Lessons
12 lessons · 9h 45min total
What Is Functional Medicine?
An overview of the functional medicine model — its origins, principles, and how it differs from conventional disease-centred practice.
Systems Biology in Clinical Practice
How systems biology concepts — feedback loops, emergence, interconnectedness — translate into a more accurate model of human health and disease.
The Matrix Model: A Diagnostic Framework
A deep dive into the functional medicine matrix — seven core physiological systems and how antecedents, triggers, and mediators map onto them.
The Patient Timeline and the Art of the History
Constructing a comprehensive patient timeline from birth to present — and why this is one of the most powerful diagnostic tools in functional medicine.
Understanding Metabolic Dysfunction
A clinical framework for identifying and addressing the root drivers of metabolic disease — insulin resistance, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction.
Gastrointestinal Health as a Core System
Why the gut is central to functional medicine — the gut-immune axis, leaky gut, dysbiosis, and the clinical implications of digestive dysfunction.
Hormonal Axes: HPA, HPT, and HPG
How the three major hormonal axes interact, how stress dysregulates all three, and clinical strategies for restoration.
Immune Function and Chronic Inflammation
The spectrum from immune deficiency to autoimmunity — and how chronic low-grade inflammation underlies nearly every chronic condition.
Detoxification and Biotransformation
Phase I and II liver detoxification, genetic variations in detox pathways, and practical clinical strategies for supporting biotransformation.
Mind-Body Medicine: The Clinical Evidence
The neurobiological evidence for mind-body interactions — trauma, stress, and their downstream effects on physiology and disease expression.
Introduction to Functional Nutrition
How food functions as information — epigenetics, nutrient signalling, and the therapeutic application of dietary change.
Bringing It All Together: A Case Integration
A full worked-through clinical case — from intake to treatment plan — applying the matrix model, timeline, and systems approach.