A tiny, bucolic village in Northern Virginia may not be where one would expect to find a group of doctors who have integrated the best practices of ancient and modern medical therapies, but for individuals for whom nothing else will do, Dr. Norman Levin's clinic in Aldie is the preferred destination.

Whether you have been diagnosed with the rarest of cancers, have a child who is exhibiting signs of attention deficit disorder, are worried about a series of internal problems or simply don't have half the energy you used to have, integrating a combination of ancient and modern treatments and therapies may be extremely helpful.

Normally, Northern Virginians would expect to find a clinic like Dr. Levin's in Manhattan, Boston, or Philadelphia, if you were lucky. But for patients up and down the East Coast and as far away as Nigeria, Aldie, Virginia has become a destination of preference for a consultation with one of the very best integrative medicine teams in the country if not in the world.

Patients enjoy a professional setting that is designed to put them at ease in a context of calm and confidence. Dr. Heyman, who spends one week a month at the Aldie clinic, plans to take over the practice when Dr. Levin retires.

"Conventional medicine addresses the symptoms," Dr. Levin says. "Today, doctors are beginning to understand how much we need to integrate everything humans have learned about health from ancient to the most modern cellular approaches."

"The best solution to a medical problem is based on a combination of approaches from our entire knowledge base."

Integrative medicine is the combination of conventional with alternative or 'natural' therapies using the best of both to improve the health of patients. It is a new term in medicine, but one that has gained ground in the past 10 years.

Over 75% of medical schools teach about integrative medicine and physicians can now specialize in the area as well. Patients typically undergo extensive evaluations, usually more comprehensive than standard medicine offers, and the doctor brings into service any therapy that might be useful, including nutrition, supplements and herbs, older healing therapies such as acupuncture, and, where appropriate, recommendations for drugs or surgery.

Unlike many critics contend, there is a large, and growing body of research to support an integrative approach.

Norman Levin is a distinguished and delightful combination of energy, intelligence and sincere concern that transmits immediately to his patients. His manner is neither brusque nor distracted, and his dedication to listening to and learning about his patients before he even considers a conclusion may make him a member of one of the rarest breeds in medicine today.

Andy Heyman is a handsome, gregarious young doctor of immense professional reputation who aspires to shift medicine to a more integrative, knowledge-based service that capitalizes on the healing potential of patients and offers cutting edge treatments combined with traditional natural therapies.

"The first thing we do is honor the relationship with our patients," Dr. Heyman emphasizes. "Norm and I go through many prescription pads a year recommending modern medicines. It's what we add to those recommendations that capitalizes on older knowledge bases, but also draws upon the most recent advances in physiology and biochemistry that makes the difference."

"If someone has rheumatoid arthritis, we treat the effects of the disease. We have to treat the cause, not just the resultant problems," Dr. Levin emphasizes.

Nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalances are only two causes of many medical problems, and although some doctors resist treating these causes, more and more doctors are learning how critically important it is to include this knowledge in their patient's care.

At the turn of the century, in 1910, Abraham Flexner recommended that the country apply the Johns Hopkins model to medicine. According to Andrew, it was then that the United States turned away from other approaches that were prevalent at the time, including nutrition, herbalism, and homeopathy and changed the nation's approach to strictly a disease-based medical model.

"After The Flexner Report, many 'alternative therapies' were driven underground, literally legislated out of the marketplace, until the '60's when women began to demand more natural childbirth and alternative therapies were sought out in the wake of the Peace Movement and the Vietnam War. These new socio/political movements opened doors to treatments and therapies that had been disregarded," Andy added.

"There was no equivalent to the Flexner report in Europe and Asia, where modern medicine coexists today more peacefully with the older medical therapies."

"In the United States, for many generations, we taught medical students to rely entirely on disease-based treatments and therapies. As a result we now have growing chronic disease and a system oriented away from the promotion of health.

"We also have the costliest health care in the world. That was our loss. While one can argue the merits of one therapy or another, the Flexner Report ensured that those very therapies or approaches designed to nurture the individual and support the human spirit were disregarded, even denigrated. And, here we are, almost 100 years later, debating these same issues."

Dr. Levin, who received his degree from Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, now has a highly successful complementary integrative practice at his clinic in Aldie.

You don't have to do much research to learn that "…he is a brilliant doctor," "…although it takes some time to get an appointment, he treats all his patients with respect," and, "…I had been told that there was no further help for me at all, and I haven't felt this good since prep school."

Andrew, who is also on faculty at the University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine, serves as the National Clinical Chair for a consortium of 50 academic centers that maintain integrative medicine programs at leading universities including Harvard, Stanford and Duke. He was also one of the first physicians to complete a formal fellowship in integrative medicine in the country at the University of Michigan, and actively conducts research and teaches on the topic.

In 1993, Congress funded the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, which is now the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. It was the first governmental organization to recognize the growing need for research in integrative medicine and demonstrates the progress the field has made in general.

Listening to both Dr. Levin and his wife, Kate talk about the Aldie clinic, you would think they were describing a wonderful home. In fact, it is their home and has been since they found it in 1995.

"We wanted to create a place where everyone felt at home," Kate explained. "A warm, relaxed place with lots of books, no television and something good to eat that is readily available to all."

The strikingly beautiful blond smiled as her husband nodded and Andrew chimed in with, "…that's what I love about the clinic in Aldie. Someday, I hope to expand the clinic so we may offer even more services that honor and help our patients."

Fatigue is one of the areas in which Dr. Levin and Dr. Heyman specialize. Fatigue in all of its manifestations. But according to both of them, few patients have only one thing that is the cause of the problem.

"For instance," said Dr. Levin, "…when we stress the adrenals, our energy level, state of mind, cognitive function, immune system, temperature and thyroid are all under attack. Medications, whether direct or indirect, can only address a percentage of the problem."

"And," added Dr. Heyman, "…because we are all closely connected to the natural world, we must take that into consideration when we analyze causes and recommend therapies for our patients."

In addition to entire families, Andrew specializes in children's health.

The two visionary doctors met in 1998 at a medical conference in Dallas and have been friends and colleagues ever since. When Andrew was thinking of going to medical school, Norman was very helpful and encouraging.

Andrew, who grew up in Silver Spring, has loved the Middleburg area since he first visited to tour local wineries. He is obviously thrilled to look forward to working full-time in Hunt Country.

"We simply want people to understand that there are many more choices available to them when they are ill," Dr. Levin concludes.

"And, that there is a resource like this in their own backyard," Dr. Heyman adds. "A resource that we believe is a very special place."

To make an appointment for a consultation with either Dr. Levin or Dr. Heyman, please telephone 703 260 3484.