Allison fox, MD
I love science, and I always have. I wore an old white lab coat around the house as a kid and spent hours on end staring into my microscope. I chose to pursue family medicine because I didn’t want to be restricted to one, and only one, body system. Family medicine excludes no age, sex, or disease. I wanted to study it all and even took courses in plant biology, ecology, and tide pool identification. Studying bacteria, plants, parasites, and medicine has always felt natural to me. What doesn't feel natural is compartmentalizing it all.
The human body contains as many, if not more, bacterial cells as it does human cells. Those bacteria change over our lifetime and have recently been implicated in everything from cancer growth and spread to autism and schizophrenia. New research about the microbiome and all of its players is coming out at lightening speed, and suddenly, it doesn't seem so strange to study bacteria, plants, parasites, and medicine together. Enter, functional medicine.
If family medicine was a good fit for me, functional medicine is my hearts' calling. By delving into every symptom and system on a cellular level, I get to the root cause of the issue. Medicine is evolving, and so too should our physicians. If we know that "routine" and cursory tests such as an annual CBC and metabolic panel do nothing to detect or prevent disease, why do we continue to order them? When a non invasive stool test exists that looks for DNA of colorectal cancer cells, why is this not being offered routinely when people born in 1990 have twice the risk of colon cancer and four times the risk of rectal cancer as those born in 1950? It is well documented that it takes 17 years from the time new medical research is released for doctors to implement it in their care. Frankly, that is entirely unacceptable.
With the ever growing chronic disease crisis in this country, physicians need to step up to the plate, and we don't have 17 years to do it. Practicing functional medicine allows me to spend time with my patients and really hear their story. It allows me to apply a wide breadth of knowledge to treat what have historically been hard to treat conditions such as IBS, acid reflux, Hashimoto's, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia. There is most often an answer for why disease develops, as well as how to fix it. Functional medicine is the future of medicine, and I am beyond grateful that I get to be a part of this health revolution.
If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got.
Certified with the American Board of Family Medicine
Licensed in New York, New Jersey, California, Illinois, and Arizona
Clinical Instructor In Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, 2011-2017
Brown University Family Medicine Residency
Saint George's University School of Medicine
University of New Hampshire (Women's Studies, Pre-Med)
Member of the Institute for Functional Medicine, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, & American Herbalists Guild
Jenna Katzman, NP
I’ve been interested in health and nutrition for almost as long as I can remember. I remember sitting at the dinner table as a 9 year old, with a hamburger in front of me, asking my parents if I had eaten enough yet. I never liked meat, and then started researching the ethics behind it and after much debate with my mother, went vegetarian at age 10. After that, I became interested in nutrition and how what I was consuming affected my body. Shortly after that, at the age of 11, I was diagnosed with a chronic disease that would change the course of my life forever. I became even more intensely interested in nutrition, health, and wellness. I soon realized that I wanted to help people to take better care of themselves, just like many healthcare practitioners had done for me.
I graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. I then went to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I worked at New York University Hospital as a nurse in the neurosurgical intensive care unit for almost five years while completing my Masters Degree. I received my Masters degree from New York University in 2012, where I earned my nurse practitioner degree in adult and holistic medicine. I have been practicing as a primary care provider since that time.
I pride myself in being an attentive listener and fostering strong partnerships with my patients. I believe having a strong relationship with my patients is one of the most therapeutic tools I have in my toolbox. I use of a blend of evidence-based and integrative medicine and adjust to meet patients where they are at that moment in time. I believe the human body has an amazing capacity to heal itself and I find it really satisfying to help patients to tap into that ability.
My clinical passions include diabetes management, weight management, anxiety, depression, insomnia, women’s health, LGBT care and transgender care, among others.
In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family and cat, being outside, traveling, white water kayaking, visiting fun restaurants and wandering around quirky stores.
Amy Rind, NC
Like so many women, I was living the “new normal” as a full-time, commuting marketing executive with two small children – frenzied, stressed out and exhausted. I often gobbled down whatever I could find at work, ate from the kids’ plates, called walking 3 blocks from the train “exercise” and rarely got more than 6 hours of sleep. Then I began experiencing major panic attacks so frequent and intense that I found myself avoiding work and social activities “just in case”. Shortly after I started having serious digestive issues that forced me to start dodging even more events, including my children’s holiday shows! After an episode that left me in the ER severely dehydrated and exhausted but with no discernible diagnosis, I vowed that I would focus on getting my health back. I just had to get my life back and I just knew there had to be a better way!
My first major “ah-ha” moment came from learning how my gut dysfunction and my stress and anxiety were completely connected.. really one system behaving badly! When the brain isn't functioning well, the digestive system begins to falter and in order to heal myself I would have to heal both! Another O-M-G moment came when I discovered how multiple food sensitivities and a leaky gut were ruining my ability to absorb nutrients. It wasn’t just about eating better and getting more sleep, I had to really rebuild my health from the ground up. And on this journey, a new world of health and conscious living opened up for me…and for my family.
My goal is to help other women face their own health demons that are a result of living in a fast-paced world while not making self-care a priority. With small, achievable changes made over time, you can experience more gratitude and self-love that let you support those you love and strive for your own dreams. It’s a darn tall order – and sometimes there will be bumps in the road - but it's also delicious and incredibly rewarding. And I’m on the journey with you.
I'm here to guide you on your journey to truly nourish your body, mind and soul and reclaim the life you deserve.
Let’s go be amazing!
Schedule with Amy Rind, NC here
B.A. in Psychology - College of the Holy Cross
700-Hour Nutrition Consultant Certificate with Honors - Bauman College
Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition® (2019)
Adrenal Thyroid Revolution Mastermind Professional with Dr. Aviva Romm (2018)
Holistic Nutrition Lab: Digestive Intensive (2018)
Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training - MB-EAT (2017)