Episode 23: Improving Life with Functional Medicine, with Dr. Cynthia West

After spending most of her life in western PA, Dr. West relocated to central PA in 2015. Her education, medical training and professional career have taken Dr. West from Erie where she obtained her undergraduate degree at Gannon Univ to Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine in Philadelphia where she received her MD. Dr. West completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh and fellowship training in Nephrology at the Univ of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Following completion of training, Dr. West remained in the Pittsburgh area to practice Nephrology. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Nephrology and was the medical director of a dialysis clinic in Washington, PA.

Several years ago, Dr. West discovered a passion for the philosophy and practice of functional medicine as a means to prevent chronic disease. Dr. West believes her experience in treating chronic conditions combined with a functional medicine approach provides her with a unique capability and perspective on what believes to be the medicine of the future. Dr. West feels strongly that education is fundamental to prevention and greatly enjoys her role of teacher-doctor.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• Functional medicine: what it is and why it matters
• The lifestyle practice Cynthia started on the side of the practice where she was employed
• Why that practice was ahead of the time
• What life was like for Cynthia growing up
• The financial lessons that Cynthia learned from her mother who lived through the depression and why she made herself unlearn those lessons
• Why Cynthia decided to become a doctor instead of a nurse (a rarity at the time)
• Cynthia’s experiences as the only female in some of her courses (and why she never really thought about it that much)
• Cynthia’s children and grandchildren and the opportunity she took to relocate near them
• Why not participating in financial decisions has been a threat to her security
• Why being a saver has been such a strength for Cynthia
• The most defining moments in Cynthia’s life
• Why Cynthia won’t fully retire until she absolutely has to
• Why Cynthia worries about having enough to retire

Ways to contact Cynthia:

• Email: cynthiagwest@gmail.com

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