In this interview recorded at the opening of Dr. Darshan Shah’s 15th Next Health clinic in Bellevue, Jeffrey Bland, PhD, and Dr. Shah discuss the genesis, rapid expansion, and patient experience model of Next Health. Dr. Shah recounts his personal health crisis—an autoimmune disease, diabetes, and hypertension—that led him to discover functional and root‑cause medicine through Dr. Bland’s teachings, prompting him to launch a functional‑medicine clinic in Los Angeles. Inspired by that success, he aims to scale the model, describing the clinics as the “Apple Store of medicine,” with plans to add roughly ten locations within a year and ultimately reach 150 sites. The conversation highlights the clinic’s emphasis on frequent, enjoyable visits, weekly patient interactions, and a focus on reversing chronic disease to achieve optimal wellbeing. Finally, Dr. Bland asks Dr. Shah to address physicians contemplating career change, seeking insight into the confidence required to pursue a new, purpose‑driven path.
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Okay, well, here I am. I'm telling you, I am so excited to be present with Dr. Darshan Shah, who is, as you know, an innovator, leader, a person of extraordinary vision, who is now telling me that we are here at the Bellevue opening of his 15th, 15th clinic. And how many years, Darshan?
Well, we got started 10 years ago, but really the big kind of increase in number of clinics came in the last 3 years. Yeah. And so we've been at it for a while.
And you have how many planned for our future here?
Well, probably another 10 or so in the next 365 days, and then even more after that. We're looking at 150 Next Health clinics.
Well, Sid, can you describe for those who may be uninitiated, what does Next Health provide that you would not find at your local neighborhood clinic? Yeah.
So, you know, I think the best way to answer that is with a story about why we started Next Health. Is because I myself got sick and I couldn't get better until I came to one of your conferences and learned about functional and root cause medicine. And because of that, I eliminated an autoimmune disease I had that was very severe that I was taking biologics and immune suppressants for, diabetes and high blood pressure. I'm like, why isn't everyone practicing this kind of medicine? So I started a new clinic which is a functional medicine clinic. In Los Angeles based on your teachings, basically. Oh my word. Yeah, so you are the genesis of Next Health. That's how I would think about this. So yeah, it really is. And I thought that we just need to scale this type of thoughts about medicine to the world. And so I also know going to a doctor's office is not fun. First thing you want to do is get out of it a lot of times. So I wanted to be a fun, beautiful place for people to go to. And so our clinics are They're called the Apple Store of medicine sometimes. And so you walk in, and I want to have people come in frequently. So we see our patients every week almost, and we can talk to them about all the things that they need to do to improve their health from a root cause level like you talk about.
Mm-hmm.
Now, the magic here is that when you start doing root cause medicine, not only do you reverse chronic disease and potentially eliminate your risk of it, you also feel amazing. You feel awesome.
Yeah.
And so, and so people come out of Next Health feeling awesome, and I have a lot to thank To you for giving me the genesis of why we created these clinics in the first place. So it's an honor that you're here.
Well, let me speak to those people who may be in this, in the medical profession, thinking about their lives and their future. So you were a surgeon.
Yeah.
And you had a very successful practice. You had been considered a success within your peer group, and suddenly you have this kind of aha experience that's very profound. What then gives you the confidence as an individual looking into their future, knowing a little bit of the unknown, saying it's worth the risk?
Yeah, you know, like speaking to other physicians, if you are not loving what you're doing and you're feeling burnt out and you're feeling
