Dr Jeffery Bland co-founded the Institute for Functional Medicine in 1991 to teach physicians how to address the root causes of dis-ease. As a scientist, he believes the idea of function - be it physical, metabolic, cognitive or psychological - is how we can define and quantify health. The current medical model is poorly defined as disease is the absence of health. We must be able to quantify health in order to know how to get it! Every year the drug industry provides more “pills for our ills” and as a society we are becoming sicker, living shorter lives and with sometimes miserable depressed and anxious existences. Functional Medicine addresses the root cause of the imbalances in genetics, environmental factors, lifestyle choices and habits to create a quantifiable state of health.