Hello! I’m Abby Hand, Preconception Health Consultant, and soon-to-be published author. I help couples over 35 improve their health before trying to conceive (TTC). My process uses positive lifestyle change and health optimization grounded in current research, traditional medicine, and natural philosophies. I also incorporate biometric tracking, epigenetic data, and other valuable tools into a complex systems approach to coaching. What makes my practice extra unique is that I draw on my own autoimmune disease and pregnancy experiences to empower folks and help them navigate perinatal and chronic disease care. Preconception health is my passion and I strongly believe optimizing the health of both parents prior to conception helps build strong families and communities, creating a healthier, more resilient world.

While my own experiences inform how I work with clients, I also have an extensive formal and informal educational background. I earned my undergraduate degree from Vassar College (Geology, with a focus on Environmental Studies) and a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas (with a focus on maternal health). I’ve also worked in the medical field for over 15 years, including as a nurse in Labor & Delivery, Functional Medicine, and in Precision Medicine. On top of that, I’m an Apeiron Certified Epigenetic Coach, and a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach, and am currently working on my Women’s Herbal Educator certification.

Most importantly though, I’m the mom of an amazing little boy and partner to an incredible husband. Our family (including three dogs), splits our time between Austin and the Texas Hill Country, where we hone our skills of self-sufficiency and work to restore the health of our land. We believe personal health cannot be truly obtained without also addressing environmental health. I’m happiest when I’m tromping around in the woods looking at plants with my guys.

Founder and Owner of Nourish Medicine

Functional Medicine, Integrative Medicine

Alejandra Carrasco, M.D. is a board certified physician who practices functional and integrative medicine. She is a certified practitioner by the Institute of Functional Medicine, as well as by the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine.

Dr. Alex is also the author of the #1 Bestselling book, “Bloom: 7 Steps to Reclaim Your Health, Cultivate Your Desires, and Reignite Your Spark”.

She opened her private practice, Nourish Medicine, in 2012 where she provides compassionate and collaborative medical care that blends the best of conventional medicine with an integrative functional medicine approach.

Dr. Alex’s goal is to find the root causes of issues, not to mask their symptoms temporarily. Proven, natural therapies are always considered first, with standard conventional therapies available when needed.

Integrative Medicine Physician 

Founder of the Austin Wellness Collaborative

Dr. Maltz was born and raised in Houston and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her MD and Master in Public Health from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. She completed her residency in Internal and Preventive Medicine at UTMB in 2011 and then a 2-year Integrative Medicine Fellowship at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, CT. Dr. Maltz has been trained in trigger point injections, meditation, spirituality, nutrition, mind-body therapies, botanicals and herbs via an intensive 1000-hour curriculum created by The University of Arizona Integrative Medicine Program founded by Dr. Andrew Weil. She completed a 300-hour Medical Acupuncture course through the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate. From 2013-2015, she lived in Albuquerque, NM, working as an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico’s School of Medicine. Dr. Maltz is a member of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, for which she served on the Board of Directors from 2013 – 2015. Dr. Maltz’s specific interests include helping her patients improve their health through lifestyle interventions including, but not limited to, eastern medical practices, nutrition, botanicals, mind-body techniques and by decreasing environmental exposures.

She practices in downtown Austin at West Holistic Medicine and loves empowering her patients to heal. In her spare time, she enjoys connecting like-minded individuals, practicing yoga, hiking and dancing with friends.

Caim (Kai-em) is a place for all to feel loved, get nourished, and promote growth. Our goal is to get to the root cause of your symptoms and create a personalized care plan to get you back to the things you love! Here, we work as a team to get you the care you need and the care you deserve.

The Caim team consists of Dr. Saira Burney, DC and Dr. Shaina Nolley, DC, FMACP.

We are neurologically focused chiropractors who emphasize the importance of using holistic approaches when it comes to overall health and wellness. We help people in all walks of life and use a variety of techniques to make sure you are always comfortable when receiving care. Not only do we help people get out of pain, but help them restore nervous system function. Our patients report improvements in digestion, anxiety, headaches and migraines, stress levels, sleep, and more.

Along with chiropractic, we specialize in functional medicine where we investigate the root cause of your symptoms through ordering specialty lab testing. We utilize personalized lifestyle, supplementation, and diet recommendations to improve your overall well-being. Our goal is to give you the tools you need to live your life without limitations.

Dr. Shelly Sethi is a double board certified family physician who provides integrative and functional medicine to people who are looking for clarity and root-cause resolution of their chronic health issues or to people who want to optimize their body and brain to live to their full potential.

She provides a step-by-step system that is customized for your unique health condition. Her program reverse engineers your health goals by understanding your genetic potential and focuses on recovery from stress exposure. This results in more energy, a clear mind, and an optimized body and spirit which improves your relationships, impact, and lifestyle.

She is a national speaker in the field of Integrative Medicine and a #1 best selling author of “Built to Thrive. Overcome Chronic Illness, Fatigue and Hormonal Imbalance and Get Your Energy and Vitality Back Without Medication or Surgery.”

She is the Founder of Dr. Shelly Sethi Personalized Medicine and has a special interest in botanical medicine and culinary medicine.

Additionally, she teaches culinary medicine workshops and mind-body seminars in Austin. She helps her patients achieve health by focusing on nutrition science, sleep physiology, stress management, exercise physiology, connection to community and spiritual practices to minimize the risk of chronic disease onset, while simultaneously improving healthspan.

She enjoys the practice of yoga and has studied various methods of meditation for over twenty years.

Functional Wellness Practitioner and Burnout Specialist

@ Break Thru Burnout

Elizabeth Gaines is a Functional Health Practitioner and Burnout Recovery Expert that specializes in understanding how stress and disempowerment lead the body out of balance and into disease.

Certified through Functional Diagnostic Nutrition, Elizabeth combines lab testing that analyzes the body’s core systems with holistic lifestyle changes to bring about personalized & long-lasting healing to her clients.

Elizabeth is a recovering co-dependent and a survivor of emotional abuse. Driven by a belief that health is the ultimate form of self-empowerment, she helps people in support roles reclaim their energy and tackle the root cause of their health issues so they can return to their naturally vibrant state.

Functional Medicine Health Coach @ Wellnessprout LLC

I have been a Registered Nurse since 2005 and a Board-Certified Lactation Consultant since 2011. Over the years, I have worked in a variety of areas including Postpartum Care, Neonatal Intensive Care and Post Anesthesia Care. I founded Mommy’s Angels Postpartum Care Services, LLC in 2010 and have been teaching mothers the art of breastfeeding ever since.

I lived what I thought was a healthy lifestyle and for the most part considered myself “healthy.” However, I regularly experienced different symptoms that I thought were “annoying but normal” and assumed they were “things that I just had to live with” such as debilitating pre-menstrual cramps and headaches that I managed by taking round the clock Ibuprofen. After moving to Austin, I started experiencing seasonal allergies that developed into a year-round challenge that required regular allergy medication and occasional steroid inhaler use. I also experienced extreme fatigue, which I attributed to being a working mom. When I brought these symptoms up with my doctors, I was assured that all my labs were normal and was told not to worry.

My journey into holistic health began with the devastating news of my mother’s diagnosis of endometrial cancer in 2011. I started researching ways to help her through chemo treatments. A few years later, I worked with a naturopath who helped me balance my hormones and address my gut health. After several months of working with him, I was amazed that I no longer required my regular allergy medications or Ibuprofen to manage my symptoms. I am happy to say that I have since overcome all those “annoying” issues and am living my best life!

I was so fascinated by what I learned through the years that I decided to further my education by joining The School of Applied Functional Medicine and began training to become a functional medicine health coach. I completed my studies in 2021 and have been applying the knowledge I have learned to help my clients as well as friends and families achieve great improvements in their health. I look forward to helping you on your journey to optimal health!

Board Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner @ Alive and Well Austin

Jana specializes in biomedical treatment of autism, PANDAS/PANS, ADHD, gut health, and any chronic disease in pediatrics.

She is passionate about providing holistic healthcare to children with chronic maladies through an integrative and functional medical approach. She even co-wrote and published a book about it!:

“The Parent’s Roadmap to Autism: A Functional Medicine Approach”

Available in both paperback and Kindle edition.

When your child has been diagnosed with autism (ASD), finding an effective treatment can be a complicated journey filled with wrong turns and dead ends. In this first-of-its-kind guidebook, Emily Gutierrez and Jana Roso suggest an alternate route that can lead to substantial developmental gains for your autistic child.

https://www.amazon.com/Parents-Roadmap-Autism-Functional-Medicine-ebook/dp/B07MJ9V3RX

NTP, CFT, BS @ Wellness Changer

Food as medicine paired with physical movement to heal the body

Transforming your health is so much more than a diet. It requires a lifestyle transition with optimal digestion and bodily function. A Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP) identifies possible nutrient deficiencies using functional evaluation, palpation, clinical assessment tools, inquiry, and the Nutri-Q software. A NTP develops an individualized plan for each client’s unique needs. The human body has an amazing ability to restore wellness when supported with the raw materials necessary to function at its optimal potential. A RESTART instructor will work with a group in education, sugar detox, and camaraderie to meet weight management goals. Improvements can be seen in:​

Digestion & Sugar Handling
Allergy & Immune function
Endocrine Issues
Cardiovascular Health
Inflammation
Mood
Vitality
Weight Management

Chiropractor and Geriatric Nurse Practioner.

Chronic disease has become an overwhelming problem in our country today with more than 133 million Americans or 45 percent of the population having at least one chronic illness from things like arthritis, cardiovascular disease, depression/anxiety and hormone imbalances. These numbers are alarming and predicted to continue to rise.

Jenny spent many years working in traditional medicine becoming more and more concerned watching people become sicker and sicker feeling helpless to make a significant difference. During these years, Jenny struggled with her own health issues and found herself heading down a path where she could be part of these statistics. She had taken antibiotics for 15 years and suffered with a myriad of digestive issues accompanied by depression and anxiety.

This became a wake up call and after finding no answers within the traditional medicine model she had spent years in, she started seeking answers elsewhere.

While traditional medicine has its place, by applying functional medicine principles Jenny now sees symptoms illness and disease in a much different way. Today she views every symptoms as a conversation waiting to happen with the body.

By utilizing specialized lab testing, and dedicating time to lifestyle factors, she works and customizes a plan with each client to identify root causes and creates strategies to optimize functionality of the mind and body.
Things like pain along with acute and chronic injuries can be treated successfully with things like Prolozone that can promote regeneration of the injured joint and surrounding tissues while decreasing inflammation.

Aging has also become an increased interest as Jenny finds herself aging which has peaked her interest to leave behind the old outdated beliefs that aging has to be met with fear, loss of independence and continuous decline. Today there are aging modalities that can change the course and rewrite our aging stories if we choose to. By listening and harassing the amazing abilities that lie within us we can live and thrive throughout our entire journey of life.

Integrative Primary Care

Crossover Health – Austin, TX

Dr. Jessica Chernetsky is originally from Chicago, IL. She is a graduate of Northeastern Illinois University, obtained her medical degree at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX, and completed her family medicine residency at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School.

Dr. Chernetsky is family medicine trained, is fluent in English and Russian, and is interested in preventive, functional, and integrative medicine. She is passionate about helping all to live a healthy lifestyle, inclusive of working on the mind-body connection to one’s health. Dr. Chernetsky believes good nutrition and fitness are of utmost importance to leading a healthy lifestyle and loves to help patients work on these aspects of their health, in parallel with other preventative care measures.

When she is not working, Dr. Chernetsky enjoys spending time with her family, cycling, dog training, exercising and leading a healthy lifestyle.

Functional Medicine and Chinese Medicine specializing in mental health.

Founder, JKJ Medical Group

Justin K. Joe Lac, CFMP is a native Texan and alumnus of Texas State University. He has his master’s and doctoral work from AOMA Graduate School of Integrative Medicine and Pacific College of Health and Science. He is a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner. He takes a holistic view to psychology and mental wellness using traditional Chinese therapies of acupuncture and herbal medicine with functional medicine diagnostics.

Family Medicine Physician, & Functional Medicine Practitioner

Owner of DirectMed by Dr. Katriny Ikbal

Dr. Katriny Ikbal is a board certified family physician with a passion for patient care. She is a graduate of UT-Austin with a B.S. in Nutrition, Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, and UT Southwestern Austin Family Medicine Residency program. Dr. Ikbal is currently training with the Institute for Functional Medicine and plans to become certified in the near future.

Before founding DirectMed in 2015, Dr. Ikbal spent several years working in urgent care. This is where she realized the need for family medicine built around more meaningful patient/doctor relationships focusing on long term health through wellness and prevention. She is devoted to delivering the best and most affordable care possible and firmly believes that optimal care requires continuity with direct access. DirectMed takes care of many local businesses in addition to individuals, couples and families in the greater Austin, TX area.

DirectMed is truly a ‘family’ practice where each patient receives the time and attention they deserve. Neer Patel is Dr. Ikbal’s husband and Practice Manager responsible for business and integration of technology which helps strengthen its patient relationships.

Outside the office, Dr. Ikbal is heavily involved in the community. She enjoys spending time with her family and exploring the world through travel. Dr. Ikbal became a new mother in 2015 and delivered her second child in 2017. First-hand experience of parenthood has brought her a whole new appreciation of all the parents and children she cares for.

Natural Healing Options Doc @ BackBone Wellness Center

“Putting all the puzzle pieces together for a patient and finding solutions.”

“I do not believe in chasing symptoms, it is my goal to get to the root cause of any health issue you may be experiencing. Health is not found through masking symptoms, but through the discovery of the hidden issues causing your body to function less than optimal.”

Dr. Clinton has been living and practicing in Austin since 2000 and has a dedication to learning the most current health information and techniques that allow her to better treat her patients. She takes it seriously that she has been entrusted to care for a patient and will educate the importance of natural treatments such as chiropractic, acupuncture and proper nutrition in order to find a healthy balance in your life to get and stay healthy. Health restoration through the most effective and individually designed treatment is her goal for your care.

Dr. Clinton is trained in chiropractic, acupuncture and functional medicine (IFM) and will utilize the treatment methods best suited to each person for maximum healing benefits. Additionally she works with a group of extremely talented health care practitioners at BackBone Wellness Center offering many integrative treatments with a team approach to healing.

Lifestyle & Nutrition Doctor, former AWC Steering Committee Member

Dr. Lauryn Lax, OTD, NTP is a lifestyle & nutrition doctor on a mission to help people worldwide reinvent the way they look, move, feel and think.

As a Doctor of Occupational Therapy, Nutritionist, and Functional Medicine Practitioner, Lauryn’s work is inspired by her 20+ years of personal and clinical experience, spent recovering from several chronic and complex illnesses, including autoimmune disease, diabetes, IBS, hypothyroidism and eating disorders. After seeing over 20 doctors nationwide and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in efforts to diagnose and treat her conditions, with little help and few answers, Lauryn decided to take her health back into her own hands.

Through extensive study and research, continual self-experimentation, formal training, and her unrelenting faith and determination, she recovered from her debilitating chronic conditions. Since then, she’s made it her life mission to share what she learned with others and help them do the same, no matter their health challenge or struggle. Lauryn earned her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas, Doctorate at Belmont University in Nashville and continued her training in functional medicine under leader Chris Kresser and his Kresser Institute, as well as the Institute of Functional Medicine.

She lives in Austin, where she operates her private functional medicine and nutrition practice Thrive Wellness & Recovery and keeps her health journalism skills alive as well: blogging, podcasting, writing books and health articles for publications nationwide.

Multidimensional Healing is Healing on All Levels

Liesl Schott MD assimilates multiple disciplines through a spiritual focus addressing the many levels of the being as an integrated whole while working with the client through consciousness to achieve greater healing and balance on all levels.

Her unique mind-body approach blends disciplines of

• Spiritual Psychology
• Functional Medicine
• and Noetic-Field work

Dr. Schott holds a Doctorate in Medicine, from the University of Texas Medical Branch, and practiced traditional western medicine in primary care for many years. She then answered a calling to follow her awareness of the other dimensions of the being she experiences and her understanding that all levels are a reflection of the whole.

By approaching our healing through the path of consciousness and coming into the understanding of our selves as a Divine multidimensional whole we can then work with our many levels and aspects as the conductor and orchestrator of our unique symphony, and from a centered place of elevation and inner knowing come into a resonance and harmony of radiant health and wellbeing.

Meg is the founder of Center for Collaborative Medicine.

Center for Collaborative Medicine was founded to provide high quality functional/integrative medical care in Texas by practitioners with prescriptive authority, without the “natural pill for every ill” or the “test everything” approach.

She uses her skills in organizing complex information to find the root causes for a variety of symptoms, evaluating causes rooted in hormonal and thyroid imbalances, poor digestion, decreased cellular membrane resiliency, impaired detoxification pathways, and poor lifestyle habits.

Her areas of expertise:

• Thyroid conditions (including prescription management)
• Unrelenting digestive symptoms (e.g. bloating)
• Fibromyalgia
• Mycotoxin-associated illness, including CIRS
• MCAS
• Health Optimization (e.g. Alzheimer’s prevention, heart disease risk reduction)

Megan is now available through ParsleyHealth.com. She still maintains her Center for Collaborative Medicine as a resource. Please see her site for a special sign up code for Parsley..

Functional Medicine Nurse Practitioner, Holistic Health Coach, Group Fitness Instructor, Hormone Guru

Have you ever gone to see your healthcare provider with bothersome symptoms only to be told, “everything looks normal” ? OR – you are offered an antidepressant, sleeping pill, or some other drug? Or maybe you are told, “it’s just part of life.”

There is a difference between normal and optimal. If you are not even feeling “normal”, then something is definitely off and you have the right to be heard! Your body has an amazing power to heal itself – but only when you give it what it needs and get to the root cause in a holistic way.

Megan is a Functional Medicine Nurse Practitioner, Holistic Health Coach, a Group Fitness Instructor and is certified in Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy and Mind-Body Medicine. She helps women get answers to their unexplained symptoms that are likely related to hormonal imbalances (yes, she helps men too!). Too many women are feeling symptoms such as

• fatigue,
• weight gain,
• brain fog,
• anxiety and/or depression,
• insomnia,
• digestive issues/IBS
• and many many more –

and are being told it’s part of being a woman, or they have to just live with it. They aren’t getting help.

Megan truly listens to you. She provides comprehensive testing where results are viewed from an optimal point of view. YOU are ⅔ of the picture – the lab results just help fill in the gaps. She makes sure you understand your results and what the improvement plan is every step of the way.

And, she offers free consultations so you can get to know each other first.

Shefaly Ravula, PA-C is the founder of Precision Metabolic Health, a virtual telehealth practice that uses a culinary medicine toolkit for digestive and metabolic health optimization.

With a background in conventional gastroenterology as well as experience as a cooking instructor and kitchen coach, Shefaly intertwined the two to create Precision Metabolic Health, where she helps guide patients in a medical and nutrition philosophy that is an intersection of lifestyle medicine, functional medicine, preventive medicine, and the burgeoning field of nutrigenomics.

The foundation of empowering people to take control of their health is “food as medicine” and so she simultaneously launched the Food-as-Medicine Academy, a virtual cooking academy teaching nutrition WITH cooking — and learning to apply it in the kitchen.

Precision Metabolic has various service options for all states in the USA and globally, as we are a virtual practice.

Website: https://precisionmetabolichealth.com/
Food-as-Medicine Academy: https://course.shefskitchen.com/

More about Shefaly

Shefaly Ravula has been a board-certified physician associate for about 25 years. She graduated from the University of Texas in Austin in 1997 and graduated from the UT Southwestern Physician Assistant Graduate Program in 1999. After several initial years of working in Seattle in inpatient care, she and her husband moved to Austin and she began working in conventional inpatient and outpatient gastroenterology. It was around this time, especially after a significant family health scare, that she began taking a deep dive into nutrition courses and this started a lifelong journey into nutrition education.

During a hiatus from medical practice while raising her small children, she also began teaching cooking classes in Austin. She ultimately became a food writer, food-as-medicine instructor, and kitchen coach for patients. During this time she continued expanding her nutrition knowledge by attending nutrition conferences for medical providers, taking CME courses, and beginning the Institute of Functional Medicine certification process. Shefaly continued working in GI addressing gut health, IBS, inflammatory bowel disease, GERD and other gastrointestinal issues, using her nutrition knowledge base, up until the pandemic began when she decided to pursue her true passion of integrative and lifestyle medicine. She worked in a conventional practice as a nutritionist and functional medicine provider for 2 years, primarily working with metabolic dysfunction, hormone imbalances, heart disease, insulin resistance, obesity and IBS patients in this unique position in that practice.

Ultimately she decided to open Precision Metabolic Health (PMH), a virtual telehealth functional nutrition and lifestyle medicine micropractice, which at its core uses a culinary medicine toolkit for digestive and metabolic health optimization. At PMH, she helps guide patients in a medical philosophy that is an intersection of lifestyle medicine, functional medicine, prevention medicine, and the burgeoning field of nutrigenomics. The foundation of it all is “food as medicine” and she simultaneously launched the Food-as-Medicine Academy, a virtual cooking academy teaching nutrition alongside cooking and learning to apply it in the kitchen.

Theresa Hernandez APN/CNP, IFMCP, is a Family Nurse Practitioner and Certified Functional Medicine Provider. She’s been a pioneer for Wholistic Family Care and Nursing Faculty at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

She provides individualized care for each patient and emphasizes getting to the root cause of symptoms, not just disease management. She is passionate about providing care to Pediatric patients and their families.

Pharmacist, Clinical Nutritionist @ Austin Compounding Pharmacy

Specialties: Pharmacy, Nutrition, Compounding, Car mechanic

Tom Schnorr, owner of Austin Compounding Pharmacy, graduated from the University of Houston School of Pharmacy and received his Pharmacy License in 1980. After graduation, Tom spent 15 years each working in HIV/AIDS care, practicing in retail, hospital pharmacy, and home infusion therapy.

Historically, pharmacists learned to create medications according to a physician’s exact specifications. In pharmacy school Tom was instructed in the compounding of medications from “scratch.” He continues to add to this knowledge as he directs the compounding of bio-identical hormones, pain medications and veterinary medications.

Tom acquired board certification in Clinical Nutrition in 2002 and since has been hosting seminars in nutrition, BHRT and compounding in the Austin area. He is the host of the Austin Functional Medicine group since 2007 and loves bringing together the community in one spirit of cooperation in healing.

WELCOME TO AUSTIN COMPOUNDING PHARMACY!

We’ve been serving the greater Austin area communities since 2005. Tom has 38 years of experience and our friendly staff will treat you like family. Here at Austin Compounding Pharmacy, we are dedicated to providing our customers with services that are customized to meet their needs. Whether it’s prescription medications or over the counter products, we are here to answer any and all of your questions. If you haven’t taken advantage of one of our many services, call or stop by and see us today!

Our Motto: To be of service

Our Belief: I believe in the body’s innate ability to heal given the proper environment and support.

Veronica Max

Family Practice Specialist. Direct Primary Care Provider
Founder of UltraPersonal Healthcare

Veronica Max, APRN, FNP:

Veronica sees her role as a guide and advocate, listening attentively to her patients’ health concerns and conveying information in a clear, approachable manner. She values preventive medicine and thrives on finding the root cause of her patient’s problems. She has experience in treating all ages and stages of life, and is especially interested in treating autoimmune conditions, as well as providing prenatal and postnatal care and counseling patients in health optimization. She stays fit and active with Crossfit, and chasing after her 3 children–Bishop, Vaughn, and Deacon with her husband Tucker.

Veronica received her bachelor’s and master’s of science in nursing from Texas Tech University. She also holds a bachelor’s in biochemistry from Samford University, where she played Division I basketball. She is certified in family medicine through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Veronica was recently awarded the 2019 Austin Advanced Practice Nurse Excellence Award.