About

My journey

Dr Rebecca Healey   MBBS, MSc, RNutr

Medical Doctor: 6 year training for MBBS Medicine qualifying with honours from Hull York Medical School, with medical elective in Immunology.

NHS Medicine: 5 years NHS hospital experience across a number of different specialties including Respiratory Medicine, Acute Medicine, Elderly Care, Psychiatry, and Vascular Surgery.

Nutrition: Human Nutrition Masters Degree with distinction from Chester University. Trained in the used of low FODMAP diets for IBS with Monash University.

Functional Medicine: Trained with the Institute for Functional Medicine.

Who I help

I predominantly work with patients experiencing functional digestive disorders including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). I also see patients requiring nutritional support with for Type 2 diabetes / prediabetes, as well as people experiencing Long Covid.

Patients often come to me when they have been struggling with ongoing symptoms for some time, but not achieved full resolution through the traditional approach alone. In most cases, adoption of functional medicine and nutrition approaches, alongside any necessary medical treatment, leads to reduction in symptoms and improved quality of life.

Using a functional medicine approach to nutrition and health coaching, I combine my background in conventional medicine with the latest advances in nutrition, nutrigenetics, nutrigenomics, and integrative medicine, in order to ensure patients achieve the best possible outcomes.

I offer several wellness programmes to support you on your journey to optimal health.

My Background

When I began working as a junior doctor, I was struck by how many of the conditions I regularly saw may have been preventable with dietary and lifestyle measures. I began to realise that while modern medicine is a lifeline in acute illness, it had become a firefighting exercise for chronic disease.  I felt that the best approach was surely one that at least began with looking at root causes, paying attention to nutrition, environment, and evidence-based complementary therapies, not just medication alone. As time went on, I became even more aware of the profound difference nutrition could make to patients’ recovery from infection and surgery, even in the short term.

I subsequently completed a masters’ degree in human nutrition while continuing to work in the hospital environment, focusing my research on assessment and outcomes for hospitalised patients with vascular disease at risk of malnutrition.  I began to apply the principles of nutritional medicine to some of the patients I saw in hospital, as well as those I saw as a nutrition and health coaching professional.  I was impressed by the difference these approaches could make to improve patients’ biochemical health markers and their quality of life.

I went on to complete further training in Functional Medicine with the prestigious Institute for Functional Medicine based in the US, and continue to grow my knowledge and skills within this valuable specialty. I am continually impressed by the power of nutrition and functional medicine approaches to restore health and quality of life.

Professional Memberships

  • Registered Medical Practitioner: GMC
  • Registered Nutritionist: AFN
  • Member of the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)

Qualifications

  • Medicine MBBS (Hons): Hull York Medical School
  • Human Nutrition MSc: University of Chester
  • Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice (AFMCP): Institute of Functional Medicine
  • Trained in the use of low FODMAP diets for IBS: Monash University
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