I became the doctor I needed for my own children.
I received my MD from the University of Cincinnati — home to one of the best children's hospitals in the country — and fell in love with pediatrics from day one. I love the resilience of kids. I love empowering parents. I completed my residency at the University of Chicago Children's Hospital, where I learned to care for the sickest of sick patients.
For over 25 years in private practice, I cared for thousands of children and their families. I am profoundly grateful for that training. But over time, I became frustrated by a limited toolbox when it came to chronic, recurring problems — the ones conventional medicine manages but rarely resolves.
As a parent and mom of four boys, I lived that frustration. I couldn't find answers for my own child's abdominal pain. I watched my child struggle on ADHD medications that produced side effects without real relief. I was a trained pediatrician who still couldn't find what my children needed.
What Changed Everything
That search led me to functional medicine — and it changed how I see health entirely. Functional medicine views the body as an interconnected system. It asks why something is happening, not just what to do about it. It looks for root causes instead of managing surface symptoms.
I believe functional medicine is "learning to live in the way that God originally designed — honoring the inherent miracle of the human body and its innate design to heal."
I founded Performance Youth Medicine to be a bridge: between conventional and functional medicine, between the science of the body and the wholeness of the person. I want every child to have the foundation to flourish — body, mind, and spirit.