INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE - What Is It

The short answer is "Internal Plastic Surgery." The commonly used term is Anti-Aging Medicine. Since I am not anti-anything, my signs now read Morgan Medical Centre of Integrative Medicine.

When people ask what I do, I tell them I am an Integrative Medicine physician. Most are confused. The purpose of Integrative Medicine is to have function accompany our longevity.

I prescribe pharmaceutical medications, but I also assess my patients in a panoramic way. I attempt to help you get on less medication if possible, lose fat, and attain your ideal weight. I restore hormones in a bioidentically natural way (which requires a prescription), restore neurotransmitters, muscle, quality sleep, libido with good function, memory, and energy -- which naturally decline with aging.

Integrative medicine requires acquiring a medical degree (MD or DO) in Family Medicine or Internal Medicine. I chose Family Medicine because I wanted to treat patients wholistically. I trained with doctors in every specialty -- surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, endocrinology, cardiology, orthopaedics, psychiatry, etc. This training enabled me to understand the work done by the myriad of specialists my patients consulted.

Most baby boomers do not want to take multiple medications, nor do they want to age internally or externally. My patients do look younger secondary to becoming lean, sleeping well, and replacing what is depleted with aging.

The first visit involves a history that takes an hour. I order many tests, and review the work of previous physicians. We enter a collaborative effort to help you achieve your goals. Integrative Medicine is a specialty that involves regeneration of function, whether it is due to aging, chemotherapy, poor nutrition, environmental toxins, and/or the multitudinous other factors that contribute to disease.

Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and Columbia have a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine, the new specialty. To learn this specialty fifteen years ago, I needed to travel extensively and study with Europeans and Americans "who thought outside the box." My plan is to have my medical school, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, have an Integrative Medicine fellowship with my assistance.

When I was a medical resident, my patients did NOT present with ten to twenty symptoms. Most of my patients DO present with ten to twenty symptoms and have seen many specialists. I endear the fact that many patients travel long distances for my medical counsel.

Integrative Medicine physicians are able to do acute crisis care medicine. We are able to prescribe any medication, administer vaccinations, perform minor surgery, order medical tests -- and send you to a specialist who does sophisticated procedures to determine the medical mystery in the event you are still unwell.

I prefer to regenerate, preserve, and extend optimal function. Medicine is my most passionate hobby. The global point is that our chronological age and biological age do not need to be the same. I ask patients "how old are you, and how old do you feel?" The goal is to die old, feeling as young as possible. So many disease states can be prevented.

Updated by Roberta Foss-Morgan, D.O. -- March 26, 2008