Estelle Toby Goldstein, M.D., has added a new range of techniques to her repertoire of mind/body therapeutic methods.

The San Diego psychiatrist, who has also served residencies in neurology and neurosurgery, recently attended a six-day intensive continuing medical education course offered by the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM); a Gig Harbor, Wash.-based organization dedicated to scientific advances in holistic medicine.

Functional Medicine aims to improve the management of complex, chronic disease through nutrition, lifestyle changes and the latest advances in holistic and allopathic medicine.

“Lifestyle is a very big factor. Research estimates that 70 to 90 percent of the risk of chronic disease is attributable to lifestyle,” Dr. Goldstein said. “That means what you eat, how you exercise, what your spiritual practices are, how much stress you live with and how you handle it are all elements that must be addressed in a comprehensive approach.”

Dr. Goldstein is a former medical school professor at the University of Kansas and the University of Oklahoma, served the U.S. Army Medical Corps as a Captain in the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C., and has worked in community mental health, the Veteran’s Administration Healthcare system and private practice in her 25-year medical career. She studied medicine in France and Canada as well as in the U.S., and has served academic fellowships in both neurology and psychopharmacology. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, and a former examiner for that board.

Her current practice in University Heights is a solo practice, offering integrative mind/body medicine.