I founded Optimal Human Health (OHH) to serve those that want more Stamina, Ambition, Vitality, Energy and Desire in their lives. The US health care system has produced lifesaving technology and pharmaceuticals that are very good at treating heart attacks, strokes, and trauma but it fails to support those seeking to perform at their best and prevent disease. From this perspective the system in which I trained has failed our society. We spend more on health care per person than any other country, yet our population is sicker and weaker than ever before. Obesity, diabetes, hormonal imbalances, thyroid dysfunction, osteoporosis, and dementia are rising at alarming rates. Our sophisticated system offers little to help prevent these disease states and even less effective treatment once they arise. The fast-food approach we have created with pharmaceuticals and procedures has ruptured the sacred trust patients once held for their doctors. My training led me to believe that the foundations of health (sleep, nutrition, movement, and stress mitigation) were all secondary to a well-honed scalpel and thick prescription pad. That belief has been turned upside down.

I finished my orthopedic training with a fellowship at Stanford University. Trained by some of the best physicians in the country, I felt like I could make tremendous impact in my practice. Quickly I realized for me I was wrong. Worse, my own health started to deteriorate, and I was powerless to understand why. I was active and ate “well”, yet I was exhausted, gaining weight and suffered from brain fog. I treated my symptoms like many do with more exercise for the weight and caffeine for brain fog, but I only got worse. It wasn’t until I flipped my paradigm upside and put the foundations of health first that I started to improve. My career began to shift as I watched in disbelief the impact my beloved wife, Dr. Ashley Lucas, was having on my own patients in her business PHD Weight Loss and Nutrition. The power of her approach opened my eyes to a big missing piece in my understanding of health. This realization paired with the desire to impart real change in my patient’s lives prior to them needing surgical intervention led me down the road of additional training in the fields of hormone optimization, precision genetic driven personalized medicine and functional medicine. Ultimately leading to an early retirement from orthopedics and a leap of faith to create an approach I believe in and deliver with an open heart and curious mind.