Meet
Dr. Linda Jager
Early on in my career, I became disillusioned with traditional medicine's answers to chronic health conditions. I felt like I never really made a difference in my patient’s lives. Traditional medicine is very good at treating acute illness and offers many life-saving medications and procedures. However, my traditional training did not equip me with the skills to help patients treat the root cause of the illness, which we know for many chronic diseases lies in lifestyle choices.
Chronic illness occurs in 6 out of 10 adults in the US and 4 out of 10 have 2 or more chronic diseases. Despite the advances in traditional medicine these numbers keeps increasing.
If we only prescribe medication to treat an illness it often only treats the symptoms, and does not resolve the underlying issues that lead to disease. Many times we would add more medication and this ultimately led to side effects. If we never address the underlying cause of the disease then over time the illness continues to progress. I left medicine for several years and during that time I was an educator, full-time mother, and support for ill family members. During this time I became interested in the bible and participated in several in-depth bible studies. From 2007-2011 I was the teaching director of an international bible study called Community Bible Study (CBS).
In 2011, I had a traumatic life circumstance led me to be the sole support of my family, fortunately I was able to return to medicine. I completed my residency in family medicine and became a board-certified family medicine doctor in 2013. I was employed at Genesis Hospital, working as a staff physician in the residency program part-time, and as a wound care physician, and establish the palliative care program. Through all this training I still struggled with the limitations of traditional medicine.
In 2016 I was introduced by a friend/fellow doctor to functional medicine. This is when I found my true calling. Over the next 4 years, I completed my training through the Institute for Functional Medicine becoming certified in Functional medicine in 2020. My mind was opened to many helpful therapies not taught in conventional medicine. Through this training, I learned how to evaluate and promote health. By learning about the importance of gut health and nutrition, herbal supplements, and the science behind them, I could now help treat the root cause of disease. In functional medicine, we take a comprehensive history and do advanced lab testing to try to help identify the cause of disfunction. Functional medicine also made me view food as medicine and how to prescribe different diets to aid in healing.
For the last 5 years, I have worked at Iowa Cancer Specialist treating patients, while I was hired for my background in palliative care I was able to also incorporate a functional medicine approach, with some of my patients. While many of my initial patients did have a cancer diagnosis, I found many non-cancer patients were seeking my service. As a result, I decided to focus solely on functional medicine.
I believe that spirituality is a key factor in health. Looking at your spirituality helps determine the meaning and purpose of your life, i.e. your “why”. Being able to identify your “why” you want your health can be used to help you stay motivated to make lifestyle changes. My Christian background has led me to want to offer prayer and scripture as part of the healing process to those who desire this. I am here to offer the services the patient desires.
In my free time, I enjoy time with my three grown children, extended family, and friends. My hobbies include hiking in the woods, playing tennis, lifting weights, and yoga.
In the summer much of my time is spent in the yard tending to my vegetable and flower gardens. I spend daily time in with my 6 chickens (Ruthie, Mary Magdalene “Maggie”, Pricilla, Ester, Abigail, and Sarah).