Certified November 2021
I am a board certified Physician Assistant who graduated from The University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston in 2014. After over 5 years of practicing in the Family Medicine setting, I have witnessed the overabundance and detrimental impact of chronic illnesses in our modern society. As someone who majored in Biochemistry for my undergraduate degree, and because I have always loved food and cooking, I chose to pursue my certification in Culinary Medicine. I believe this training will help me bridge the gap between the culinary arts and the science of medicine in order to treat and prevent chronic diseases in my patients. I truly enjoy teaching patients the implications of diet on their overall health and wellness, along with tips and tricks in the kitchen to create easy, delicious, and nourishing meals.
I am passionate about healthy living, wellness, and disease prevention. I strive to be an advocate for my patients and welcome the opportunity to teach patients how to achieve a healthier lifestyle and create lasting habits to support that goal.
In my free time outside of the clinic, you can frequently find me in the kitchen at home trying out new recipes in order to share them with my patients, co-workers, friends, and family. I also love to travel, read, and get outside with my husband and dogs as much as possible. I am currently practicing at Kelly Family Clinic located in New Braunfels, TX 78130.
Certified March 25, 2019.
The Wellness Kitchenista, Jessica DeLuise, MHS, PA-C, CCMS, is a seasoned medical practioner, culinary medicine specialist, TV chef and wellness entrepreneur.
Jessica’s mission is to make the road to wellness fun, easy to follow, budget friendly, and delicious! Jessica holds a Masters degree in Health Science from Drexel University and certification in Culinary Medicine from Tulane University’s acclaimed Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine. She has more than eleven years of clinical experience as a Physician Assistant.
Jessica’s passion for culinary medicine is rooted in her own life experience. As a teen and young adult, Jessica suffered from unexplained episodes of syncope (fainting), complex migraines, GERD, esophageal ulcers, and other intrusive health symptoms. At this time in her life, Jessica felt confused and frustrated with lack of guidance, prescription pushing, and cold bedside manner of many practitioners she visited with. As Jessica empowered herself and transformed her diet, she began to learned which foods triggered her symptoms. Now, due to her lifestyle and dietary modification, she is able to live symptom-free. While this isn’t the case for everyone, lifestyle and food, Jessica believes, can have a considerable impact.
Inspired by her own experience, Jessica has made it her mission to bring to the forefront the potentially transformative benefits of food and life balance. Whether with patients, in front of an audience, or engaging with her social media following, Jessica can be counted on to demystify facts and science behind the food and share delicious meal ideas.
Jessica is the host of “Eat Your Way to Wellness”, a cooking and lifestyle program streaming on Amazon Prime. You can also spot Jessica on one of her frequent TV appearances, including the Dr. Oz Show, Insider, Fox 29, and many others. She is a brand ambassador for several trusted national and local brands, including OXO, Calphalon, Tropical Fruit Box, Mooala, Hungry Harvest, and more.
19428
Jessica Szpak is a physician assistant that works for the Neurosciences Department at SSM Health Dean Medical Group out of Madison, WI. She has been a provider in the department since 2009. She is also a Multiple Sclerosis Certified Specialist and sees the majority of the MS patients within the system. Jessica completed her BA in both Genetics and Biology at UW Madison. She went on to complete her BA in Physician Assistant Studies at UW Madison and later received her Masters in Physician Assistant Studies at the University of Nebraska.
Jessica believes strongly in patient education and runs a quarterly patient education series for MS patients. Once she became a Certified Culinary Medicine Specialist, she incorporated this into her education series with a lecture and cooking demonstration on nutrition for Multiple Sclerosis patients. Jessica has also started to incorporate wellness visits for her MS patients to focus more on nutrition, exercise, stress management, and lifestyle changes. She continues to look for other ways to reach a broader audience with her Culinary Medicine certification.
In her spare time, Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children, traveling, reading, entering cooking competitions, and hiking.
53715
Lala Briskman is an NCCPA board certified Physician Assistant, practicing in Gastroenterology. She graduated with honors from Physician Assistant Program at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in 2012 and currently works on her Doctorate degree in Medical Science at A.T. Still University. She also holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. Her lifelong passion for science and medicine along with love to cooking inspired her to study culinary medicine to improve her knowledge about pharmacologic properties of food. She applies culinary medicine principles to her everyday practice, educating her patients to optimize their diet for improving their health. She consults patients with various gastrointestinal disorders through creating individualized dietary plans, help them to modify their eating habits to improve nutrition and reduce GI symptoms. She thinks that culinary medicine is about “eating smart” while enjoying the food.
Favorite Quote: “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food” (attributed to Hippocrates).
Certified September 14, 2020.
My name is Laurie Powers, I am a Certified Primary Care and Psychiatric PA, and have been practicing traditional medicine for 32 years. While I have worked in a number of different disciplines, my passion has always been preventative medicine. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s become clearer than ever that best way to fight disease is to prevent it in the first place.
I am passionate about teaching people how to maximize their health through lifestyle changes, and have started my own practice called Sleep & Diet Restoration to do just that. My work focuses on teaching patients to eat in a way that prevents and treats disease using Culinary Medicine techniques, as well as training patients to get optimal sleep using Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia. I also offer therapy for Pediatric Behavioral Insomnia as well. My goal is to avoid the chronic use of medication all together, or to supervise the weaning process as they make the changes necessary to support wellness, when applicable. I offer lab work as well when indicated. I see age 2 and up.
Patients can schedule an in-office or NC telehealth appointment with me through my website at sleepanddiet.com.
Fayetteville, NC
28305
Sarah Pontell is a board-certified Physician Assistant who graduated from Samuel Merritt University (Oakland, California) in 2010 and specializes in Family Medicine. She cares for patients with a broad range of conditions and provides high-quality, compassionate care across the lifespan. She strives to partner with every individual to achieve the best possible health and wellness, and emphasizes that preventing and managing chronic disease starts in the kitchen with delicious, nourishing foods.
She believes that food is medicine and empowers patients to be their healthiest selves at every stage of their lives.
Sarah is also a Licensed Midwife and has delivered babies in India and Mexico, as well as the San Francisco Bay Area. She passionately believes that physical and emotional health are basic human rights, and has studied and practiced many culturally diverse forms of healing.
Sarah teaches as a faculty member in the PA program at Samuel Merritt University. In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her family, playing music, running marathons, and roasting massive trays of veggies.
Certified on September 26, 2017.
Taya Gill is a certified physician assistant who provides compassionate care in the Saltzer Health urgent care clinics.
As an urgent care provider, she performs detailed patient histories and completes physical examinations, diagnoses and treats a variety of diseases and injuries, orders diagnostic tests and analyzes medical images, administers treatment regimens, and advises patients about diet, hygiene, and preventative measures.
Previously, she was a comprehensive care physician assistant at Saltzer and a family medicine physician assistant at Hodges Family Medicine in Meridian.
Gill earned a master’s degree in physician assistant studies at Idaho State University and a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Human Resources at Utah State University.
Certified on November 30, 2018.
