“Address the root cause of suffering and limitations. Relief, reversal of symptoms, and optimal performance require a holistic, participatory plan.”
Myles Spar, MD is a leading authority in personalized performance medicine as an author, teacher, researcher, TEDx talk speaker, contributor to Men’s Journal and the L.A. Times, an expert on national TV shows, and a faculty member of the University of Arizona.
He is also National Director and VP of Medical Services for AndHealth, a digital health company utilizing root cause medicine and participatory care to reverse chronic illness.
Dr. Spar is board-certified in Internal and Integrative Medicine, and a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. Additionally, he completed fellowships in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and in Health Services Research at UCLA (where he also earned a master’s in public health).
Chronic disease reversal and performance medicine rely on an innovative type of care that combines traditional and integrative medicine to address whole person health. A firm believer in this approach, Dr. Spar continued his cross-disciplinary work after his diverse medical training and is currently on the faculty of AIHM (Academy for Integrative Health and Medicine) and AWCIM (Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine) at the University of Arizona. He’s also the past chair of the American Board of Integrative Medicine and a regular speaker at the Integrative Healthcare Symposium.
With 20 years of experience using traditional, root cause, and lifestyle medicine to treat patients, including those with migraine, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and other autoimmune conditions, Dr. Spar was invited to join the cross-disciplinary working group that built the best-in-class autoimmune disease reversal protocol used by AndHealth. This protocol is now followed by AndHealth care teams under his direction.
Dr. Spar’s focus has always been about empowering men to achieve their goals through greater health. He embarked on medical training after living through his own father having two heart attacks before Dr. Spar had completed high school. Yet he was disillusioned by the focus of western medical training on the treatment of acute illness with minimal education of prevention or optimizing health. His desire to learn how to counsel patients beyond prescription writing on how best to stay healthy led him to his training in Integrative Medicine, the approach that uses science-based recommendations from multiple strategies.
He has worked with professional athletes and celebrities, crafting personalized plans for optimal performance. Starting with each person’s unique goals, Dr. Spar creates personalized plans for every single patient, men and women alike. Dr. Spar is committed to making the whole-person preventive-oriented care available to more people through his work at the Venice Family Clinic, where he started the largest Integrative Medicine program of its kind at a community health center. For his work with the underserved, he was awarded the Bravewell Award for Leadership, the highest honor in his field.
As an Ironman athlete, advisor to NBA players, and expert many celebrities turn to Dr. Spar knows how to design individual optimal health gameplans with elite performers in mind. He can also help organizations and corporations understand better how to optimize the health of their workforce using the sample principles. For media or speaking requests, click here.
Dr. Spar has published blogs for the Huffington Post and Medium, articles for the LA Times, and a book entitled Integrative Men’s Health. His latest book, Optimal Men’s Health, was published by Oxford University Press in 2020. He is also a member of the Forbes Health Advisory Board.
Top Tier Training
Dr. Spar graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed his residency at Tulane University and fellowship at UCLA Medical Center. He was invited to join the prestigious medical honorary society Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA).
Advanced Training to Improve Quality of Care
Towards the end of his training, Dr. Spar realized that the health care system was more of a sick-care system. He was frustrated by the lack of training American medical students received in basic prevention or nutrition, so he sought out further training in improving the quality of care he could deliver by doing a research fellowship and earning a Master’s in Public Health.
Humanitarian Work
With impact of a more global level on his mind, Dr. Spar volunteered with and later joined the Board of Directors of Doctors without Borders, the Nobel Prize winning medical humanitarian organization. He worked in Nagorno-Karabakh, Guatemala, Uganda and
Nigeria with MSF.
Specialization in Integrative Medicine
While working abroad, Dr. Spar recognized that true health was about much more than medication. He saw the impact that natural therapies, supportive communities, belief systems, meditation and manual therapies had on prevention and treatment. He returned to the US dedicated to learn what was science-based about complementary modalities, leading him to complete a fellowship at the “Harvard of Integrative Medicine” under Andrew Weil at the University of Arizona.
Integrative Medicine for the Underserved
Dr. Spar began working at the largest free clinic in the US, the Venice Family Clinic, where he started a comprehensive Integrative Medicine program offering free services in acupuncture, chiropractic, nutrition, yoga and stress management among others while teaching and performing research.
Advanced Medicine for his Patients
Dr. Spar joins the Southern California Men’s Medical Group as an Integrative Internal Medicine expert, offering primary care and consultations in optimal health utilizing advanced testing and integrative health plans focused on prevention and goal-oriented recommendations.
Family and Community
Dr. Spar’s focus is his family, and leading the kind of life he encourages his patients to embrace. He is married with two children and a dog. Besides being with his family, his passion is competing in triathlons. He is an Ironman and continues to train and race, spurring his kids on to their own athletic pursuits – including a family triathlon they all completed in Mission Bay.
Awards and Publications
Dr. Spar writes for the Huffington Post and is a contributor to Men’s Journal and the Los Angeles Times. Oxford University Press published his first of two books on Integrative Men’s Health, which is available here. He has also appeared on The Doctors and Dr. Oz programs. He is most proud of being a recipient of the highest honor in Integrative Medicine, the Bravewell Leadership Award.
Optimal Men’s Health
Easy-to-read guide that takes men through all aspects of health including lifestyle, diet, exercise, meditation, western medications and treatments, althernative and complementary therapies, eastern medicine, yoga, acupuncture, etc. The book will be published February 2020 and is available for pre-order here.
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