About allison

Allison is a Southern California native who lives on a farm in Northeast Georgia, and owns a Wellness Clinic in Athens, GA. Beyond her Acupuncture and Functional Medicine Practice, she is a wife, mom to 2 boys, 4 dogs, 12 pigs, a pony and donkey and 8 chickens. She started taking care of others from a young age and was intrigued by the medical world. Thirty-one years ago, she became a Nurse's Assistant first at USC/Norris Cancer Center in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, then at UCLA's Cardiothoracic ICU. She loved helping people who were extremely ill, often helping them to feel better with just her loving smile and caring touch, but eventually felt the need to find more natural ways to help long before they got so sick. 

Allison completed her degree in Kinesiology from San Diego State University, with an emphasis on Pre-Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine. In 2000, Allison became a Massage Therapist while studying to be an Acupuncturist and Herbalist at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. She started her own Mobile Massage business and became a Mind/Body Consultant at Scripps Center for Executive Health before completing her Master's Degree in Traditional Oriental Medicine in 2004. In 2005, she completed a Wellness Coaching certification program through Wellcoaches so she could better serve her clients to create lasting changes in their lives. 

After many years struggling with skin issues and anxiety that worsened after having kids, Allison was determined to figure out the source of the problem. Highly sought after dermatologists in Beverly Hills were convinced she had eczema and dermatitis, but provided no solutions beyond topical creams or immunosuppressants. Familiar with dietary and lifestyle changes through Chinese Medicine, Allison started researching functional medicine approaches to skin conditions and mood imbalances. When she learned about genetic variants and their effects on both, she knew she found one of the keys. Allison learned she was compund heterozygous for both MTHFR variants. This only made her more curious to find out what else her genes had to say. With this information combined with going gluten free, watching sugar and dairy intake, adding in nutrients like Magnesium, Vitamin D and methylated B vitamins, all of her symptoms began to disappear. 

Feeling inspired as she turned 50 and entering the second half of her career, Allison pursued Functional Medicine training through the Institute of Functional Medicine. She is currently in a Doctoral Certification in Orthomolecular Nutrigenomics through the Institute of Integrative Medicine.