How Stem Cells Can Change Your Life With Dr. Joy Kong

Unlock the secrets to living a more fulfilling life while optimizing your health and wellness. Together, we'll dive into the science, strategies and stories that empower you to thrive in the years to come. Join Zach Jurek on Fully Alive, a groundbreaking podcast brought to you by shellpoint, the largest single site life plan community in the United States. The Fully Alive Podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. The content shared in this episode is not intended as medical, legal or financial advice and should not replace the guidance of a qualified professional. The views and opinions expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of shellpoint or the podcast host. Listeners are encouraged to consult their healthcare provider or other qualified advisors before making decisions related to their health, wellness, or lifestyle.

Well, welcome back to Fully Alive, where we are unlocking the secrets to your healthier, happier and longer life. I'm your host, Zach Jurek, and today we're diving into one of the most exciting frontiers of modern medicine, regenerative therapies and stem cell innovations. My guest today is Dr. Joy Kong, and she's a triple board certified physician, which basically means she's just really, really smart. She's author, an educator, and a pioneer in the field of STEM cell therapies. Dr. Kong has dedicated her career to advancing integrative approaches to healing. She's blending cutting edge science with a deep understanding of the body's innate capacity to regenerate itself. She's also the founder of a company called Cara Biologics and creator of innovative stem cell formulations and skin care, and leads an online academy certifying physicians worldwide in regenerative protocols. Dr. Joy is also the host of the Dr. Joy Kong podcast and she's also the author of a memoir called the Tiger of Beijing, which chronicles her remarkable journey from China to becoming one of today's most influential voices in regenerative medicine. So in this conversation, we're going to explore the latest breakthroughs in stem cell research and what they mean for everyday health and longevity, how integrative therapies can also work together with stem cells for optimal results, and her inspiring personal story of overcoming obstacles and pioneering new paths in medicine. So if you've ever wondered about the future of regenerative therapies or how you might benefit from them today, then you're going to love this conversation with Dr. Joy Kong. So let's dive in.

Dr. Joy, thank you so much for joining us today. It's such a privilege to have you on the show. I'm truly honored that you're joining us here. On the Foley Live podcast. And I've really been looking forward to this conversation ever since we met briefly about a month ago. I'm just super excited for myself to learn from you, but also for our audience and our listeners. So thank you for taking time to be with us today.

Oh, thank you so much, Zach. Yeah. I'm excited to speak with you and help people live better.

Yeah. Well, you're. You're truly an inspiration, and the work that you're doing is revolutionary and is impacting the world in amazing ways and impacting lives. So thank you for the work you've done. I'd love to. Just. Maybe we could start with your amazing personal story, because I know you've written a memoir, Right? The Tiger of Beijing. Is that right? And you've had this amazing journey in actually immigrating into the US From China, and then you wrote this memoir about those first few years. Right. So could you tell us a little bit about that story and that journey and what that's like and kind of what led you to write the memoir?

Yeah, I think the first half or first third of the book really was happening in China. I was 20 years old, and the book started with my visa rejection in front of an American Embassy. So you guys did not want me to come. Not because I wasn't smart or I wasn't accomplished enough. It was because I do not have a good affidavit of support that all people who are coming to America from another country require somebody who's living and working in America to sign an affidavit basically saying that if you do become destitute and, you know, with no resources, that this person is going to help you. So it was very, very, very difficult to find that person who's willing to write that piece of paper. And only people I knew from my family was. Or my mom's students. So apparently, that wasn't convincing enough. The American Embassy, the consulate, basically said that, why should your mom's student help you? So I was rejected. And then the journey started from there. What do you do when you have a big dream and the people on the other side says, nope, your dream is not happening? So what do you do? Do you give up or do you keep going for it? So I decided that who are they to tell me, no, this is. This is where I. Where I belong. So I'm gonna give it my best, and if I can't, that's fine, but I'm never gonna not letting that happen because I didn't try hard enough. So I decided to take a leave of absence from my college. I was studying architecture. I was like, well, let me just do this full time, see if I can leave. All my friends thought I was nuts because they said, you don't know if you can leave. Is this next impossible to leave? So why, first of all, why are you trying? Second of all, you got rejected. Why don't you keep working or keep studying architecture? And in case you can't get to America, at least you finished your college, you have a profession. And I said, nope, I'm all in. I, yeah, I take a year leave of absence. If I can't go, I'll come back. So I'm not going to try to do two things all at once. Not interested. So that's when I basically tried to see what I could do to find somebody that was willing to write an affidavit of support. And that wasn't easy. But I was upset because I had no resources. So that's how I was born. I was born in a sea of people with no money and my family had no connections. So that was my circumstance. And what do you do? I decided that I was going to know somebody. So I picked up the Yellow pages of Beijing and I started to flip to the page of the best hotels in Beijing and I started calling different rooms randomly. So that was the beginning of my story, because I was mad. It was the anger that spread, driving this irrational. Right, irrational action. But who knows if it's that irrational because obviously it got me here. Whatever that was happening, it was not a straight line. So that's what I talked about in the book. What happened when I called all these random rooms? Right.

A lot of interesting conversation.

Yeah, that was the book. But eventually, you know, I met somebody, an American. I came to America. Then I faced another challenge. So that's a different set of challenges. You know, as a young woman, basically being stuck in a relationship that was, was really, really not good for a person's soul. How do you triumph over that when really at 20 years or 21, I was very young. How do you even navigate a terrain where the person on one hand tells you they love you so much that you're more important than anything else in the world, on the other hand, is hurting you all the time, it's doing things that are really, really just did not feel right. So what do you do? It was very confusing because nobody has taken a lesson on that. Certainly my mom didn't teach me what to look for, so. But eventually, I think the drive to be free and Be my own person allowed me to break free. So that's the story. How to get to where you need to be and how to break from shackles, basically. So that's the tiger spirit that I feel. It's in all of us. If you're alive, you've got the tiger in you. And just a lot of people may not recognize and could not bring that forth, but they have it. So it's a matter of recognizing your power.

Well, that's an amazing story, amazing journey. Thank you for sharing that. And what amazing resilience that has led to, to in your life. And so that's a big shift though. So you're studying architecture now. You're one of the world's leading stem cell experts. So kind of, kind of different there, right? So what part of that journey kind of led you into the work that you're doing now with regenerative medicine and stem cells? And how did that shift through?

I was wide open on what I wanted to pursue. So I could do anything. I could become an actress or become a journalist, which I almost did, almost became a journalist. But then my love of science triumphed. So I decided that I really, really am just. I love life. The mystery of life. How do we make this happen? How did the cells. How do they know? How do they form organs? Like I. I want to understand. So it's that drive that got me into medicine. And then in medicine, another thing that fascinates me is the brain is consciousness. So I went into psychiatry because it was the last frontier, right? Supposedly. And during the working as a psychiatrist, which if you count residency, I worked as a psychiatrist for 11 years. So I saw a lot of patients and most of them are really poor, right? They did not have much resources to the point where they didn't even have money to go see a primary care doctor. They barely had bus money to come see me. So that's how bad it was. So I was functioning not only as a psychiatrist, but also as their primary care doctor. How to get them to do well with their health? So the best way is to prevent them from getting sick, Right? But also if they are sick, what are the ways that can get them better, besides medication? And there must be a more holistic way of addressing health, which is how I was really, how I grew up. It's because we, we had full access to Chinese medicine there. If you go to a hospital, there's Chinese medicine department. So you can choose to go see a Western medicine doctor or go see a Chinese medicine doctor. Sometimes it's Better to see a Chinese medicine doctor, but sometimes it's better to see a Western. So it doesn't matter. Sometimes one works better for than the other. So. But Chinese medicine stresses holistic approach. And what is holism, right? It's, it's about looking at the body as a whole, that everything's affecting each other. So if you deny that fact, you're denying how life works. So because I knew everything do affect each other. We've known that for thousands and thousands of years since human existence. But if Western medicine is denying that fact, then it's been shortsighted, then it's misguided. And I would not stand for that. So even during medical school, I went to UCLA medical school, right? One of the top five medical schools in the country. I was not happy with the single mindedness. Without recognizing all that goes into human health, something as simple as nutrition is pretty much ignored by, you know, at ucla. And so I did take an elective called East West Medicine. So they actually, you know, had enough new things to offer. So there is one elective you can take, but that's just me wanting to take it. Most students do not take that elective. So knowing that I love holistic approach to health and knowing my own inadequacy because of the lack of training that I had to learn on my own, so I started going to training seminars or integrated doctor gatherings, conferences. And during that process I was able to encounter other doctors, including, including somebody that was doing stem cells. So that was, was a shocker. I'll tell you the conversation. So the doctor said, I just use stem cells to treat this autistic kid and look at the results. I said, wait, what? You are using stem cells? What do you mean? I thought, they're still doing research. This is 2014, 2015. I think they've been doing stem cells for decades. And here I was right. Well, trained physician having no idea that it's already been used. And there's so much misinformation. Just even this morning, you know, some, there was actually another person, a podcaster that was thinking about interviewing me and then came back with all these concerns. Oh my God, I thought, you cannot use other people's stem cells in us. It's illegal in the US like big word illegal in the US I thought, okay, this is mind boggling. This is still going on. You would think a podcaster, especially in the realm of health, may know a little bit better, may know a little bit more. But no, the prejudice and the misinformation is so strong. I'm shocked after all these years, after having talked, my face is blue. Telling people why it is legal, how I've been doing it for nine years. Myths persists. So I'm so glad I can be here and just get the truth out. Right? Let's just get the word straight. So, anyhow, so I found out that you can indeed do stem cell therapy. And it's not only that you can do it, but it worked. It worked for a lot of people. I could not believe it because this first doctor showed me how he was able to bring about these changes in this little autistic kid. The kind of thing changes that I couldn't make happen. I didn't have the tools. I have some medications either stimulating the little kid, right. Like stimulants, or I can use some antidepressants. If they're depressed, I can use sedatives to calm them down. That's a nice way of saying it, really. To almost knock them out, in a sense. Because we want these kids to shut up, basically. I mean, you could see the parents are frustrated. The doctor was frustrated. I went to Cedars. I see how they were functioning. I see how they were dealing with the kids. They would like to just get the kids to just shut up, you know, like, just don't stop disrupting that. That was. The kids are just like, barely. You know, it's like drowsy. They're like, oh, success. That's good. No disruption anymore. That is not a way to improve a kid's life. I'm sorry. So that's why I did not go into child psychiatry. I thought, this is too depressing. I am not going to be part of this. But then here's a doctor that was an anesthesiologist who has no training in autism. No. Knew very little about autism. Right. And I had years of training. And then he was able to do all these things with a single infusion.

Just one.

He just did an IV infusion. Yes. And I was like, what is going on with these cells? What are these cells? So how could they do this? How come I have all these drugs, I have all these, you know, behavioral whatever training that we couldn't make enough dent. And he put some iv, some cells, like, what is it? So that's really what started the fascination and the inspiration. And then it's not just autism. Right. My first other patient, well, this lady I met, she had rheumatoid arthritis. And she was telling me, oh, my God. I tried all these medications and some work for a little bit, but they gave me all these side effects. And then I tried an IV infused infusion of stem cells, and the swelling in my hand went away that same day. Like. Like, for years, you couldn't put on this ring. Like her mom gave her for two years. And then after one stem cell infusion, she put a ring back. And then she had. She said, I had so much energy. I have so much sex drive. Like, this is incredible. I feel this life force. That's when I said, okay, but whatever you took, I think I want some. Like, this is making you feel that good. What is going on? So that's just the beginning example. Of course, I hear what it does for people with all kinds of conditions. Musculoskeletal issues is the most commonly used situation. And that's actually my first patient. So once I found out these cells work very well, and I thought, well, I want to be able to offer this. And then my first patient was a man of 69 years old and was told that by two orthopedic surgeons that he had to have bilateral knee replacement. So what I did was I gave him IV stem cells and injected some stem cells into each of his knees. And so this is nine years later, right? He's still walking about four miles every day. He goes to all the trade shows. He walks a lot. And he said, I barely feel my knees. This is after two surgeons told him, absolutely, you have to have these replacement. And not only his knees are doing great, but the rotator cuff injury that I didn't even know about. The next day, he said, I slept through the night, but I was always woken up from during my sleep. When I shift my body in my bed, the sharp pain will wake him up. And after the stem cell treatment, didn't get woken up during his sleep, and it never did. And I didn't even know he had rotated haircut injury. So that was a great example. I think I was shown, right? I was. I. I was shown the way of the power of this therapy, how it is so elegant that all you need to do is just put the cells in the body somehow you put it somewhere, and then they will travel to places that they're needed and they will send out signals to your body so your body can heal itself. Basically, that's why it's regeneration. The only way you can regenerate is that your. Your body's willing to regenerate, right? You can throw all kinds of things on it. You can say, regenerate, regenerate the body. The body needs to do it on its Own. So you need to wake the body up. That's why regenerative medicine is so exciting, because it's all about waking up the body.

Yeah.

So that was kind of the, you know, of course. Can you imagine? Of course I was hooked. How can I not be hooked?

The ultimate holistic medicine in treatment, Right?

Yeah.

Wow. Well, that sounds. Thank you for sharing that. It's so fun to hear. Just kind of how people, where people's passions come from, how it was born and now it's. What you're doing now, nine years later is just amazing and unbelievable. I'd love to. We'll get into more of that as we go here. But you mentioned, you know, there's a lot of myths out there and there still are, even though you and others are sharing this message constantly. What are some of the other myths that you wish people would. You could debunk even right now of if you wish that people just knew these things?

Definitely. One of the biggest one is saying that stem cell therapy is not legal in the US and there was some, I think it came from back when they started doing embryonic stem cell research and George W. Bush decided to ban federal funding for embryonic stem cells. You know, embryonic stem cells is obtained from an embryo, right? Fertilized egg started dividing, forming a little ball. Day five to seven after fertilization, that's when the ball is forming. And inside the ball there are all cells called inner cell mass. And you can grab cells from one of those and that can form any organ, any tissue in the body. So that was the embryonic stem cell research. And George W. Bush said, no more federal funding for any destruct. Any research that would destroy an embryo. Of course, when you start, if you try to obtain new cells, you're going to destroy a new embryo. But if you already have an embryonic stem cell line, they didn't ban funding for that because you're not destroying a new embryo. So that's where the beginning of this legality or concern people have and then as the therapy becomes more prevalent. So first of all, bone marrow transplant, that's a stem cell therapy. That's the first type of stem cell therapy. So that's all part of tissue transplant. And then people discover that there are stem cells everywhere in the body and you can use them from. Even from fat, right? So fat drives stem cells. You can. It's really, it's not the fat doesn't have a whole lot to do with the fat. It's about the blood vessel that supplies the fat. And these Are primitive cells, what we call messenger. There are a lot of mesenchymal stem cells that can divide and differentiate to become cells of the fat, bone, muscle, tendons, et cetera. So it's the mesenchymal stem cells that are lining the blood vessels that supplies the fat. Those are the cells we're trying to get. So they're getting those cells and then utilizing them. And then there's stem cells, right, that usually the baby's born and that blococort placenta is tossed. Throw in the trash. No one was using it until they realized just how incredible the cells are that's in there. So the FDA wanted to regulate because people were using it. The FDA wanted to protect the public. I agree that there need to be some kind of standard, right? So the FDA finally said, okay, the stem cell therapy, if you want to use cells, this is how we are going to regulate this. You can categorize yourself as either a section 361 or section 351. If you're using cells and there's section 361, that means these are considered tissue because then you don't have to go through drug study. But you have to fulfill two criteria. One is minimal manipulation. That means you use no enzymes, chemicals, or you do not grow the cells in, in the tissue culture. Now, that's minimally manipulated. And then if you use the cell for the same purpose as how the cells were functioning in the donor's body and you put in the recipient and it's doing the same thing now, it's considered a tissue transplant. So a lot of companies were providing product, minimally manipulated product, to physicians. And the physicians, physicians are physicians. We do all kinds of things. We do what we do. So sometimes the physicians will put cells into places like the intravenous route, and there's nowhere that says that this is illegal. However, if the company cannot promote using the cells for all these purposes, for all these different conditions, because the moment you start to talk about different conditions, you start talking about treating something. Now the FDA says, okay, now you just made it a drug. Now, if you're talking about treating anybody particular condition, better do drug studies. So that's where then you're going to bring your product into section 361. But this is like on a manufacturer side, there's nothing as far as a law that says stem cell therapy is either legal or illegal. Simply, there's no law. Right? The Senate hasn't passed any law. There's nothing in it. Just like a lot of things Ozone therapy or some other integrated therapy for. There's no law that's banning. This is terrible. We cannot allow this. Right. You ban something, it's not banned. So it doesn't say it's illegal. But you will not find some place that says it's legal. Except for actually now in different states. We're students start to see different states pop. Right. Kind of like the marijuana, the progression. There are states that start popping, right. Oh, it's illegal here, it's legal there. It's the same thing. Stem cell therapy first became legal in Texas. Texas is always the, the more ballsy group.

Yeah.

So they passed a law because one of the senators, his son was saved by stem cells. It's called Charlie's Law. This text is actually passed a law saying, yes, it's legal to do stem cell therapy in this. So it actually said the word legal. Right. And then they added some more parameters that you have to be associated with the university or, you know, some kind of institution, blah, blah, the added parameters. So that's Texas, that's first. And then you've got different states like Utah, Nevada, California, I think North Carolina. So like in California, where I'm practicing, all you have to do is to put this placard on your prominently in your clinic that it says this provider is providing you a stem cell therapy which is not FDA approved and you have consulted with your primary care doctor. So that's it. You just have to put that on there and you can do what you do what you believe is right. It's right for patients.

Okay.

So California is like that. Utah, actually it's, I think the most liberal as far as who can do it and etc. And the, the newest one is Florida, just up half a few months ago. So. Yeah. So these, these places, they actually tell you absolutely, this is illegal. And actually in the Florida law, it specifically says it is legal in Florida regardless of what the FDA says. And it's actually in the law.

Yeah. I think it even encourages people to use it.

Yeah.

In the law.

Yeah. It's amazing.

Save the state a lot of money, people can stay healthier.

Yeah. Yeah. There you go. So, and so I know that you're, you're providing these therapies. Are you, you're also producing the actual stem cell or manufacturing the stem cells? Are you using mesenchymal stem cells?

I definitely thought about going to manufacturing, but it is a bigger undertaking. So what I have done is to work with manufacturers that I really trust.

Okay.

Who I have inspected myself in person and I know how they operate and that they have integrity. And I contract with them to manufacture my special blend of cells. Okay. Because I have this special formula that combines cells from different compartments of the umbilical cord that it can harness cells with different characteristics. Because you're. Just because it's from the same tissue, different compartments of the tissue have different cells. Even if they're all called MSEs, doesn't mean that all the MSCs are the same. So something from the amniotic membrane wrapping around the cord versus the cord tissue that's protecting the cord versus what's flowing through the cord blood. They're all different. So I think the only one in the world that's bringing all of them together. So I contract manufacture my special product and then we distribute to doctors all throughout the country.

Okay. Yeah. Just so our listeners can understand as well. So these are embryonic or not. I'm sorry, non embryonic. They're mesenchymal stem cells from the umbilical cord or like you said, the amniotic fluid or the blood. The cord blood itself. And so they're zero day old stem cells and you have a special blend of them. So because we all have stem cells, but one of the hallmarks of aging is this stem cell exhaustion. Our stem cells kind of run out over time.

Right.

And so you're injecting new, fresh ones.

Right. Even though they. You collected the cells at the same time as the baby. But the cells in the umbilical cord is actually. They're younger than the baby's stem cells because they were trapped when the embryo is still forming. So they're actually way back.

Okay.

They go back further. A lot of the markers are still. That's still manifesting on the. In the umbilical cor. Stem cells have been lost in the baby. So that's how. That's why it's so potent that it's closer to the embryonic state, but it's not so close that it can cause uncontrolled growth. What's called teratoma. So that's a risk the embryonic stem cell therapy faces also the induced pluripotent stem cells. Very exciting. But it still has. Have the chance of causing these tumor from forming. So it really has the best of both worlds. That is really young, but not so young that it goes haywire.

Yeah, yeah. So this is kind of the ultimate treatment then of. Of mesenchymal stem cells. Okay, so what I know if you talk about treating certain things and that becomes a drug and that goes to FDA approvals. But what kinds of things do people come to your clinic? What kind of ailments or conditions do you see? Most clients come in and have success.

With treating really just about everything under the sun people. There are a lot of very people who are seeking help and not getting enough help. Some are desperate. So we have probably 80% of our patients have a serious medical condition and they really want to get, you know, they've tried everything and there are another 20% that are really healthy. They just want to stay healthy and be vibrant and live a long time. But people who have illnesses, we go, you know, musculoskeletal skeletal is the most common. A lot of doctors, that's all they do. They want to treat musculoskeletal issues. So we do that as well. All kinds of joint tendon, muscle damages and then we treat people with autoimmune conditions. Right. That's a huge range. There are over 122 autoimmune conditions and stem cell therapy has been studied in many of them with very encouraging results. So the most common one, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, Ms. and there are some sarcoidosis. So these are some of the more common. Of course you've got gut issues, people with Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. And then you have more metabolic oriented like diabetes type conditions and high cholesterol. These are all kind of lifestyle unless they're type 1 diabetes. And even type 1 diabetes has been shown that stem cell therapy can be helpful for and we have people, people with all kinds of internal organ issues. So it could be heart, history of heart attack or atherosclerosis, blocking of the arteries. There's a lot of great research evidence for it and people with high blood pressure, things like brain conditions. So a lot of brain conditions, brain, it could be Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, als, traumatic brain injury. And we also have other internal organ like the lungs. So COPD works very well in chemical lung injuries with help reverse a lung severe lung disease for a 911 responder. Probably the first one in history that somebody got reversal of disease when a lot of his colleagues have died in their 40s. These are. Yeah be in the pit for 8 months and inhaling the all those particles. So and then we've helped people with liver conditions, liver cirrhosis and testicular issues, kidney issues. So really just about everything.

Yeah, basically everything.

That's a big population that we have. We have a pediatrician on staff and we do some amazing work with autism it's very special. Right? Special population. So, yeah, that's kind of the major breath.

That's amazing. And so you're using your special blend and assuming for a lot of those conditions that we just talked about, those are, you're delivering those intravenously. So it's a more of a systemic treatment, not just an injection in one particular area, correct?

Yeah, a lot of them are systemic. And even if somebody has local issues like a bad knee, we can still, if it's a chronic issue, it's not because you just injured it and you want some help to repair it and you're fairly young, that's fine. But if you're older and something is lingering, you probably want to bring your immune system on board to help you repair. And that's when. When the IV route is really, really powerful because it literally communicates with your immune system because one of the places it passed through is the spleen and is the largest new organ in your body and also all the peripheral lymphoid systems. So it really helps you revamp your immune response. And that is going to supercharge the repair of any organ.

Wow.

So, you know, I guess one question people might be thinking about is how many treatments, you know, if you have a chronic condition, let's say you have like an autoimmune condition. How many treatments? How long is this? Over the course of many months. Is it just a one time thing and you're healed? Like, how does that work typically?

Yeah, I always talk about, you know, how many sessions you need. First of all, if you have something that's chronic that's been causing you problems for a long time, it's going to take some time. And to think just one treatment is going to fix everything. That's called miracle. Right? I don't, I'm not here to do miracle. I'm here to. I don't object to miracles. And I've seen actually fair to miraculous response. But that's not what I count on. I don't come here as I have stem cells and I do miracles. Right. I don't do that. I give you stem cells. This is a medical treatment. And all medical treatment have a particular dose and per particular frequency. So dose and frequency are crucial factors in any medical treatment. So the dose we calculate based on the person's body weight, age and health issues and the frequency for almost, you know, most chronic illnesses, I say one session every one to two months. And we do three sessions. Let's do three in a group. Right. At least within six months. And Just see how far we can push you. So the person would know. The person may notice some improvement, but they know their body. They say, well, you know, I'm not quite where I want to be. Then you may need a booster. But I've also seen people after getting one treatment is doing so well. They're like, well, I guess I'm done. Well, first of all, nobody's done right, because we all, we don't live forever and look the same forever. We're all declining and we're all heading toward one particular place, which is to eat the Lord. But if you want to prevent the decline, of course you can also borrow stem cells and allow them to help you be rejuvenated and stay at a younger state. But if you are just focusing on, I don't want to suffer, I don't want to be sick, then do three sessions, see how far we can get you. And if you're doing really well, great. Then you better address all causes of why you got sick in the first place. If you don't address them, if they're still there, you're going to get sick again. That's holistic approach is really important because most doctors, unfortunately they're not finding out exactly why you were sick. Medications, they don't know why. Sometimes there may be some causes, but most of the time we don't know why. And because I, I know that because I've gone through all the classes that we are, we taught all the illnesses, right? Most of the time we don't know why. So then you do symptomatic. But we know what happened. We know what organ has problems. We, we know what chemicals haywire. So can we connect correct those chemicals. So it's very piecemeal, it's fragmented and it's in a sense superficial in what we're doing for patients. But stem cells can address things on a deeper level. However, it doesn't address everything. If you're vitamin deficient, if you don't have enough minerals to do the work, or if you're not getting maybe enough babies. Earth frequency. I mean, there are so many things that is related to being alive. Just like astronauts will have to have Earth frequencies in space, otherwise they get very sick. That's why they were mimicking. They use PEMF devices to give them the earth's frequency so they don't get violently sick. So we need a lot of things for life to happen. So you can't just say, oh, I'm just not going to consider it. We focus on these chemicals. We can detect and that's it. And call it a day. You have to address all these causes that could be undermining you. Right. Each person have a different set of circumstances. And if you don't know them and you're treating everybody the same way, unfortunately, you're not going to fix a lot of people. So that's the key. A person has to dig into why they got sick in the first place. And if you can address all those factors, then once the stem cells help your tissue to become healthier and you don't make it sick again, now you can coast for a very, very long time. Right. And enjoy your life and maybe just go through the regular aging process, which some people think is also disease, but at least you can just regularly age without suffering. Right. So that's the. How frequent you should use. That's a long answer.

Yeah, no, that. That's super helpful. So what about people that are in that 20% that just want to optimize their health or prevent as much aging as possible and they're throughout their system. Like, how often would a healthy person have a stem cell treatment?

So I myself belong in that category.

Yeah.

I have been doing IV stem cells on myself every three months for the last nine years. And I'm 54 years old. I'm very probably about my age. Because.

Because you don't look 54. Yeah.

I'm trying to make a point.

Yeah.

That it's helping you reverse things on a cellular level. So when you use stem cells for rejuvenation purposes, we look at how long the cells live in your body and how long does the effect last? So animal studies have shown that regular infusion of young animal stem cells actually make the animals. If you start giving it to middle aged animals, they live for about 30% longer. So definitely greatly extended their lifespan. Not just lifespan. They look so much better. Their fur is shinier, their spine is straighter, and they're running around with better locomotion. And then they can recognize how to run the maze better. Right. So everything all around, they are at a higher level functioning. And when you look at how long the cells live in the body, it's about one to three months. And their signals, which are mostly these exosomes the cells secrete, they will produce the effect that will last generally for another one to three months. So if you always want to have some signals in the body maybe every six months, and if you always want to have some cells in the body, maybe every three months or maybe even more frequent, I'm going to Start to. I've been doing three months, every three months for last nine years. But, you know, as my, you know, I accumulate my age, the aging process is also going to get faster. So it's not, you know, so I'm probably going to speed it up for every two months just to counter that aging process. The more you live that, you know, all the levels are going to just kind of, kind of come down a notch. And this is a matter of respecting the biological system.

Yeah.

So, yeah. And even if you're older, because they've done studies on old animals at the equivalent age, human equivalent age of 75 years of age, and then they showed that the amount of time these animals live, being fully alive, and the amount of time they live, they left on Earth is extended three by times three. So let's say if the rats only have one month left, usually now they have three, three months left. So you can not only they live longer, but they also had better. All the performance, you know, all parameters and including their appearance, everything is in a younger stage. So you can really extend the time you have on Earth. And by doing stem cells, not just extend the time, but extend quality time.

Yeah. So really extending that health span and lifespan to together, Even if you're 85 and maybe you're, you only have three years left on Earth now, you're what? So what the study is showing is you might actually have nine years. You could have nine years left of health healthy years.

Yeah.

Oh, that's amazing.

When they actually dissect it. So it's great. Right? You can observe. Okay. Little mice and rats, they all look healthier, they're performing better. They act like a younger rat. So they actually dissected the muscles and the brain of these animals. And compared to animals that was just getting a placebo, everything, all the parameters they were checking reverted to the younger state, including the neurotransmitter level, the growth factor level, the senescent markers, and the toxic waste buildup. Everything was brought back to the younger state. So the cells. We're younger cells.

Yeah. That's amazing. Well, this is super exciting. So I want to make sure we have a few minutes to talk about your skin care products and the skin, the creams that you've created. You mentioned before that you, you actually just came up with this blend for yourself because you didn't like what was out there. So can you tell us a little bit about. About your skin care cream that you.

Created with the car health six years ago? I just, I was doing stem cell therapy for my patients, I just wanted them to get well, right? I was treating a lot of people with a lot of severe illnesses. And of course I, I want to look good. I wanted to be nice to my skin. So I thought, okay, I know all these stuff are really toxic. I've learned so much from being in this field. Knowing how these, you know, chemicals in our household, right, Cleaners and, or creams or body wash or whatever, people use that perfume. I stop. You stop using perfume. Even though I love them because I know they're hormone disruptors and they can do a lot of damage to my body. So I went to look for a really non toxic all natural cream. I bought very expensive Korean products. I was like, yeah, I'm safe. I spent a lot of money and so now I'm. They said it's natural, so it's a good product. So I started using it, didn't notice anything different. And then one day I flipped over the bottle, I was like, let me just read it, like these fine, fine prints to see what exactly is in it. And I was like, what, what is this? What is that? They're all this list of all these things that are synthetic. I couldn't believe it. Like, why are you using these synthetic material if you claim that your products are natural? So and then I was like, okay, I'm on a mission to find all natural, but truly all natural products. So I went to trade show, the natural Expo, where only natural products are exhibiting. And I took some samples and I put in my drawer. I was gonna use it like in a month when I finished this product I was using. And then by the time I took that little jar out of the, the drawer ready to use, right? They weren't even exposed to sunlight. They were just kept, you know, in a cool place in a drawer. And then this in the jar, the product have separated into three layers and they have different colors, right? And then would you put that on your face when you see a product that has separated?

Yeah, no thanks. Yeah, no thanks.

So it's like, okay. And to throw this away, what is going on in this product? How come they can't keep the product stable? So I was like, you know, do I have to make this myself? And that's really where I started. And I thought, well, how about I put everything I love into this product. All the herbs, the different antioxidants and probiotics. But most importantly, I know how to, I know about stem cells, I know peptides. So how, how about I put some of the most powerful ingredients into this product and make this an all natural and really powerful skin regeneration cream. So that's how it came about. And yeah, so that was 2019. Gosh, it's almost six years. That's a long time. Yeah. So that's only cream I would use. I would not touch anybody else's. I freak out when I travel and forget it because I just feel like I'm putting toxins, poison, even, even some, some of the stuff I get from these medical conferences. I get a lot of free things and I just, I could not, I could not touch them because when I read the ingredients, I'm like, no, no, thank you.

And this is, it's so it's called Cara Omni. And you just rub it on once or twice a day and you're applying.

Those twice a day. So you, you know, use an all natural cleanser. You know, make sure your face is clean and then you just put a little bit. Goes a long way. I put it on my face and the neck and then that's it. Maybe a little on my hands. Because your, your hands, you know, the places where aging, that's obvious is face, neck and hands. Right. People's hands.

Yeah.

So you get a lot of sun damage and all that stuff. Yeah, so that's where I use it.

Yeah. And then you can maybe eliminate some of the like Botox and fillers and things like that because you're using creams like this or.

Yeah, I mean, it, it releases. Help you release fine wrinkles and just rejuvenate. I've had people with skin lesions even start to go to disappear, but giving you great hydration and also signals to keep your skin cells regenerated. Right. So they keep making healthy new cells for you. So you're always in a youthful state.

Yeah. Well, that's amazing. Well, one other thing I know you're. You also are training other physicians on stem cell protocols. Right. Can you tell us a little bit about that work that you're doing too?

Yeah. So I realized that a lot of doctors are seeking information and it's really hard to find real, reputable, unbiased information. And at least when I started nine years ago, there's no textbook. So I studied everything from research articles because research articles will give you. I love the introduction section. Introduction will give you history. So you're kind of putting everything all together. You really get an idea of, you know, how things have evolved. So I was kind of stringing together the knowledge by absorbing from all these articles. And then I realized that I pretty much know more than every doctor I've ever encountered about stem cells. So maybe that's a sign that I need to teach. So I was invited to present at different conferences and so I have material and I just started putting together the course because all the things that I need to learn to be effective at helping my patients, I have this vast library and now I can show the studies to doctors and catch them up to speed on what they need to know to be the most effective. So that's how I started American Academy of Integrative Cell Therapy. So that's where I was teaching in person. But then that became very labor intensive. So I put out an online course. So anybody can go on there and just take the course aictdog.org and then they can just take it anytime at their leisure. And then I realized people also want hands on experience and they want that connecting with, with a real person and also just more in depth about exactly how to do it. Because I online course, I covered a lot of the theory and the studies a little bit on how to do the treatments. But probably I needed to do, to do more training on exactly how to approach patient care. And that's how I started a two day training certification course basically and actually certifying doctors on stem cell therapy.

Okay.

That we've had three, three events so far and the next one is in January. It's always in the Los Angeles. Yeah, it's a two day training course. So it's, it's really great because we're growing fast. Like significant more and more doctors are attending and they're. Yeah, it's, it's, it's really, really good because. Hands on. Yeah, we do hands on and because they're excited, they're, they're very inspired and great camaraderie as well. People learn from each other.

Well, thank you for that amazing work and the way that you're spreading this in such an intentional and thoughtful way as well. So one last question. So if you're to look out into the future five to ten years from now, let's say what, what's on the horizon that is most exciting as you think about this? Regenerative stem cell therapies. What does the future of medicine even look like from your perspective? Because I think it's probably a unique one.

Yeah. How stem cell therapy is going to be. I think, you know, it's interesting because this is not just restricted to the U.S. this is also all around the world. There's definitely certain restrictions in the U.S. some other countries are a little bit more open, but the U.S. despite that, the number of clinics have grown significantly. The last time I heard was in four years, the number of stem cell clinic clinics have. In five years, the number of stem cell clinics have quadrupled in the US So that just shows you despite the lack of support from the governing agencies because they're not really there to make things easy. Right. Despite the misinformation that's all around, there's just more and more because the narrative has changed from Dr. Kong, what do you mean? What is a stem cell. That was nine years ago to now saying her stem cell is amazing. I heard it really works well, but I have this condition. Do you think this can help me in particular? So the conversation has changed. It's like wildfire. It's not something that anyone can stop. People want healing. And if we know there's something that's incredibly powerful and also incredibly safe and, and conventional medicine has not offered enough hope that people are. You think you're going to stop people from seeking healing and stop them from feeling good? You may hide the truth for some time. If they don't know, then they don't know where to go. But once they know, that's it, can't stop it. I think of it as light shining to darkness. The darkness of medicine, the darkness of ignorance. And once the light has penetrated, just. That's it.

Yeah. I love that metaphor for thinking about the future. Thank you.

Well, I know it's going to be commonplace. I think everybody not probably not in the next five, ten years. I, you know, I don't know where the country's going politically. I mean, it seems a lot of things are influx. We don't know where we're going. But I think possibly in 10, 15 years that stem cell therapy will be pretty commonplace. That is going to be instituted in hospitals, in most doctors practices, because you can use this as a powerful way to prevent illness. I don't care what kind of condition. Most chronic illnesses have inflammation as part of the foundation. If you can decrease inflammation, you can improve immune function. A lot of these conditions are. Will go away. So then that's going to be part of just what doctors do. Human lifespan is going to extend by 10, 15 years easily. If we can implement this or people will get sick, People will always get sick. Right. There's going to be accidents, maybe infections. There's going to. People want to do surgery. So if you do that, you can always use stem cells to help you heal way faster and more complete with more complete heating. So that's going to be part of what doctors would do. Yeah, I'll get some stem cells. Here, I'm prescribing you some stem cells. It's just right now it seems fancy. It's like, oh my God, only the rich. Okay, I need to tell you this statistic. People think that we're waiting for the FDA to approve stem cell therapy. And do you know how much it costs to get a drug approved and to take a drug to market?

Oh, I've heard, you know, an FDA trial can cost about $300 million. Right? I mean, it's like a lot.

Yeah, yeah. So on average, to take a drug to the market, it takes costs about $2.1 billion. So you wonder what kind of company has that kind of money. Right. And if they did spend that money, don't think they're going to try to recoup it. So a medication that just got approved December 2024. Four, it's called Rhincil. So rhinocil. So this is a medication that is a mesenchymal stem cell. So there's almost no FDA approval. FDA allows stem cells to use for, to replenish or regenerate the blood system. That's one thing the FDA says it's okay to do. The other thing is this particular medication that was from a big company that got approved is only to treat steroid resistant acute graft versus host disease in pediatrics. So very specific, very narrow. Right. Only in these pediatric population when it's graft versus host disease acutely and the person doesn't respond to steroids. So now you can give a course of this Brian cell, this medication, each dose. So each IV infusion is $194,000. Okay. And it takes two times per week for four weeks. So it's eight times. So the cost total is $1.55 million for this one course of treatment. So you think you're waiting for FDA approval? I have news for you. You don't think the price is going to go up and you think you can afford it then?

Wow. Okay. Yeah. So the cost now is. So I was, I was kind of hopeful that the future is going to be much less.

Yeah. From a simple knee Injection, we charge $5,500. To IV infusion, that's up to maybe $18,000. You do a lot of things together. You do face hair injections, penis, vaginal rejuvenation, all these. If you add a bunch of stuff, it probably would not go above 25,000. So that's it. We have a cap. So if you think this is expensive and you're waiting for the fda, then let's see what happens.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's. This has been an amazing conversation. I'm so excited about the work that you're doing and what, what's ahead as well, and just how this is changing people's lives and impacting our world. So thank you so much. I know you have your own podcast as well, the Dr. Joy Kong podcast, right? Is that a good place for people to find you?

Yeah, yeah, the Dr. Joy Kong podcast and also my YouTube channel. I think people will find the information on there very, very helpful because I go deep dive on each, you know, a lot of subjects. Right. Even how many stem cells do I need? How frequently, how soon can I see results? What are different routes that you put the cells in the body? What's the difference? And is stem cell legal? You know, what about the concern putting other people's DNA in my body? Well, what about using it for anti aging purposes? So I break everything down. Of course, I can do a lot more. I only have so much energy. I'm trying to bring people content as much as I can. But even the, all the videos I have are the common questions that people have about stem cell therapy. So if a person can just go through all the videos I have, which most of our patients have seen all my videos before they ever come to the clinic, they. You just educate yourself. And on all my videos, you're going to know more about stem cell therapy than most doctors encounter.

Oh, okay. And so we can just search up Joy Kong. Dr. Joy Kong on YouTube.

Yeah. Joy Kong, Maryland is the YouTube channel. But my Instagram I also have, if people want to reach me, it's Dr. Underscore. Joy underscore. Underscore Calm. And they can also find me on my website, which is joycomd.com My clinic is chara Health and they can find that through my website.

Okay. And then the Chara Omni is the skincare. I'm sure a lot of people are going to be interested in that. Right?

So that's website. Taraomi.com C-H-A-R A. Yeah. So that's the consumer facing the cream. I tell people, even if no one wants to buy it, I don't care. I need to make this cream for myself.

Making for yourself too.

Production of this cream, because I need it, but I'm willing to share.

Well, that's nice of you.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Let's all stay beautiful together.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much for all the amazing work you're doing. It's super inspiring. Your story, your journey, and everything that you're doing is just like I said, you're so inspiring, and it makes us all hopeful and excited for the future and for what's now too, though, and what's available. So I hope that more people will take advantage, and I want people to.

Know how lucky we are.

Yeah. We live at such an exciting time.

Because in the past, I always talk about the kings and queens. They sent out emissaries to far places to look for the Fountain of Use, and nobody ever found it. But now we actually have something as close as we have to the Fountain of Use, and you don't have to be a king or queen. Yeah, it's actually accessible.

There you go. Well, thanks so much, Dr. Joy. It's wonderful to be with you today.

You're so welcome, Zach. It's been a great conversation with you.

Bye.

Bye.

Well, what an amazing conversation with Dr. Joy Kong today. I hope that you're inspired and excited about what's here, what's possible, what's available to us now. I mean, we talked about everything from autism and pediatrics to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's being treated with these amazing stem cell treatments. And it's not like it's inaccessible. It's. It's accessible to all of us. And so we can actually regenerate. Our bodies can regenerate. And these are mesenchymal stem cells. They're not embryonic stem cells. They're coming from umbilical cords. And Dr. Joy's creating her own blend of these. And then also the skin care line. You know, Kara Omni is her skincare line. And if you're watching the video, then you see how young Dr. Joy looks. She mentioned in the episode that she's 54. You would never guess that it's on looking at her. So obviously it's working well. So either if we have a chronic illness or something that we really need significant treatment with, maybe check this out. You know, this can be something that can really change your life. Or if you're one of those 20% of the people that, like she mentioned, that just want to prevent and maintain and optimize our health, she's obviously doing this once every few months, but maybe for some of us, we could just start with once a year, just one time, and see how it goes. And so I think that this is really pioneering the future of healthcare, but the future is now, and so we don't need to wait So I hope you enjoyed that episode, and I hope that you'll check things out at Kara Omni or go check out Dr. Joy's podcast or her YouTube channel. I should mention Dr. Joy Kong, MD. So thanks for tuning in today. We'll see you next time on Fully Alive.

Thank you for joining us on Fully Alive, where we're exploring the concept of positive aging. If you're inspired by what you've heard, don't forget to subscribe, share and leave a review. Visit shellpoint.org podcast for more episodes and show notes. Until next time, stay curious, stay healthy, and stay insp.