Dan Slater, MD

Your journey to optimal health starts here, and I’m eager to guide you.

Whether a single consultation or a series of visits, your integrative healthcare will be personalized to your needs, complete with phone/email follow-up care.

With extensive dual training and experience in both standard Western healthcare and holistic alternative medicine, I’ve found that the combination of the two reveals more pathways to healing than either offers alone. I enjoy helping people ease their suffering and realize wellness using the myriad of complementary modalities available, integrating them as appropriate with standard western medicine.

If you wish, I will communicate and collaborate with other members of your healthcare team. When needed, I use my extensive network of trusted practitioners to provide services to enhance your treatment.

Q: What is Integrative Medicine (IM)?

It is a healing-oriented form of care that takes into account the whole person – including all aspects of lifestyle. IM emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between patient and practitioner, as they are partners in the healing process.

Good medicine is based in good science and open to new paradigms; IM is informed by evidence, and makes use of all appropriate therapies, neither rejecting nor accepting conventional medicine or alternative therapies uncritically.

• All factors that influence health, wellness, and disease are taken into consideration.
• Appropriate use of both conventional and alternative methods facilitates the body’s innate healing response.
• Effective interventions that are natural and less invasive should be used whenever possible.

                 From the University of Arizona’s Integrative Medicine Department

Q: Is Integrative Medicine care covered by insurance?

In many cases, yes. Most health insurances reimburse a portion of my professional fee as a medical doctor. I will provide you with a bill to submit to your insurance plan. Contact me for my fee schedule.

Q: What will a typical visit be like?

Your initial visit will be 90-100 minutes long, and will be quite comprehensive. Our conversation will be thorough and detailed – whether you bring records and results for me to review or not. I will get to know you as a person as well as a patient. Together we will devise an initial encompassing strategy or “path forward” that meets your needs. Follow up visits are typically shorter check-ins of 30-45 minutes. In my experience, rushing quickly through a visit usually results in missed opportunities for excellent healthcare.

Q: What sort of conditions can integrative medicine help treat?

Common conditions that I help people with include (but are not limited to):

Diabetes
Thyroid disease
Headaches
Fatigue
Mood (Stress Management, Depression, Anxiety, OCD, others)
Sleep Disturbances
Hormone Imbalances
Arthritis
Pain
Overweight / Obesity
Digestive Conditions
Allergies
Cancer
Neurological Conditions (e.g. Memory, Stroke, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Dementia, others)
Skin Conditions
Celiac Disease

Professional Highlights

• Fellowship trained with Dr. Andrew Weil and faculty, University of Arizona, Tucson 2013-2015
• Board Certified in both Family Medicine and Integrative Medicine
• Voted Top Doctor 6 years, San Diego Magazine
• Spanish fluent
• Functional Medicine training in progress
• Worked nearly 20 years at Kaiser Permanente San Diego (Bonita office, Zion Hospital) before joining the Integrative team and Family Medicine residency faculty at U.C. San Diego School of Medicine

Primary Care Family Medicine training and experience has provided me a perspective that most specialists don’t have: To see and appreciate the complex interrelationships within the mind, body and spirit. Understanding this interconnectedness often allows me to reassess and correctly prioritize which system, condition, symptom to tackle first.

Extensive training in nutrition and food as medicine, (which I enjoy continually updating) is an important pillar of my approach to wellness. In addition, I’ve long pursued in-depth study of the benefits and limitations of supplements, giving me insight into which are known or proven to be helpful, neutral, or harmful if used incorrectly.

My approach is to apply the same critical consideration to complementary and alternative treatments that I do when selecting a western prescription or surgical treatment. There’s no single, one-size-fits-all plan that I recommend for everyone.

Dr. Slater is a shining star among doctors in San Diego. He treats the whole person, not just your symptoms, and is willing to look outside the box. He was willing to work with me, a senior, on some chronic issues. As a result, I have been feeling the best of my life, and for this I am grateful. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for an integrative medicine physician. – Lois D.

For inquiries about appointments, etc.

Dan Slater, MD
345 Santa Fe Drive
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 456-9331

DrSlater@danslatermd.com