I’m Stephanie Daniel, DO, a physician who specializes in complex, layered chronic illness: mold and environmental illness, mast cell activation, hormones and midlife, fertility, and nervous system dysregulation. I founded my practice in 2012, first as Intuitive Women’s Wellness and now Functional Medicine SF, and I see patients virtually across California.
My work centers on knowing what to address first. The Longevity Hierarchy™, my clinical framework, grew out of years of caring for patients who had already tried many treatments without lasting results. It rests on a simple idea: the body can only respond to so much at once, so the order of care matters as much as the care itself.
I knew from an early age, when I began tending to my dolls and teddy bears, rescuing baby animals and nursing them back to health, and leading the neighborhood first aid station, that I would find my path to becoming a physician. After attending undergrad at the University of Virginia, and then pursuing a master’s in healthcare ethics at Rush University in Chicago, I later accidentally found myself in a 3-year stint at a prestigious Silicon Valley hedge fund. It was there I was given the opportunity to dive deep into evolutionary biology, a topic I already loved, which served as the basis of the investment decisions we made and shifted my perspective in understanding the root of human disease.
I’m also a mother to a thriving teen, shepherding her into adulthood, cheering her on in Club Volleyball and thrilled that she’s finally interested in the quality and healthiness of her food choices and staying hydrated. In my time off, I like spending time with my friends and family, including my 2 pups, keeping up a regular yoga practice, hosting farm to table dinner parties, and traveling for intellectual pursuits and for pleasure. As a recovering achievement addict, I understand what effort it takes to stay balanced, while still pursuing all that life has to offer.
Dr. Stephanie is a member of the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM.org) and has completed the Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice seminar in 2014, which is when she first became a mentor to other physicians in the practice of functional medicine, something she still loves and does regularly. She is also a member of the International Society of Environmentally Acquired Illness (ISEAI.org) and regularly engages on cases with her tight knit functional medicine colleague group, who are the most compassionate, knowledgeable and high integrity doctors she’s ever had the privilege to know. Dr. Stephanie serves as a preceptor to medical students, residents and fellows of UCSF’s Osher Center and as an instructor at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is a member of Summit Series, a community of diverse makers and holistic leaders, and a founding member of the Esalen Visionary Women’s Leadership Council. She has studied with the Institute of the Sacred Stream, Dr. Neil Nathan’s Complex Medicine Think Tank, Dr. Sara Gottfried’s Get Vital, Stay Vital Practitioner Mastermind training program,the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), the American College for the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM), the Center for Education and Development of Clinical Homeopathy and is currently in a program on the intersection of trauma and spirituality with Thomas Huebl, PhD.
Read Dr. Daniel’s clinical framework: The Longevity Hierarchy™, a capacity-based approach to sequencing longevity care.
