Dr. Anna Sattah, MD

I discovered functional medicine after nearly ten years working as a physician in critical care. Initially, the advanced technologies we used to support patients were very compelling, but the longer I stayed in a hospital setting, the more I realized we were missing something. There was no focus on fostering and maintaining health or wellness. We had numerous machines to support a patient’s organs, but we weren’t seeing the patient as a whole. This was never more evident than during the COVID pandemic. In general, it was the patient’s underlying chronic medical problems more than the virus itself that determined the severity of their disease.

In an attempt to find better treatments for our patients and to protect our family from the worst of the disease, I started looking into ways of supporting the body’s own immune system and ability to heal. That led me to functional medicine. Many of the ideas were familiar to me after years looking into alternative treatments for my own health, but they never fit into my practice in the hospital. The more I investigated, the more strategies I found for improving a patient’s resilience in advance of a COVID infection as well as for addressing Long COVID. I also kept finding reports of patients reversing what standard teaching taught were “untreatable” diseases. This was such a source of hope and excitement that I kept digging deeper. This was all about supporting the patients own ability to heal, rather than searching for a drug that would “cure” the disease.

Through the Institute of Functional Medicine, I was able to get more comprehensive training in functional medicine. I also took advanced training in functional lab interpretation to help direct treatments when a patient’s symptoms did not directly indicate where the underlying problem lie. I was particularly interested in the work of Dr. Dale Breseden in reversing cognitive decline, one of the conditions I saw frequently in the ICU and could never help. I have completed the training in his protocol, and I wish it had been a part of my original training in med school. It was as though I’d found the style of medicine, I thought I was going into when I first applied to medicine. I only wish I would have found it sooner.

What I like to do for fun: road trip with family, watching my kids laugh, making things (knitting, woodworking, painting) walks outside with my dog, any kind of water (lakes, streams, beaches)

Location: CIH Potomac Office

Education and Certification:

  • University of Virginia School of Medicine, MD, 2007

  • Internship/Residency: General Surgery, University of Virginia, 2007-2013

  • Fellowship: Critical Care, George Washington University, 2013-2014

  • Board Certification: American Board of Surgery

    • General Surgery 2013

    • Surgical Critical Care 2014

  • Kalish Method Functional Medicine Mentorship Program, 2021-2022

  • Institute for Functional Medicine Certificate Candidate

  • AFMCP, 2021

  • ReCODE 2.0 training program (Bredesen Protocol for Reversal of Cognitive Decline) 2022

  • Hospital privileges: Holy Cross Hospital, Silver Spring

Experience

  • Critical Care physician: Holy Cross Germantown 2014-215

  • Holy Cross Silver Spring 2015-2022

  • Memberships: Institute for Functional Medicine

In September of 2023, Dr. Sattah was one of the experts on a webinar panel discussing a root cause approach to long COVID. Check it out here.

Virtual, Potomac Office (in-person)Sean StewartMedical