In this episode Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel and Octavia Hamilton reflect on 2022 as they share their personal and professional challenges of the last year, as well as their achievements, successes and favourite podcast episodes. About Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel:Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel is an award-winning Oxbridge-trained medical doctor and scientist with over a decade’s experience in integrative health and in-depth additional training in nutrition, health coaching, functional, integrative and herbal medic...
In this episode, Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel speaks to Dr Emma Weymouth who offers a wonderful combination of clinical psychology and nutritional therapy. We discuss the importance of considering the whole person picture in supporting mental wellbeing and how nutrition and lifestyle can offer synergistic benefits when combined with psychological approaches. About Emma:Dr Emma Weymouth is an accredited Clinical Psychologist specialising in ClinicalHealth and Neuropsychology with over ten years...
In this episode Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel speaks with Dr Dani Gordon about cannabinoids and their uses in a broad spectrum of conditions - from mental wellbeing and sleep support to pain management and women's health. We discuss some of the myths and misconceptions around cannabis use as a plant medicine, as well as responsible and personalised use of this tool within the overall integrative medicine toolkit. We hope you find this discussion interesting and valuable in supportin...
In this episode Octavia Hamilton speaks with Emma Holly, a leading scar massage therapist, educator and researcher who takes us through the full holistic approach to scar care that is becoming common practice and encouraged as part of your recovery process. About Octavia Hamilton:Octavia Hamilton is a musculoskeletal physiotherapist with a keen interest in women’s health and cancer rehabilitation. Utilising a blend of ScarWork, acupuncture, Pilates and breathwork, as well as drawing on a deca...
In this episode, Octavia Hamilton talks to Dr Tasha Gandamihardja, a consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon. They discuss different options of surgery and reconstruction (if desired) during and after breast cancer treatment and how other breast cancer therapies can impact surgery choices. About Dr TashaDr Tasha Gandamihardja is a Breast Cancer and Reconstructive Surgeon based at the Holly Private Hospital located in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. She is highly-qualified with over a decade ...
In this episode we introduce you to the benefits of yoga and breathwork in cancer support. We start the episode with Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel talking to Vicky Fox, an experienced senior yoga teacher and teacher trainer. Vicky teaches yoga for cancer in person and online, and has recently published a book 'Yoga for Cancer: the A to Z of C'. Next Octavia Hamilton speaks to Sophie Trew, a member of our clinic referral network. Sophie is a cancer thriver, breathwork and mind ...
In this episode we introduce you to one of our referral network partners, Kelly Thistlethwaite. Kelly is a yoga and breathwork practitioner specialising in supporting women with perinatal trauma (trauma around birth) and following pregnancy loss.About Kelly: Kelly helps women to feel safe in the world again, to find connection, to build resilience and to navigate their journey with compassion and understanding.Kelly is also a Mama Rising facilitator and motherhood support coach supporti...
In this episode Octavia Hamilton and Dr Amy Shacaluga talk with Sandra Greenbank about the role of nutrition and lifestyle in fertility support. We hope this information will benefit many individuals who are seeking to start a family.About Sandra GreenbankWith 12 years experience as a nutritional therapist working with clients across the UK, Europe and the US, Sandra has helped countless women get to the root cause of their fertility issues and achieve the healthy pregnancy and baby the...
In this episode, Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel speaks with Dr Deanna Minich, a nutrition scientist and international lecturer, teacher and author. We cover a wonderful spectrum of topics from how eating the rainbow of colourful whole foods impacts your health and wellbeing to the power of creativity and finding flow in our lives. About Dr Deanna Minich:Deanna Minich, MS, PhD, CNS, Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner (IFMCP), is a nutrition scientist, international lecturer, teacher, and ...
In this episode we introduce you to Dr Jen Cooney, an expert health physiologist and certified health coach. She has a long and varied career, working predominantly in research and academia with a focus on supporting health and wellbeing in people with chronic disease. About Dr Jen CooneyDr Jen is a health physiologist, University Lecturer and Researcher at Bangor University and a certified health coach. She has been researching and working in the area of health and well-being since 200...
In this episode Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel talks with Dr Jenna Macciochi, a leading immunologist with a special interest in the interaction between lifestyle and our immune systems. We cover a broad range of topics, from building whole-person resilience and making small sustainable lifestyle changes to autoimmune disease. We discuss the important role of nutrition and gut health in maintaining a balanced immune response and how this may play into autoimmunity. About Dr Jenna Macciocchi:Dr Jen...
In this episode Octavia Hamilton and Dr Amy Shacaluga talk with Maria Gresham, who is a fourth year medical student and a former Synthesis Clinic patient. Through her personal experiences, Maria has become passionate about integrative medicine, and in this episode we discuss how this has impacted her training and development as a doctor. About Maria Gresham:Maria is a 4th year medical student at Bristol Medical School. Her multilingual background and the desire to unite the best of vari...
In this episode, Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel speaks with Dr Charlotte Marriott, a consultant NHS psychiatrist and certified lifestyle medicine physician. Dr. Charlotte's mission is to inform and inspire people to optimise their own health and wellbeing with evidence-based lifestyle medicine and lifestyle psychiatry information. She also aims to educate healthcare professionals on how to incorporate a lifestyle medicine approach into standard medical care and to influence public health p...
In this episode of the Synthesis Clinic Podcast, Octavia Hamilton talks to Laura Coleman, the founder of Be.Modern Meditation about the benefits of mindfulness and meditation and how to incorporate these approaches into our lives.About Laura Coleman: Laura Coleman is an established and highly regarded expert in the field of meditation and the founder of Be. Modern Meditation. She is particularly passionate about helping women to manage stress and overwhelm to reduce anxiety and improve perfor...
In this episode, we will be introducing you to key members of our multidisciplinary integrative cancer care team at Synthesis Clinic, starting with Aga Kehinde, a health and wellbeing coach and qualified EFT practitioner. We will then meet our registered nutritional therapists, Linda Sims and Emma Marshall. You will hear about our weekly MDT (multidisciplinary team) meetings at the clinic, which provide an opportunity for all our specialists to cross-refer and discuss integrative management w...
In this episode of the Synthesis Clinic podcast, you will be hearing from one of our wonderful patients, Helen, who has had a truly transformational journey since finding Dr Nina and our team. With a 5-year history of metastatic colorectal cancer, Helen has certainly had a challenging time but despite an initial rocky ride through multiple treatments, she has stabilised and thrived. Helen is continuing to undergo cancer treatment but now has a completely different quality of life and ne...
In this episode Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel and Dr Penny Kechagioglou discuss integrative oncology, which seeks to rationally combine the best of conventional, nutritional, lifestyle and evidence-informed complementary medicine to improve the lives of people affected by cancer. Integrative oncology aims to support better quality of life, improve resilience, minimise the side effects of treatment and improve clinical outcomes.About Dr Penny Kechagioglou:Dr Penny Kechagioglou is a senior Consul...
In this episode, we will be introducing you to key members of our multidisciplinary women’s health team at Synthesis Clinic, starting with Octavia Hamilton, the clinic’s physiotherapist and the co-host of this podcast. We will then meet Dr Amy Shacaluga, consultant gynaecologist passionate about personalised approaches to women’s health, and wrap up with Anna Coles, our Level 4 personal trainer and GP referral exercise specialist.About Octavia Hamilton Octavia Hamilton is an experienced muscu...
In this episode, Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel interviews Dr Cheryl Cross, an experienced integrative clinical psychologist specialising in trauma recovery. We discuss the broad psychological and physiological impact of trauma and some important theories that can help us understand our nervous system and how we relate to others, including polyvagal theory and attachment theory. While there are many approaches to working with trauma, this episode focuses on finding appropriate psychological support, i...
We are delighted to share our first Synthesis Clinic podcast episode.Over the next few episodes, we will be introducing you to our multidisciplinary team at Synthesis, starting with our director, Dr Nina Fuller-Shavel. We will discuss what Synthesis is about, what precision health and integrative medicine is and hear some of the amazing patient stories and fascinating conversations with a wide range of healthcare professionals.In this first episode, Dr Nina and Octavia have an initial convers...