Janet B. Abshire, M.D.   - Bio

Dr. Abshire obtained a Nutrition Science degree before her M.D. from the University of California at Davis. She obtained highest honors in nutrition, and was an Alumni Scholar and a Regent’s Scholar in medical school. She served as the student representative on the Board of Directors for the Medical School. She completed her Internal Medicine internship in Santa Barbara, and is a general practitioner.

Early in her career she made frequent volunteer medical trips to the third world helping with cleft palate repair, other plastic surgery procedures and primary care. Because of her patient advocacy when working at the county she was asked to serve as acting Medical Director over 9 county primary care clinics for Sacramento County, Department of Health and Human Services. While there she helped write a grant and headed a committee of a successful program that taught nutrition, cooking, and exercise classes in 5 languages around the area for the indigent poor to promote positive lifestyle change.

She has several years experience in weight loss medicine, and is involved with the CMA’s, California Medical Associations Obesity Prevention Project. She belongs to the local CERT, community emergency response team. She is a member of the local medical society’s SSVMS, Public & Environmental Health Committee and recently volunteered to be an alternate representative on  Emergency Medical Services - Medical/Operational Oversight Committee.

She has over 13 years experience working in Occupational & Environmental Medicine. She treats patients with various occupational injuries including inhalation exposures and other toxic exposures that occur on the job. She was asked to represent the CMA, California Medical Association, testifying in front of the California Air Resources Board to help pass the 2009 Clean Air Act regarding Diesel exhaust. She stated “We can no longer afford to separate the problems in healthcare from the problems in the environment causing them.”

Having a nutrition degree and loving biochemistry she already thought like a functional medicine doctor and had conflicting views with some facets of modern medicine. She felt disappointed at her graduation ceremony to find the original Hippocratic Oath had been changed to better fit modern medicine and no longer stated ‘First Do No Harm.’ She was very happy and relieved in 1998 to find Jeffrey Bland, PhD, and the Institute of Functional Medicine. She attends the seminars and completed IFM’s long course the AAFMP in 2005.      

Dr Abshire is working in acute care in Occupational Medicine, and with chronic disease in her private practice using Integrative & Functional Medicine.