Foreword
by Jeffrey Bland, PhD
Read Introduction
The Ageless Woman is the book that many of us
have been waiting for, written by the author we thought was best for the assignment. I
have had the privilege of knowing Serafina Corsello, MD for the past 20 years. She is a
high energy, life-long learner who blends extraordinary clinical skills with a probing
mind looking for new answers to the health challenges that her patients bring to her. Her
busy New York medical practices have provided her with a "laboratory" to
evaluate the value of conventional and integrated/functional medical therapies with her
diverse patient population. She has developed a truly unique and successful approach to
female health problems as a consequence of these experiences and the intellectual rigor
that she has employed in making her assessments of what works and what doesn't.
In The Ageless Woman, she describes her own
journey in evolving her medical practice through the experiences that she has had with
thousands of patients. As the president of the Institute for Functional Medicine I am
proud that she calls herself an integrative/functional medicine practitioner. Functional
medicine has been said by some to be plain old "good medicine." It is using the
right tools at the right times for specific patients to improve their overall function.
Functional medicine doesn't just treat symptoms, but rather helps improve overall
function, and in so doing, prevents later stage, more serious illness.
Dr. Corsello is an expert in knowing how, when and why to
use various integrated therapies to improve the health and quality of life of her
patients. As such, she is one of the leaders in both integrated and functional medicine.
As has been said by some about present day medicine, "If all you have is a hammer,
then everything is a nail." As an expert in functional/integrative medicine, Dr.
Corsello has more tools in her toolkit and therefore is able to tailor the therapy to meet
the needs of the individual patient. This concept is beautifully described in The Ageless
Woman using numerous case histories, the medical/scientific literature and simple summary
action points as teaching tools.
I have read over 100 books on female health issues, and I
found The Ageless Woman to be the most readable and comprehensive. I was very
pleased to see that Dr. Corsello discusses the mind/body issues in health and healing in a
style that blends Western reductionistic methods with Eastern intuitive and vitalistic
concepts. This helps set the tone of the book as balanced and providing a "whole
person" reading experience.
I particularly found the chapters on female hormones,
menopause and maintaining energy balance after age 40 to be of great insight and clinical
wisdom. There is significant "genius" in this book that comes from decades of
dedication as a doctor and observing patterns in patients, which results in new
therapeutic insights.
I thank Dr. Corsello for her contribution in helping to
make complex concepts understandable and for providing sensible approaches to the
achievement of healthy aging. I know that The Ageless Woman will be of tremendous
value not only for the women who follow its suggestions, but also for men, who can
implement many of the recommendations that are applicable to us all.
Jeffrey Bland, PhD
President, Institute of Functional Medicine |
