Dr. Lai is among a handful of top medical doctors in the U.S. who’ve successfully combined their conventional medical training as an MD with deep integration of both Integrative Medicine and Functional Medicine. In this group of elite physicians, she stands out even more with her dual-role of leading her private practice while teaching young physicians as a faculty member for over 23 years. Her passion is to help her patients achieve significant healing, and enhance their overall well-being, by applying her rich clinical acumen from both conventional medicine and holistic integrative medicine.
Her academic training demonstrates a dedication to excellence. Dr. Lai graduated from UC Berkeley with honors majoring in Neuroscience, and went to a top medical school Baylor College of Medicine (located in Texas Medical Center in Houston). She completed her Family Medicine Residency at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (San Bernardino County Hospital) and a fellowship in Women’s Health and Obstetrics at California Hospital, affiliated with USC (University of Southern California). She was part of a multi-center landmark research team at Stanford that examined the effects of hormone replacement therapy on cardiovascular health. As an early participant among physicians certified in holistic and integrative medicine, Dr. Lai maintains dual board certification in Family Medicine and Integrative Medicine. She was in the very first group of health professionals to become Functional Medicine Certified in 2013. Additionally, Dr. Lai has training and expertise in clinical homeopathy, medical acupuncture, herbal medicine, methylation genetics, and integrative oncology.
Dr. Lai has held several leadership positions in academic institutions. She spearheaded a successful training program for Family Physicians doing Obstetrics and Women’s Health. Dr. Lai was honored as “faculty of the year” at an UCLA-affiliated residency program. She co-created a pilot mobile clinic initiative to care for underserved populations in California and has done medical missions projects in the Amazon region. Dr. Lai is connected to some of the thought leaders in Integrative Medicine and Functional Medicine. She has enjoyed collaborative work on complex cases with leading functional medicine experts across the country. She has been featured as a keynote speaker at conferences and seminars, on topics such as women’s health, thyroid, hormones and stress, gut health, and neuroscience.
In her personal journey as a faculty physician, Dr. Lai became intrigued by holistic healing modalities that are more science-based and applicable to some health conditions that Western medicine might consider “difficult to treat.” She has devoted the past 25+ years to continually furthering her learning and growth in the practice of Integrative Medicine, first via her studies through the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine at UCSD, leading to her board certification in Integrative Holistic Medicine. Then, through a comprehensive training program, she was among the first group of physicians to become a Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner, through the Institute of Functional Medicine. She has learned from influential pioneers in this field, such as David Permutter, M.D., James Roach, M.D., Jeff Bland, PhD, and Randy L Jirtle, PhD.
Outside of the practice of medicine, Dr. Lai is passionate about flowers. She hosts regular “Flowers and Tea with Dr. Lai,” a Saturday event where she teaches fresh flower arrangement designs to attendees while they laugh and encourage one another. Occasionally, one might find her at the end of a busy clinic day, enjoying a few moments of playing Chopin at the piano, in her clinic’s own concert hall that seats 130.
“Medicine is at its best, when you combine the art and science of healing.”
