The Medicine of Flow: Healing Through Coherence, Qigong & Collective Energy
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
What if healing was less about forcing the body to recover—and more about creating the conditions for coherence? In this episode of The Evolution of Medicine, James Maskell speaks with Dr. Cynthia Li about her personal recovery from chronic illness and the deeper healing principles that emerged through Qigong, embodied flow, and energetic medicine. After struggling with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, dysautonomia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and post-viral illness, Dr. Li discovered that true healing extended beyond protocols and physical interventions. Through practices rooted in ancient Chinese...
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Biological Elegance and Relational Healing
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with Dr. Zach Bush to explore the concept of biological elegance and what it could mean for the future of health and healthcare. Zach begins by describing what he calls "nature deficit disorder"—the growing separation between humans and the natural world through industrialization, technology, convenience, and increasingly mechanistic systems. He connects this separation to a broader loss of connection with the biological systems that support human health. The conversation then turns to one of the biggest blind spots for practitioners: the belief...
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Holistic Psychiatrist Presents Season of the Witch
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with holistic psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Vora to discuss her new book, Season of the Witch: The Psychiatrist's Case for Magic. Dr. Vora's first book, The Anatomy of Anxiety, directly translated her functional medicine approach to mental health. This book came from a deeper, more spiritual inquiry. She describes it as part grief memoir, part cultural commentary, and still a prescriptive functional medicine book. Her central argument is that many of us learned to perform a left-brained, rational type of intelligence while suppressing our mystical,...
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Postpartum Depression: The Hormone and Nutrition Connection
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with Kirkland Newman, founder of MindHealth360 and Executive Director of the IMMH (Integrative Medicine for Mental Health) conference. Newman's path into integrative mental health began with her own experience of severe postpartum depression after both of her pregnancies. Offered only antidepressants by her psychiatrist — with no explanation for why she was suddenly experiencing panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia, and depression — she sought answers from an OBGYN, an endocrinologist, two GPs, and multiple psychiatrists, none of whom investigated...
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The Pathobiome: Stealth Infections and the Brain
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with Nikki Schultek, founding director of the Pathobiome Research Center at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and founder of the Alzheimer's Pathobiome Initiative, a global research consortium. Schultek's path into this work began with her own illness 11 years ago — a multi-system chronic condition driven by a tick bite and co-infections including Chlamydia pneumoniae, which went misdiagnosed by 12 specialists for a year before Dr. Charles Stratton at Vanderbilt identified and treated the underlying infections, restoring her to...
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The Neuroscience of Awakening
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
In this episode, host James Maskell sits down with Dr. Helen Lavretsky — integrative and geriatric psychiatrist, neuroscientist, and professor of psychiatry at UCLA, where she directs clinical research on integrated mental health and serves as research director for UCLA's Integrative Medicine Collaborative. Her path into the field began through Kundalini Yoga, sparking 20 years of studying mind-body practices with rigorous neuroscience. Despite initial pushback in academic psychiatry, her evidence ultimately gained widespread acceptance. She details her clinical model: a partnership where...
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The Forgotten Medicine: Community, Dance & Song
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
In this live episode from the Institute for Functional Medicine's Annual International Conference, host James Maskell sits down with Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark, who opened the conference that morning with its keynote address. The conversation begins with something unusual: conference attendees — mostly, as Maskell puts it, "type A, cerebral" doctors — got up and danced during her talk, a rare sight at a medical conference. Dr. Maker-Clark, who is part of a West African dance company, explains why: drumming and dance tap into something deeply primal in all of us, tied to ancestral rhythm, grief,...
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2026 Pauling Award Winner Reveals the Truth About Hormones & GLP-1s
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
What does it take to earn functional medicine's highest honor? In this live episode from the Institute for Functional Medicine's 33rd Annual International Conference, host James Maskell sits down with Joel Evans, MD, FMCP-M, recipient of the 2026 Linus and Ava Helen Pauling Award in Functional Medicine — awarded to Joel Evans, MD, FMCP-M in recognition of his career-long contributions to the field. Joel Evans, MD, FMCP-M shares the story of his journey from OB-GYN to functional medicine leader, crediting Jeff Bland and Bethany Hayes for pulling him into the field early on. He discusses why...
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The Blueprint for Functional Medicine in Big Health Systems
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
What does it actually take to build a functional medicine program that thrives inside a conventional health system? In this live episode from the Institute for Functional Medicine Annual Conference, James Maskell sits down with Laura Sandquist and Kate Otremba, who've spent six years building a large integrative and functional medicine program within Allina Health, a conventional health system in Minnesota. Laura and Kate share the infrastructure they built to make it work — smart phrases, practice guidelines, and templates that help clinicians translate their functional medicine training...
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The Bioage Reversal Breakthrough
Evolution of Medicine Podcast
What if the best way to live a long life isn't a longevity hack — but preventing chronic illness in the first place? In this live episode from the Institute for Functional Medicine Annual Conference, James Maskell sits down with Dr. Kara Fitzgerald, a naturopathic physician and longtime functional medicine researcher, to talk about her groundbreaking work on reversing biological age. Dr. Fitzgerald shares the story behind her 2018 clinical study, which found that a diet and lifestyle intervention reversed biological age by over three years — a result that stunned the field, since even...
info_outlineHow can functional medicine improve the health, resilience, and performance of military personnel?
In this live episode from the Institute for Functional Medicine Annual Conference, James Maskell sits down with Dr. Bryan Stepanenko and former Green Beret Geoff Dardia to discuss how functional medicine is transforming healthcare for warfighters and veterans.
They explain the unique physical and psychological demands of military service, including blast exposure, traumatic brain injuries, chronic sleep deprivation, toxin exposure, and repetitive physical stress. Rather than simply treating symptoms, they demonstrate how functional medicine identifies and addresses the root causes of dysfunction to improve recovery, optimize performance, and extend long-term health.
The conversation explores innovative concepts such as Personal Protective Nutrition (PPN) and Personal Protective Lifestyle (PPL), as well as the growing role of wearable technology, shared medical appointments, and performance biomarkers in motivating military personnel to take ownership of their health.
Dr. Stepanenko and Jeff also introduce the Institute for Military Functional Medicine, an initiative dedicated to training healthcare providers and establishing standardized care pathways for military populations. They also discuss Allo Performance, a virtual practice focused on comprehensive assessments, accelerated recovery, and personalized functional medicine care.
Whether you're a clinician, first responder, athlete, veteran, or simply interested in improving your health, this episode offers valuable insights into how performance-focused, root-cause medicine can benefit everyone.
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About the Guest:
Dr. Bryan Stepanenko is a leader in military functional medicine and has spent years educating military healthcare providers on applying functional medicine principles to improve the health, resilience, and performance of active-duty service members and veterans. His work focuses on understanding how military operational environments affect physiology and developing practical, evidence-informed strategies that optimize readiness and long-term health.
Geoff Dardia is a former Green Beret and educator who transformed his own health journey through functional medicine after experiencing the cumulative effects of military service. He now works to educate military communities and healthcare professionals on performance optimization, resilience, and root-cause healthcare, helping service members better understand and improve their health through practical, actionable strategies.
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