Full Description
The first scholarly exploration of the forums, practice, and economics of functional medicine.
Physicians of the Future interrogates the hidden logics of inclusion and exclusion in functional medicine (FM), a holistic form of personalized medicine that targets chronic disease. Rosalynn Vega uncovers how, as "wounded healers," some FM practitioners who are former chronic disease sufferers turn their illness narratives into a form of social capital, leveraging social media to relate to patients and build practices as "doctor-influencers." Arguing that power and authority operate distinctly in FM when compared to conventional medicine, largely because FM services are paid for out of pocket by socioeconomically privileged "clients," Vega studies how FM practitioners engage in entrepreneurship of their own while critiquing the profit motives of the existing healthcare system, pharmaceutical industry, and insurance industry. Using data culled from online support groups, conferences, docuseries, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, and TED Talks, as well as her own battles with chronic illness, Vega argues that FM practices prioritize the individual while inadvertently reinscribing inequities based on race and class. Ultimately, she opens avenues of possibility for FM interlocutors wrestling with their responsibility for making functional medicine accessible to all.
Contents
Prelude. Treat the Person, Not the Disease
Introduction
Chapter 1. Is Functional Medicine Pseudoscience?
Interlude. Mapping Out My Systems Biology
Chapter 2. Wounded Healers
Interlude. Taking the Reins
Chapter 3. Relational Shifts
Interlude. The Three Cs
Chapter 4. Digitized Patient Communities
Chapter 5. Doctor-Influencers
Chapter 6. Ancient Healing Traditions
Chapter 7. Big Pharma and Health Insurance
Chapter 8. Group Visits
Conclusion. Looking Forward: Opportunities for Health Justice
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Persons Described in This Book
Notes
Works Cited
Index
