For Immediate Release
Palm Harbor, FL – The Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy (IFNA) is proud to announce its educational partnership with The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM). The two organizations will continue to support the growth in knowledge surrounding Functional Nutrition and the clinical adoption of Functional Medicine principles in clinical practice.
IFNA, an online clinician training program for registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) and other nutrition professionals, is led by nationally renowned integrative RDNs, Dr. Sheila Dean, an IFM Certified Practitioner and Kathie Swift, Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Integrative and Functional Nutrition therapy is an evidence-based, comprehensive case-centric approach to nutrition care that can significantly improve patient outcomes. This emerging medical nutrition model combines modern science, clinical wisdom, and critical thinking and is being driven by increasing consumer demand.
Sheila Dean, IFNA co-founder states, “Having personally experienced the high standards of functional medicine education offered by IFM, we knew we needed to bring the best of Integrative and Functional Nutrition to nutrition professionals in a systematic and clinically relevant manner. Creating an educational partnership between IFM and IFNA has helped facilitate that process as well as contribute to IFM’s mission of ensuring widespread adoption of functional medicine as the standard of care.”
IFM’s involvement included participation in a curriculum review process of the inaugural course as well as providing a set of clinical toolkit items and patient education resources that are integrated into the course content. IFM is enthusiastic about the program’s content, the expertise of the selected opinion leaders contributing to the curriculum, and the practical clinical applications taught throughout the multi-modular program.
IFM Chief Executive Officer, Laurie Hofmann, MPH, says, “IFM is excited to have IFNA as an educational partner. The training provided by IFNA serves a group of practitioners who are extremely valuable in collaborative care teams working within the Functional Medicine model. Those trained through IFNA will be prepared to work directly with IFM-trained Functional Medicine practitioners.”
IFM Director of Medical Education, Kristi Hughes, ND, was involved in the course review process and states, “What Sheila and Kathie have created with this program provides valuable clinical insight and leverages decades of their clinical experience. This program will certainly bring a deeper and more meaningful understanding of the Functional Medicine Model to the dietitians and nutrition professionals who participate and engage in this interactive learning experience. It is an honor for the IFM Functional Nutrition content to be integrated within this program and a privilege to be in an educational partnership with IFNA.”
Kathie Swift, IFNA co-founder states, “Our educational partnership with IFM supports our global mission to transform the practice of nutrition by providing the most comprehensive online educational experience available.”
The Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy (IFNA) is an online clinical training program for registered dietitian nutritionists and other nutrition professionals focused on integrative and functional nutrition. IFNA is an Accredited Provider of over 135 CEUs by the Commission on Dietetic Registration and has a multi-disciplinary faculty of expert clinicians and thought leaders. For more information about IFNA, please visit www.ifnacademy.com.
The Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) is the global leader in Functional Medicine. The mission of IFM is to serve the highest expression of individual health through the widespread adoption of Functional Medicine as the standard of care. For more information about IFM, please visit www.functionalmedicine.org.
Functional Medicine is a personalized, systems-oriented model that empowers patients and practitioners to achieve the highest expression of health by working in collaboration to address the underlying causes of disease. The primary drivers of the chronic disease epidemic are the daily interactions among an individual’s genetics, environment, and lifestyle choices. Functional Medicine addresses these underlying causes of disease and equips healthcare practitioners to help their patients manage this complex, interconnected web.
Functional Nutrition emphasizes the importance of high quality foods and phytonutrient diversity to address clinical imbalances and move individuals toward the highest expression of health. Advanced nutrition assessment and a thorough Functional Medicine-based history leads to a personalized therapeutic intervention created to promote optimal health and prevent diet- and lifestyle-related disease.
The Institute for Functional Medicine is a nonprofit educational organization. ©2016 The Institute for Functional Medicine
For more information:
Contact: Sheila Dean and Kathie Swift
Email: [email protected]
