Plant-based family physician

Dr. Leah Macklin has been vegetarian since 2002, and vegan (whole food, plant based, no oil) since 2019. After her father had open heart surgery, she tried Dr. Essylsten’s diet prescription- her cholesterol improved by 100 points, so there was no going back. She certified in Lifestyle Medicine in 2021, and is committed to using it in practice.  She grew up in Dunwoody, Georgia, and obtained her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Georgia State University. She attended medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM-GA), and completed her residency in family medicine in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She is board-certified in Family Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine. She has a passion for nutrition and physical activity as a way to prevent and treat chronic medical conditions.  Ella habla español! She sees patients six years of age and older. She is experienced in many different types of care, including joint injections, skin care, and contraception management. Dr. Macklin likes to spend her free time camping, Jiu Jitsu, wakeboarding, and skiing. She also loves cooking with her husband, and walking her dog, Gogo.

I am a board-certified family physician practicing in Valdez Alaska. I wasn’t happy with the status quo of medicine and went back to further my education by getting a masters degree in Integrative Medicine from George Washington University and becoming board certified by the American Board of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. I focus on an integrative and holistic approach to wellness with nutrition education being at the very center of my treatments. My focus is to prevent and reverse metabolic diseases with diet and lifestyle changes and I challenge my patients to focus on these things. 

Dr. Fuentes was born and raised in Texas. He served 4 years in the Air Force prior to starting his journey to medical school.  After his undergraduate training in Kinesiology from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, he studied medicine at the University of North Texas Health Science Center – Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Fort Worth, Texas. He completed his residency training in Family Medicine at Baylor Scott & White in Round Rock, Texas.  He is board certified in Family Medicine from the American Board of Family Physicians and is studying to complete his board certification from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.  
 
Dr Fuentes’ focus in medicine is prevention through lifestyle modification and education of his patients. He has seen first-hand how debilitating diseases are exacerbated by the Standard American Diet (SAD) and a sedentary lifestyle.  He firmly believes that incorporating healthier habits is the key to prevention and reversal of chronic disease. 

My name is Kristann and I am a medical doctor (MD) board-certified with the American Academy of Family Medicine and the American Board of Integrative Medicine. I am also a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner as well as a registered dietician (RD) and a physician acupuncturist.  I did my undergraduate studies at Simmons College, where I earned a bachelor’s degree in nutrition science. After graduating, I completed a dietetic internship and worked as a registered dietician with many community-based nutrition programs. I then completed two Maternal and Child Health Fellowships one in Adolescent Nutrition and the other in Nutrition in Children with Developmental Disabilities.   
 
I went on to receive my medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed my family medicine residency at Lehigh Valley Health Network. During this time, I began studying other forms of healing, such as acupuncture, medical group education, homeopathy, herbal medicine and functional medicine. My research focus during residency was integrating these modalities into a primary care setting for which I was given the Family Medicine Resident Award for Scholarship.  After completing my residency, I worked as an integrative family doctor in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for many years, where I provided primary care and nutrition services for families as well as educational programs for the community.  I established my own practice, Red Hill Medical+Wellness, in 2015. 

Dr. Sheline is a family physician who switched to doing strictly lifestyle medicine consults in 2017 after over 30 years of writing lots of prescriptions. He recommends whole foods plant-based (WFPB) nutrition to all his patients, but recognizes that changing behaviors like eating and exercising is not easy, and will provide patients with resources to make changes at their own pace.  Dr. Sheline switched to a WFPB diet in 2015, and both he and his patients have been very successful in using healthy nutrition to treat various problems including high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and pre-diabetes, overweight and obesity, reflux, kidney stones, coronary artery disease, and depression and anxiety. Our bodies can heal themselves, usually without the need for medication!

I’m a family medicine physician in St. Petersburg, Florida.  I have been fully plant-based since September 2018.  I have a passion for lifestyle medicine and specifically, evidence-based nutrition.  I value spending time with patients, empowering long-term change, building relationships with them, and providing evidence-based care.  I wholeheartedly believe that a plant-based diet is the solution to the majority of preventable diseases.  It has been so rewarding to take patients off of medications because they have reversed their chronic conditions through a whole food plant-based diet and I look forward to many years of the same. 

My story begins back when I was a teenager watching Michael Johnson in the 1996 Olympic Games. Like most teenagers, I was excited to watch new world records set by some of the greatest athletes in the world. But what mesmerized me was not the gold medals…
 
It was the pure potential of the human body.
 
(Kind of nerdy, I know).
 
Since that time, I’ve spent the majority of my life searching for ways to optimize how our bodies function – not exactly what they teach in medical school.
 
This means I had to search for answers across many disciplines. I’ve worked as an athletic trainer, studied advanced clinical nutrition, researched and published on dietary supplements, and mastered the art of cooking.
 
And all these things have resulted in some pretty incredible experiences along the way, like lecturing alongside my mentor Dr. Andrew Weil and traveling the world as an elite-level athlete.
 
Of course, this journey was never about optimizing my performance alone. It was about empowering others to do the same for themselves.

I have personally followed a whole food, plant-based diet for the last two decades and have over time gotten most of my family to follow along most of the time.  I have helped many patients improve and sometimes reverse their diabetes, atherosclerosis, arthritis, cancers and mood disorders by adopting an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, high fiber, high nutrition density, low calorie density, whole food, plant based diet.
As the founding Program Director for the DeTar/Texas A&M Family Medicine Residency program, I train 24 soon to be Board Certified Family Medicine specialists to understand the primacy of patient lifestyle choices in managing and reversing the majority of ailments that plague Americans today. 

Dr. Asha Subramanian is a Board-certified family medicine and lifestyle medicine physician with specific expertise in evidence-based lifestyle change. She received her B.A. and M.A. in psychology with Honors and Distinction from Stanford University. Dr. Subramanian received her combined M.D./Master of Public Health degree from Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Pittsburgh St. Margaret Hospital. Dr. Subramanian also completed a fellowship in community health at Georgetown University Medical Center. She is an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University in the Department of Family Medicine. In 2018, Dr. Subramanian obtained a Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition through Cornell University and in 2019, became a Diplomate of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. In 2019, she also became a Certified Food for Life instructor. Dr. Subramanian is a recipient of the Washingtonian Top Docs Award. Her professional interests include lifestyle medicine and the use of good nutrition, exercise, sleep and other strategies to optimize health; health behavior change; whole food, plant-based cooking, and community health advocacy. Dr. Subramanian founded Diya Lifestyle and Wellness LLC to better help individuals and families attain their health and wellness goals.

Dr. Steigerwald practices outpatient family medicine in Milwaukee and sees patients of all ages. His passion for preventative medicine and the advice of a well-read colleague led him in 2019 to “Forks Over Knives” and the world of plant-based nutrition, where he has since been correcting the plant-shaped gap in his medical education. While utilizing the full range of standard medications, Dr. Steigerwald also promotes a whole-food, plant-based diet as the most reliable path to long-term health and longevity, and the answer to many chronic conditions. He enjoys working closely with patients as they improve their food choices and retake control of their health.

Dr. Shayla Toombs-Withers grew up in Atlanta, GA.  She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN in 2003 where she earned a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Dr. Toombs-Withers earned a Doctorate Degree in Osteopathic Medicine from the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine located on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA in 2007.  After completing her formal medical education, Dr. Toombs-Withers continued her medical training at the University of Cincinnati, The Christ Hospital.  She is double board certified in Family Medicine and Obesity Medicine.
Over the years, Dr. Toombs-Withers has served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine with the University of Cincinnati Family Medicine Residency Program and she worked as a Family Physician for a federally qualified health center caring for underserved populations in the Cincinnati area. In 2013 Dr. Toombs-Withers was named as the Medical Director for the All Care Health Center in Council  Bluffs, IA where she continued to practice family medicine and supervised a staff of physicians and nurse practitioners.
Dr. Toombs-Withers moved to Chattanooga, TN in 2015 and became a Family Medicine Physician in the UT/Erlanger Primary Care Medical Group at the Pineville Road office.  She earned a certification in Plant Based Nutrition in 2016 and the was board certified in Obesity Medicine in 2018.
Dr. Toombs- Withers has practiced a plant based diet for over 15 years and over the past 5 years she has moved to a vegan diet.  She has trained as an endurance athlete and she has completed the New York City Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Ironman Chattanooga 70.3, Ironman Augusta 70.3, Ironman Texas and a host of other endurance races.
Dr. Toombs-Withers founded the Essence of Health Wellness Clinic in Chattanooga, TN in 2019 so that  she could combine her deep knowledge of medicine, plant based nutrition, and athletic training to provide comprehensive primary care to her patients using a Direct Primary Care Model. Outside of work, Dr. Toombs-Withers is a mom for her three sons, wife, and dog wrangler.  She loves Chattanooga and all of the outdoor experiences it has to offer.  She enjoys cycling, hiking, camping, swimming, triathlons and trail running.