Shayla Toombs-Withers, DO

"Dr. Shayla Toombs-Withers grew up in Atlanta, GA. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN in 2003 where she earned a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Dr. Toombs-Withers earned a Doctorate Degree in Osteopathic Medicine from the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine located on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA in 2007. After completing her formal medical education, Dr. Toombs-Withers continued her medical training at the University of Cincinnati, The Christ Hospital. She was board certified in Family Medicine in 2010. Over the next 3 years, Dr. Toombs-Withers served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine with the University of Cincinnati Family Medicine Residency Program and she worked as a Family Physician for a federally qualified health center caring for underserved populations in the Cincinnati area. In 2013 Dr. Toombs-Withers was named as the Medical Director for the All Care Health Center in Council Bluffs, IA where she continued to practice family medicine and supervised a staff of physicians and nurse practitioners. Dr. Toombs-Withers moved to Chattanooga, TN in 2015 and became a Family Medicine Physician in the UT/Erlanger Primary Care Medical Group at the Pineville Road office. She earned a certification in Plant Based Nutrition in 2016 and the was board certified in Obesity Medicine in 2018. Dr. Toombs- Withers has practiced a plant based diet for over 15 years and over the past 5 years she has moved to a vegan diet. She has trained as an endurance athlete and she has completed the New York City Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Ironman Chattanooga 70.3, Ironman Augusta 70.3, Ironman Texas and a host of other endurance races. Dr. Toombs-Withers founded the Essence of Health Wellness Clinic in Chattanooga, TN in 2019 so that she could combine her deep knowledge of medicine, plant based nutrition, and athletic training to provide comprehensive primary care to her patients using a Direct Primary Care Model."

"The human body has the ability to heal itself if it is properly nurtured. I want to help people enhance their overall health by teaching the benefits of a lifestyle that combines a diet of plant-based foods, physical exercise, and stress reducing practices with the latest medical science to restore whole-body wellness and improve lives. It is very difficult to practice this type of medicine within our traditional health care delivery model. The relationship between doctor and patient has been eroded by the addition of middlemen and complexity. I want the freedom to be able to spend time helping patients understand how their diet, exercise, and stress are contributing to chronic disease. In order to provide comprehensive, quality, affordable, compassionate primary care to my patients, I founded the Essence of Health Wellness Clinic as a Direct Primary Care model. My patients pay me directly for primary care and I do not accept any health insurance. Direct Primary Care is not a substitute for health insurance and patients should maintain their own health insurance for hospitalizations, specialist visits, and emergency room care."