In this presentation, Jen Garrett (Mount St. Joseph University) and coach Dan Egloff (Queen City CrossFit) showcase how their program is weaving lifestyle-first care into Physician Assistant (PA) training using the Glassman/MedFix model. They walk through their workshop blueprint—securing buy-in, logistics, and pre/post surveys—then model a hands-on curriculum: whiteboard definitions of fitness and health (work capacity across broad time and modal domains), the sickness-wellness-fitness continuum, and coaching on functional movements, with a heavy emphasis on nutrition (macros, insulin response, and simple quality rules like “eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds…no sugar”). Their key message is scalability and safety for typical clinical populations (older, deconditioned patients), plus the value of community and interprofessional collaboration between clinics and affiliates.
Results from 33 PA students showed marked attitude shifts: many began with limited familiarity and risk concerns, but post-workshop they rated the methodology more effective across physical fitness, chronic disease management, mental well-being, and social connection, with ~95% likely to recommend it to future patients. The session also spotlights real-world implementation—e.g., Hancock Health’s exercise-prescription pathway—and candid barriers (student cost, time constraints for clinicians, and finding like-minded medical partners). Garrett and Egloff plan to repeat and expand the model (and potentially extend to other disciplines), aiming to equip new clinicians with practical, measurable tools to prescribe movement and nutrition as medicine alongside standard care.
This BSI Medical Society Webinar was streamed on June 29th, 2025.
A 10-minute summary of the webinar is available here free, for anyone, while the full video is available for Medical Society Members and MetFix affiliates in their dashboard.
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Metabolic health, medical education, and the case for bringing clinicians and coaches together
At the 2026 Unbreakable Health Retreat in Miami, Emily Kaplan hosted a panel with Bob Kaplan, Professor Thomas Seyfried, and Dr. Derek Lee on what it means to treat cancer as a metabolic disease. They discussed the glucose-ketone index (GKI), nutritional ketosis, and strategies aimed at restricting the fuels cancer cells depend on while considering how metabolic therapy can fit alongside standard cancer treatment.
The conversation also addressed the practical realities patients face when trying to pursue a metabolic approach within the conventional oncology system, including questions about nutrition, repurposed drugs, inherited cancer risk, and how to evaluate different treatment options. Seyfried and Lee connected these clinical questions back to mitochondrial dysfunction, fermentation, and the metabolic vulnerabilities that may offer additional targets for cancer treatment.
An abbreviated version of this discussion is available here, for free.
At the 2026 Unbreakable Health Retreat in Miami, Professor Thomas Seyfried presented the case that cancer is fundamentally a mitochondrial metabolic disease rather than primarily a genetic one. He contrasts the dominant somatic mutation theory with a metabolic model in which impaired mitochondrial respiration drives a shift toward fermentation, dysregulated cell growth, and the mutations commonly associated with cancer.
Citing the work of Otto Warburg and research from his lab at Boston College, Seyfried explains how cancer cells rely heavily on fermentable fuels—particularly glucose and glutamine—and why mitochondrial dysfunction sits upstream of many of the genetic abnormalities seen in tumors. He also discusses reactive oxygen species, altered cellular signaling, and the role of mitochondria in regulating cell growth and behavior.
The presentation then turns to the therapeutic implications of this model. Seyfried explains strategies aimed at placing tumor cells under metabolic stress by restricting the fuels they depend on, including ketogenic metabolic therapy and approaches targeting glucose and glutamine. For Seyfried, the therapeutic target follows directly from the biology: restrict the fuels cancer cells depend on, exploit their metabolic weaknesses, and treat mitochondrial dysfunction as the central feature of the disease.
An abbreviated version of this discussion is available here, for free.
MetFix and BSI Members can view the full 54-minute video.
