Experts

There are many ways to naturally enrich your skin to keep it glowing, radiant, and wrinkle-free for years to come. Dr. Al Sears, M.D. and his team of experts – Dr Skellchock and Nurse Practitioners Kamila Fiore ARNP, NP-C, and Tara Smith ARNP, NP-C, – help you do just that.

 

alsearsmd.biopicDr. Al Sears, MD currently owns and operates a successful integrative medicine and anti-aging clinic in Florida with over 20,000 patients. His cutting edge therapies and reputation for solving some of the most difficult-to-diagnose cases attract patients around the world.

As a graduate from the University of South Florida College of Medicine, Dr. Sears scored in the 99th percentile on his MCAT and graduated with honors in Internal Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry and Physical Medicine.

After entering private practice, Dr. Sears was one of the first to be board certified in anti-aging medicine. Today he is a diplomate of the American Board of Anti-Aging Medicine. As a pioneer in this new field of medicine, he is an avid researcher, published author and enthusiastic lecturer.

Dr. Sears is board certified as a clinical nutrition specialist and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the American College for the Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), the American Medical Association (AMA), the Southern Medical Association (SMA), the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) and the Herb Research Foundation, (HRF). Dr. Sears is also an ACE certified fitness trainer.

In 2002, he was appointed to the international panel of experts at Health Sciences Institute, (HSI) a worldwide consulting service for integrative healthcare.

Dr. Sears is the founder and director of The Wellness Research Foundation, a non-profit organization involved in on-going original research to evaluate natural alternatives to pharmaceutical therapies.

Since the release of his book, The Doctor’s Heart Cure, he has been interviewed on over two dozen nationally syndicated radio programs with an audience nationwide.

Dr. Sears recently published PACE: Rediscover Your Native Fitness and High Speed Fat Loss in 7 Easy Steps. Both became bestsellers during their first month of release.

Since 2001, he’s published over 500 articles and 6 books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging and nutritional supplementation – with a readership of millions spread over 23 countries with his Health Newsletter.


Dr. Skellchock Bio Picture | Pure Radiance

Dr. Laura E. Skellchock graduated Summa Cum Laude from Arizona State University with a BS in Zoology. After graduating with Honors from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in 1986, she completed her Dermatology residency at the University of California San Diego Medical School. She then worked at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland California, which is a tertiary care, inner city hospital. While living in Oakland, she also taught dermatology residents at the UC San Francisco General Hospital, another inner city tertiary care center.

In her spare time, she was Editor-in-Chief of SKIN CARE TODAY, the first ever, nationally distributed dermatology patient education publication. Dr. Skellchock was also medical director of Vanishing Point Medical Group, the first national Laser Hair Removal Company in the 1990’s.

When not working, Dr. Skellchock has spent a good deal of time studying complementary and alternative methods of healing, taking classes at the Berkeley Psychic Institute, Esalen and the California Institute of Integral Studies. She also completed the fellowship in Integrative Medicine with Dr. Andrew Weil, and has studied Age-Management and Functional Medicine for the past decade.

Dr. Skellchock moved to south Florida in 2001 and opened her energetically based, sacred healing space, INTEGRATIVE DERMATOLOGY, in Boca Raton, in 2007.


Kamila Fiore Bio Picture | Pure Radiance

Kamila Fiore, ARNP, NP-C, is our resident Nurse Practitioner. She earned her Master of Science degree in Nursing from the University of Florida and became state-licensed and board-certified in 2007.

Kamila is passionate about taking a natural approach to healthcare. She believes it’s a vital necessity in this day and age – a time when our health is being jeopardized by the chemicals, toxins and processes that are incorporated in almost everything we consume, touch or breathe. Kamila’s natural healthcare philosophy stems from her childhood in Poland. Her mother relied on natural, holistic approaches to keep her daughter healthy.

Soon after graduation, Kamila became disenchanted with conventional medicine and the limitations it had on patient education, health promotion and disease prevention.

“I wanted to treat the underlying cause of disease on a cellular/molecular/natural level instead of covering it up with ‘band aid’ medications. I believe that when people truly understand their diseases, only then are they able to incorporate the kinds of lifestyle changes that will save their lives. Comprehensive education has been proven time and again to prevent and/or reverse disease, without the harmful side effects that many medications involve.”

As part of her Honor’s curriculum at U.F., Kamila worked as a research assistant on the study, “An Analysis of the Effects of Arginine on Wound Healing.” This experience exposed her to the incredible health benefits of nutritional therapies in the treatment of disease and the significant role for dietary intervention for the healing process.

Her professional experience includes Aesthetics, Internal Medicine/Geriatrics and Anti-Aging. Her work in Internal Medicine/Geriatrics included providing care to patients with multiple co-morbidities (chronic and acute) in an outpatient setting, as well as multiple nursing-home settings – skilled nursing, long-term-care and assisted living facilities. In addition to skilled nursing care, examinations and diagnostic testing, Kamila educates her patients on health promotion and disease prevention. She also is experienced in laser hair removal.

Since her start in the fall of 2010 at the Sears’ Center for Health and Wellness in Royal Palm Beach, Fla. Kamila has grown as a medical professional under Dr. Al Sears’ tutelage.

She’s created a thriving practice at the Sears’ Center for Health and Wellness by providing the highest quality, holistic, personalized care for each of her patients. In addition, Kamila has recently begun coordinating a new PACE exercise study, evaluating the health of potential candidates to help shape the program.


tara_bioTara Smith, ARNP, NP-C, earned her Master’s degree from the University of Florida and became board certified as a family nurse practitioner in 2005.

With a concentration on aesthetics, teaching and family practice, Tara worked with plastic surgeons in a medical spa, taught nursing students and is skilled in all aspects of skin care, including laser resurfacing, skin tightening and therapy for patients with moderate to severe skin damage.

In spite of the recognition that followed and the widespread appreciation from her patients Tara continued her research and education into alternative medicine, especially anti-aging.

Coming from a medical family Tara came face to face with the failings of the medical establishment from an early age. Frustrated by the repetition and narrow scope of her daily practice she started looking for new challenges and new frontiers.

“It was fulfilling to bring relief and satisfaction to my patients, but I knew my calling went deeper than the aesthetics of looking young. I want my patients to feel young on the inside too. My ultimate goal is the realization of total health through diet, prevention and nutritional supplementation… Lasting health starts and ends at the cellular level. You can’t get there with drugs and conventional wisdom.”

While at the University of Florida, Tara wrote her Master’s thesis on hormone therapy for sexual dysfunction in menopause and the use of phytoestrogens for menopause symptoms.

“I’ve always been drawn to women’s health issues, even as a child. I knew intuitively women have different physiological needs and symptoms and don’t always respond to conventional treatments. That lack of perspective puts women at risk, especially in terms of heart attack, cancer and the issues that come with menopause.”

As a nurse practitioner Tara has advanced training in diagnosing and treating illness. That skill along with her training in anti-aging made her a perfect fit at the Center for Health and Wellness in Royal Palm Beach, Florida.

Under the mentorship of Dr. Al Sears, Tara’s practice flourishes. From her start in December of 2008, Tara has established a thriving practice providing an all-encompassing individualized care for her patients.

Aside from seeing patients, Tara is conducting research trials into novel ways of naturally boosting human growth hormone (HGH) and starting work on her first book, on anti-aging for women.