Michael Barr, DAOM, LAC, IFMCPC

Information for Patients

Description of My Practice

Diagnostics-based functional medicine practice: nutritional assessment, digestive function, oral health, gut health, gut barrier integrity, toxic exposure-detox capacity balance, hormone balance, genetic analyses. I also have a pretty solid background in and knowledge of botanical (primarily East Asian traditional) medicine.

Type of Care I Provide

• Nutrition Professional
• Primary Care / GP

Practitioner Type

• General Practitioner
• Nutrition Professional

From the practitioner: About My Practice

Initially trained as an acupuncturist and herbalist, I was drawn to the root cause approach of Functional Medicine because it seemed to me to offer the best of Eastern and Western medicine: physiology-level diagnostics coupled with a holistic way of thinking that sees the human body as one integrated whole.

I am continually amazed at how just about every chronic health complaint can be traced back to nutrient insufficiency, gut microflora imbalances, hormone imbalances, environmental exposures and/or impaired detox capacity-- with chronic stress, whether from toxic relationships, money worries, soul-crushing jobs/commutes, seemingly endless political insanity, or a plate that's just too full amping up and magnifying all of this.

From the practitioner: What Patients Can Expect

I recently became a huge admirer of Dr. Robert Lustig and, probably to a lesser extent, William Davis and Robert Lufkin. Together, these three "reformed" (and penitent) medical doctors are paving the way for a thinking person's approach to medicine that actually reverses illness. Before them, of course, there were the inspirational personal journeys of physicians navigating (& conquering) personal health crises, such as Dr. Terry Wahls.

This is all by way of saying that not only are drugs almost never the answer to chronic ailments, but neither really are supplements. Food & lifestyle tweaks are the real medicine. Many may not be in a position or yet ready to make the necessary changes. But it's the only way. All I can do is guide you.

Medical Specialties

• Acupuncture
• Botanical Medicine
• Functional Medicine
• Lifestyle Medicine
• Nutrition

Languages Spoken

• English
• French
• Spanish

Graduate School Education

Pacific College of Health and Science (New York, NY), Sinai-American Medical Rehabilitation Association (Los Angeles, CA), Dongguk Royal University (Los Angeles, CA), McGill University (Montreal, Canada), London School of Economics (London, UK)

Degree

DAOM

Professional Associations

Institute for Functional Medicine, Integrative Medicine for Mental Health, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Society for Acupuncture Research

Board Certification

NCCAOM

IFM Coursework

• Advanced Clinical Training: Reversing Cognitive Decline
• Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice
• Bioenergetics (formerly Energy) Advanced Practice Module
• Cardiometabolic Advanced Practice Module
• Environmental Health (formerly Detox) Advanced Practice Module
• GI Advanced Practice Module
• Hormone Advanced Practice Module
• Immune Advanced Practice Module