Dr. M. Teresa Swida, is an osteopathic physician who has been practicing Family Medicine for 14 years in the Los Angeles Area. Dr. Swida’s greatest interest in medicine has always been to find excellent preventive and nutritional strategies for the treatment of her patients. Her belief in the dignity and goodness of her patients earned her a reputation as a kind, patient and thorough doctor sought out by the very elderly and the very ill. Over time her frustration grew with the limited tools that modern medicine has to offer in treating chronic inflammatory diseases. For years she studied homeopathy, cranial manipulation, stress reduction techniques and nutrition, and became a Diplomate of the American Board of Holistic Medicine. But it was not until attending a lecture by Dr. Pamela Smith and learning about the Fellowship program in Anti-Aging and Functional Medicine that she felt that she found the kind of medicine she wanted to practice.

In December of 2005 she passed the Board Certification exams in Anti-Aging Medicine. The Fellowship Program emphasizes a thorough competency in the areas of nutrition, fitness, stress reduction, bio-identical hormone replacement, and even spirituality as necessary basis for optimal health. Fellows are also expected to obtain a rigorous understanding of the biochemistry and physiology and chronic disease as well as optimal health, and a very important component of the program is the training in Functional Medicine; weekly web-casts on emerging therapies as well as frequent educational conferences have allowed Dr. Swida to reach and maintain a high level of competence in this new and exciting area of medicine.

Dr. Swida completed her undergraduate work in Biology, with an emphasis in Field Biology and Botany at Occidental College. She did further graduate level work there in Physiological Plant Ecology under Dr. Jon Keeley. In 1991 she graduated as a Doctor of Osteopathy from Western University of Health Sciences, previously known as COMP. She trained at LAC-USC in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, as well as Radiation Oncology.

Dr Swida has been practicing in the northeast area of Los Angeles, largely working with the Hispanic community since 1992. She has maintained hospital privileges at Glendale Memorial Medical Center, Glendale Adventist Medical Center, Queen of Angeles-Hollywood Presbyterian (CHA) Medical Center, and Verdugo Hills Hospital. She serves on the Ethics Committees in two of the hospitals, and is the Medical Director of Skyline Convalescent Center, a long-term care facility. Dr Swida is a member of the National Association of Medical Directors, the American Academy of Anti-Aging and the Institute of Functional Medicine.

For the last 35 years she has been an active volunteer in many different organizations in Los Angeles. She is most proud of her nine-year involvement as a moderator for a Spanish language Women’s Breast Cancer Support Group at QAHPMC. She is frequently sought out to speak to patients’, as well as physicians’, groups about Integrative, Complementary and Alternative Medicine. She has also appeared on television and radio programs in both English and Spanish.

On a personal note Dr. Swida, a native of Argentina, immigrated to the United States with her Polish family in 1963, and is fortunate to have learned several foreign languages, maintaining fluency in Spanish and Polish. She feels extremely blessed by her beautiful family: three grown children and five grandsons, as well as her loving husband Duke.