Episode 13 - "Healing Is Relational, Not Transactional" — Dr. Tieraona Low Dog on Presence, Purpose, and the Business of Integrative Medicine

In this episode of the Root Cause Business of Medicine podcast, Brothers and hosts, Dr. Erik and Dr. Davin Lundquist interview Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, a pioneer in integrative medicine. Dr. Low Dog shares her unconventional path — leaving high school early, training in martial arts, becoming a midwife, herbalist, and massage therapist before going to medical school — and how those experiences shaped her philosophy that healing is fundamentally relational, not transactional.She emphasizes the power of presence and stillness in clinical care, arguing that being fully attentive with patients sharpens diagnosis more than extended appointment times alone. A deeply personal story about a dying AIDS patient who hadn't been touched in months crystallized her belief in the healing power of human connection.On the business side, she reflects candidly on the challenges of running one of Albuquerque's first integrative clinics — overloading on Medicaid/Medicare patients, lacking a common clinical language across disciplines, and learning to charge appropriately for her time. She advocates for micro-practices, sliding-scale cash models, and an entrepreneurial mindset — being flexible, iterating on your model, and not waiting for perfection before starting.She closes with a hopeful vision for the future: integrating functional and lifestyle medicine into all medical training, nurturing clinician wellbeing to combat burnout, and empowering patients and communities to demand better care.