Sara Hernandez, PAC
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Founder and CEO of Empowered Health
Sara Hernandez is a Physician Assistant who is passionate about finding answers and helping others to discover their own path to healing. She has taken a step outside of traditional medicine to create a business that can serve and empower people all over the world to restore their optimal health. Sara is the CEO and founder of Empowered Health, a collaborative group of professionals that believes deeply in the effectiveness of a functional and integrative approach to medicine.
Sara received training in a traditional medicine model, receiving a dual bachelor’s degree in Biology and Spanish from Juniata College, and obtaining her Master of Physician Assistant Studies at Chatham University. She then worked primarily in emergency medicine and family practice, later becoming involved in functional/integrative medicine. Sara developed a deep passion for this approach to health, and went on to complete further medical education through the Institute of Functional Medicine, as well as the School of Applied Functional Medicine and the Functional Medicine Academy. She is currently working towards her MD with the hope of tying together more of the conventional world of medicine with the more holistic, or functional approach.
Sara is a wife and mother to two boys. She and her family live on a small farmette where they care for chickens, turkey, goats, and honeybees. Her faith is the center of her home as well as guide for her life. She is a lifelong athlete, enjoys being outdoors, traveling with her family, and listening to/creating music.
My passion for functional medicine began with my own personal battle with disordered eating…ranging from calorie restriction, to excessive exercise, to binge eating. I struggled with these behaviors, along with anxiety and panic attacks, and realized that the eating behaviors were an effort to feel a sense of control. I knew this wasn’t healthy, and began researching and reading about the power of nutrition to heal, and started implementing the Mediterranean diet concepts into my life.
As I began to notice huge improvements in not only my mental, but physical health, I realized firsthand the power of eliminating or minimizing processed and ‘diet’ foods. Working in an integrative medicine clinic further confirmed my own experience and personal research, as I saw restorative nutrition concepts applied to challenging patients who had been unable to improve their health for years – even decades – who now under the umbrella of functional medicine were experiencing healing in ways they had never before.
Finally, my own son was diagnosed with ADHD and really struggling in school. I wanted to try other approaches before medication, so I delved into functional modalities for improvement and healing of children. With a few adjustments we saw great improvements in not only his behaviors but his own frustrations with his ‘busy brain.’
Time and time again, my belief in the power of functional medicine has been validated by the effectiveness I have seen of healing not only in my own personal life, but in the lives of my patients.
