Who is Jen?

I am a lover of the water. I live in a beautiful lake community where I spent most of my childhood summers in Indiana. Having a virtual practice is unable me to work in a place that I truly love. I read many nonfiction, health-related books and research documents in my spare time. My education spans decades, I earned my BacheIor's in Nursing degree through Valparaiso University in 1986, my Masters in Nursing and Degree as a Family Practice Nurse Practitioner in 1996 from Indiana  Wesleyan University and a Masters in Public Health, with a strong focus in environmental health and toxicology from Tulane University in 2005. I have had a strong interest in and have practiced energy work daily for the last 25 years through various forms of meditation (Dr. Joe Dispenza, ZIVA meditation), utilizing the Energy Codes, and Medical Qi Gong. I love to cook and experiment with new flavors. My time relaxing and socializing includes cooking delicious healthy meals in my home or wherever I might be with friends and/or significant other.  I offer these delicious meals to my family and friends and emphasize the importance of healthy plant based organics and grass fed/organic meats whether dining in or out. I enjoy as much time as I can with my daughter, Caitlin, who is a level 1 Trauma nurse in Chicago.

How Functional Medicine has impacted my life: I was diagnosed with a rare genetic motor neuron disorder in 2014 at Cleveland Clinic after more than 20 years of leg weakness symptoms. This condition "sort of" mimics Muscular Sclerosis with spasticity better described as muscle stiffness.  I tried prescribed pharmaceuticals and physical therapy which offered no change in what I was feeling or displaying. After reading “The Wahls Protocol” by Multiple Sclerosis survivor, Dr. Terry Wahls MD, and “The Disease Delusion” by Dr. Jeffery Bland PhD, the founder of functional medicine, I was led to have a strong clinical interest in functional medicine.  Through my own research, and after six months of working with an expert in chiropractic functional medicine treatment, Dr. Stuart White (https://doctorof the future.org), taking prescribed supplements, adhering to the elimination diet, removal of eight dental amalgams, three infected root canals and leaving a toxic relationship, my symptoms markedly improved. After assuming a position in the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, was seen by Dr. Hyman in 2017, chelated for mercury and arsenic, eliminated toxic and inflammatory foods, practiced a full detox plan and continued daily exercise including 30 minutes of walking daily and Pilates core work five days a week, my symptoms were markedly improved. My Cleveland Clinic neurologist questioned how I “changed my gait,” he did not agree that my functional medicine treatment plan was “getting at the root” of my symptoms and physical changes were just a result of weight loss and “more exercise.”  But he revised my gait disorder severity.