Meet Our Team

Dr. Sam Lavis

I have always had a deep interest in peak performance — whether that was in sports, academics, or my own personal health. In my junior year of high school I developed a vision issue that sent me down a rabbit hole and ultimately led me to functional medicine. From that moment on, it became my life's passion to stay on top of the latest science and, just as importantly, to test it on myself first. You can bet that if I recommend something, I've probably already done it.

Since my junior year of college I've been fascinated by human optimization. I stumbled upon functional medicine the year between college and medical school and knew immediately that this was what I was meant to do. Functional medicine is really just medicine that focuses on fixing the root cause of someone's health issue so that their body can heal — it focuses on health, not treating disease. It made innate sense to me that the preferred state of the body is being healthy and vibrant, and when it isn't, there is a reason. It's the job of the doctor and patient to work together to figure out what is holding the body back.

In residency I saw firsthand how broken the system is. Institutions focused on their bottom line, insurance companies dictating care, and doctors who genuinely wanted to help but were given an inadequate toolkit. At the end of my first year of residency, an attending left our medical system for direct primary care. I went and observed his practice and found the form of medicine I thought I was getting into when I started medical school — deep doctor-patient relationships, treating the whole person, not just the ailment in front of you.

It dawned on me that I could combine direct primary care and functional medicine. That combination would allow patients to have continued access to high-quality medicine that helps them live the healthiest, longest life possible. That was something I could get fully on board with, and Functional Health Solutions was born. I attended medical school at Pacific Northwest University, am board certified in family medicine, and have completed extensive functional medicine training through the Institute of Functional Medicine. I am always seeking out new conferences and research to bring the latest cutting-edge health science directly to my patients.

I want to build a community of like-minded individuals who want more from their lives and their health. If this form of medicine excites you as much as it does me, I'd love to have you join us.