Ty R.. Vincent, MD

     I was born in Anchorage, Alaska and grew up in Wasilla, Alaska from age 2 onward.  I went from kindergarten through high school in Wasilla, and I've seen incredible change in the Mat-Su Valley since then.

     I had 2 wonderful children before beginning medical school with a third at the end of the first year.  I'm up to five now, and family is extremely important to my wife and me.  I worked in restaurants during and after college from 1993 to 1998 as a dishwasher, busser, waiter and manager.  I worked as a nurse aide at Providence Hospital as well from 1996 to 1998. 

     I have lots of "life experience", working and going to school full-time while having small children at home; at times working 2 jobs to support my family.  I have been on food stamps, WIC, Denali Kidcare and other sources of government assistance and am extremely sensitive to the cost of medical care and the financial situation of my patients.  I routinely save people money by finding cheaper (and safer) alternatives to expensive prescription drugs, avoiding the need for expensive tests and procedures, and often helping them get better overall; which reduces their health care costs overall.

     I have had an intense interest in complementary and alternative medicine since before attending medical school, reading two of Andrew Weil's books in 1997.  I have continued to ask difficult questions about health and wellness and pursue the answers in many directions, with ongoing education efforts.  I learn something useful nearly every day and I always encourage my patients to check back with me repeatedly with their questions.  I have found that listening to my patients is one of the best ways to learn; I encourage you to tell me anything you think is relevant and ask me any question you can think of.

     I am a scientist at my core, and it amazes me just how UN-scientific modern American medicine really is!  Most doctors will usually tell you that what you eat has little to do with your illness or symptoms, and almost never really address diet with a patient as a means to correct their problem.  They are also trained to believe that taking vitamins is of no use and may actually be harmful, so they discourage the practice without really understanding the issue.  Possibly worst of all, conventional doctors have no training in understanding the effects of environmental toxins or heavy metals and what to do about them.  It's not their fault, but rather the fault of the current medical education system which is largely controlled by the pharmaceutical industry.  My colleagues frequently comment to me that my methods don't conform to the accepted 'standard of care', and I generally respond 'that's because my standards are much higher than that.'

     I have devoted years to studying nutrition and other methods of natural healing, always with a firm grounding in science and scrutiny of the available literature.  If you mention a therapy or supplement that I don't know anything about I will not tell you it is bad, rather I will ask you to bring me any literature you have on it and try to learn as much as possible before giving my opinion.  I have frequently had patients give me information on things I knew nothing about, and tell me new information about things I thought I knew well.

     It did not take long for me to become disenchanted with conventional medicine and treating symptoms with drugs.  The standard approach to medicine in the U.S. usually does not address the cause of illness at all, and often makes it worse over time.  I am devoted to finding the underlying cause of a person's illness and correcting it in the most natural, harmless and cost-effective way possible.  My role is to investigate, educate and encourage each person toward their health and wellness goals with appropriate intervention and treatment where necessary.  I love a challenge, and my favorite thing to hear is:  "I've been to 5 different doctors and none of them can figure out what's wrong with me!".

He had a strong minor in Philosophy as well, receiving two semesters full tuition scholarship from this department during his last 2 years.

Thanks to the WWAMI program Dr. Vincent was able to spend most of the 3rd and 4th years in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley for clinical training.

Training sites included Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, YKHC in Bethel, the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Providence Family Practice Clinic in Anchorage and various community physician offices in Anchorage, Wasilla and Talkeetna, Alaska.

Currently in the process of completing a fellowship in Environmental Medicine, should be completed in 2010.

Environmental Medicine involves identifying the role of toxins (ie heavy metals, pesticides, plasticizers, PCB's, household chemicals and food additives to name a few) in a person's health problems, and then helping them clear the toxins or overcome their effects.

There is advanced training in novel techniques of allergy elimination and chemical desensitization, hormone balance, detoxification and intravenous nutrition.

He worked closely with medical students who were assigned to the site for a 5 month intensive training period, and was chosen by the national Medical Student Association to be a faculty facilitator at their annual retreat in 2007 based on the recommendation of the student from 2006.

This is very rewarding, and an opportunity to help encourage awareness and open-mindedness in more of our new physicians.

This course is produced by Helms Medical Institute, and is the most respected and long-standing acupuncture training program for physicians in the country.  The state of Alaska only requires 220 hours of training, but this course fulfills the highest requirements of all states in the US.

Dr. Vincent took the board exam in July of 2005, 6 weeks after completion of his Residency training, and scored in the 99th percentile nationwide.  This means his mastery of conventional family medicine was in the top 1% of all family medicine trained physicians who took the exam in 2005 across the country including other new graduates and seasoned physicians alike.

The AAEM trains physicians to deal with the health effects of the toxic burden in our modern world.

They have pioneered methods of detoxification, nutritional therapy, allergy and chemical sensitivity elimination and management.

Dr. Vincent is currently a Board Member for the AAEM, and will likely complete the fellowship in 2010.

They are very dedicated to education and have a website that can be explored at:  www.acam.org/

Encountering the IFM has been instrumental in my own education and a change in my practice of medicine.  Their website is very informative and can be found at www.functionalmedicine.org  

Dr. Vincent absolutely loves to teach, and this was his proudest award ever.  He has placed a dry-erase board on the wall in each exam room and tends to give 'mini lectures' to patients about their health issues to improve patient education.