Varsha Rathod, MD

Varsha Rathod, MD, is a board-certified internist and rheumatologist. She ran her own noninsurance-based practice in St. Louis for 15 years. Her practice was mostly primary care and consultative for integrative medicine and rheumatology. She is proud to be one of the few rheumatologists who does not routinely start her patients on biologic and DMARD therapies. Instead, she first utilizes fundamental lifestyle strategies—personalized nutrition, stress management, proper sleep, and exercise. She successfully minimizes the use of drugs in a variety of rheumatological diseases: lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, the various spondyloarthropathies, giant cell arteritis, and granulomatous with polyangiitis (previously known as Wegener’s vasculitis). In many patients, she has been able to avoid the use of NSAIDs, prednisone, DMARDs, and biologics. She has a passion for nutrition and cooking and believes that a plant-based diet can help with most autoimmune diseases.

She now works for Palm Health as the lead physician and trains physicians, and staff in the art of practicing Functional Medicine. Palm Health is a concierge Functional Medicine practice with a full lifestyle treatment facility that includes coaching.