m so proud of them. I find their backgrounds, their rationale for choosing functional medicine, what passions they’ve cultivated, and more, absolutely fascinating and inspiring. I hope you do too and I encourage you to share your journeys in the comments below. Let’s create community inspiration together!
– DrKF
Ps. Although they’re not featured here, we’ve also got an amazingly skilled nutrition team that is also doing great work training other nutrition professionals and providing high-level functional medicine care to our clinic patients.
Dr. Darisa Espinal, ND
Why did you choose naturopathy/functional medicine?
My experience with holistic medicine dates back to my childhood, where my grandmother turned to herbs and nature to treat our family’s medical conditions. Many of my family’s healing practices come from generational knowledge of natural medicine originating from the Caribbean and modified to complement modern access to herbal remedies. I eventually met a holistic chiropractor who introduced me to naturopathic and functional medicine. Shortly after, my interest in medicine shifted to the medical model that focuses on finding the root cause of diseases and treating the whole individual. My passion carries over toward preserving patients’ right to autonomy – the right to decide how to manage their care and to empower patients to have the right to choose how to manage their health in a safe and evidence-based manner.
What areas are you most passionate about/ do you specialize in?
I am passionate about nutrition, hormone balancing, and men’s health. I believe that many diseases can be managed or even cured by practicing cleaner and friendlier eating habits that are sustainable for maintaining health. I also focus on hormonal imbalances due to an array of causes. Most of my work involves perimenopausal females and facilitating their transition into menopause.
My interest in men’s health sparked after noticing the significant disparity in the healthcare system, where the focus is geared towards women’s needs and not so much on men. A lack of awareness has led to a rise in late diagnosis and intervention in degenerative men’s health, including benign prostatic hyperplasia, muscle weakness, and age-related health problems. I advocate for men’s health education, early treatment, and disease prevention.
What do you do to stay well / maintain your health and wellness?
I spend a lot of time figuring out the right balance between nutritious foods that fit my cultural norms, something easier said than done. Noticing a gap in the current construct of what a healthy meal should look like, I have become passionate about educating patients with multicultural backgrounds on enhancing their health with nutrition while preserving their culinary identity. By providing inclusivity and cultural sensitivity, I hope to bring my passion for food and nutrition to those who desire change that appropriately suits their daily living.
I now navigate the world of postpartum nutrition and breastfeeding by ensuring that I am eating calorically-dense foods high in phytonutrients, vitamins, and minerals to complement my daughter’s nutritional needs.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I am also fluent in Spanish and a new Mom!
Dr. Kenneth Litwin, MD FACP IFMCP
Dr. Ken Litwin
For more than 15 years, I have enjoyed helping the most challenging patients with complex chronic and acute medical issues using traditional medicine skills learned from my training at the Hahnemann University School of Medicine and from my Residency in Primary Care Internal Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine.
In recent years, I have taken a more holistic and integrative approach to patient care. This exciting and reinvigorating stage in my career began after a colleague fortuitously introduced me to Functional Medicine. Using the techniques learned through my training with the Institute of Functional Medicine, I have been able to provide even more effective care for my patients. I now can focus my attention on the prevention of disease through nutrition and lifestyle improvements. I have discovered that I am able to treat my patients much more successfully through searching out and treating the true causes of their conditions rather than by simply prescribing medications to relieve their symptoms. I am therefore better able to help those patients for whom conventional medical approaches have helped only marginally or even failed completely.
I am on the Medical Staff of Danbury Hospital, where I formerly served as Section Chief, Division of Outpatient Medicine. I serve on the Board of Trustees of the Fairfield County Medical Association and am a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. I am also certified in the Bredesen Protocol™, fully serving our patients in improving cognition and reversing cognitive decline of SCI, MCI, and early Alzheimer’s disease.
Why did you choose naturopathy/functional medicine?
After spending over 15 years working in the world of conventional Internal Medicine, I realized that a more holistic approach to guiding people towards health was necessary if I was to be able to really help patients get better. Fortunately, a colleague introduced me to functional medicine. After my first course in FM, there was no going back. Using nutrition and lifestyle medicine instead of only relying on prescription medications quickly enabled me to help people in a much more effective way. Spending time talking with patients about their lives and what they eat and do to keep healthy just makes sense to me. Simply put, functional medicine is what health care should be for everyone. I also love being a guide and teacher for my patients as opposed to just “telling” patients what to do. This way patients learn the things they need to stay healthy for the long term.
What areas are you most passionate about/ do you specialize in?
I love being a functional medicine “generalist”; I am able to apply functional medicine to most health issues. However, I am most excited when helping patients to have healthy digestive and brain health.
What do you do to stay well / maintain your health and wellness?
Certainly eating a healthy diet is at the top of the list, as is regular exercise. I can’t always fit in a run or a hike but I have found that it only takes 10-15 minutes of HIIT to get what I need for the day as far as exercise. I also meditate most days, some days longer than others but always 5-10 minutes. The weak spot in my health practices is probably sleep – I tend to stay up late even though I know this isn’t good for me. I also take supplements including a multivitamin, extra vitamin D, fish oil, and other immune and brain supporting nutrients and herbs. I think listening to music is also crucial to my health; I’m not sure what I would do without it. And most importantly, I try to incorporate humor into my day as much as possible. For me, a good laugh is worth its weight in kale and broccoli. I just made that expression up, so I’m not sure if it makes total sense but I think you understand my meaning.
What’s a fun fact about you?
Regarding my approach to cooking: I’m not really a “recipe person.” I prefer to just use whatever I have from the store and create something that’s tasty and good for me. As far as I am concerned you can make almost anything taste good using rosemary, garlic, olive oil, and lemon.
Dr. Rachel Surprenant, ND
Why did you choose naturopathy/functional medicine?
I chose to become a naturopathic physician because I believe health is the rule, not the exception. Naturopathic philosophy holds that healing is natural and normal, and we can support the body in its mission to heal through nutrition, exercise, physical medicine, rest, and targeted supplementation. Naturopathic medicine also embraces using pharmaceuticals and surgery as necessary for the individual and their unique condition.
I found functional medicine because, although I had all the tools of a naturopathic physician, I was looking for something more to provide the exceptional patient care I wanted to. I needed a framework to truly be able to treat patients comprehensively – and not just as a sum of their symptoms that could be managed with natural approaches. Through functional medicine, I have found a way to put patients’ current concerns into a greater context of their entire life and therefore identify and address underlying causes.
What areas are you most passionate about/ do you specialize in?
Women’s health is my passion and my focus. I completed two years of a women’s health-focused residency, working alongside naturopathic and functional medicine doctors and gynecologists. I have learned the importance of a proper work-up, using both conventional and functional investigations, to determine the root cause or underlying mechanisms at play in a patient’s symptoms. I love working with women of all ages and am inspired by the quote by Diane Mariechild: “A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture, and transform”.
What do you do to stay well / maintain your health and wellness?
Lots of things! As a functional medicine practitioner, I know the importance of lifestyle in achieving and maintaining health and I practice what I recommend to patients – in some way or another – every day. I set myself up for sleep success with blackout curtains, minimal screen time before bed, keeping the room cool. I aim for 8 hours a night and I get that most of the time. I eat well without perfectionism getting in my way. A former professor recommended that we aim for a “C+” when it comes to our nutrition and I take that advice to heart. I choose to make eating organically a priority –especially meat, dairy products, and vegetables. I eat a wide variety and feel best when I consume a lot of fiber. But I do not aim for perfection in my diet. I eat bread from time to time, enjoy dark chocolate most days, and never pass up on my grandmother’s Irish soda bread with lots of grass-fed butter. I exercise most days, a blend of barre, bodyweight training, yoga, and strength training. Another key in staying well for me is prioritizing my mental and emotional health. I track my thoughts and take responsibility for how my thoughts are causing me to show up in the world.
What’s a fun fact about you?
I’m a dog lover, and one of my favorite ways to move is a leisurely walk with my dog in the woods!
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about our diverse physician team! We would love to hear from you – please respond with your own journey as a healthcare practitioner or patient – what brought you to naturopathy/functional medicine, what are you most passionate about, and what do you do to maintain your health and wellness?
See Dr. Surprenant’s Full Bio