Dr. Sheila Dean
Dr. Sheila Dean, DSc, RDN, LDN, IFNCP is a registered and licensed dietitian nutritionist, board certified integrative and functional medicine certified practitioner, clinical nutritionist, and exercise physiologist. She was a Certified Diabetes Educator with the NCDBE for 15 years. She received her undergraduate training through Rutgers University, completed her internship and graduate training with University of Rhode Island and Brown University’s teaching hospitals, received doctoral training in nutritional genomics and pharmacology through the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and completed her Doctorate of Science degree through Hawthorn University. Dr. Dean has received advanced training in functional medicine and nutritional biochemistry through the Institute for Functional Medicine and is a board certified IFM practitioner. She has also worked with the Duke University Medical Center’s Endocrinology and Metabolism Disorders Clinic and the Joslin Center for Diabetes as a certified diabetes educator.
Dr. Dean was the owner of Palm Harbor Center for Health & Healing, an integrative medicine based nutrition private practice and wellness center in Palm Harbor, Florida for 17 years. An educator at heart, she has taught for 25 years as adjunct nutrition science professor at a variety of universities including the University of Tampa, Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Maryland University of Integrative Health, Schiller International University, St. Petersburg College and University of South Florida’s Morsani School of Medicine. Additionally, she served as doctoral research advisor and content expert on integrative and functional medicine and nutrition at Saybrook University. She has conducted dozens of local and national public presentations, has written continuing education credit functional medicine modules for both nutritionists and nurses, has peer-reviewed many book, chapter and research papers, has written a variety of articles for The St. Petersburg Times, Ms. Fitness magazine, Ironmanlive.com website and has appeared on NBC – News Channel 8, NBC-Daytime, CBS-News Channel 10, ABC-News Channel 28, WTVT-TV Fox13-Good Day Tampa Bay, Natural Living-KONK 1500 AM radio, WFTW 1260 am radio, WDBO 580 am radio for dozens of interviews. Dr Dean also appeared regularly on WTSP 10 News for her segment entitled “Take 5 with Dr Dean”.
An experienced scientific and technical writer, Dr. Dean is a contributing author of the medical textbook Integrative Gastroenterology published by Oxford University Press and has authored the chapter on Medical Nutrition Therapy for Thyroid, Adrenal and Endocrine Disorders in the clinical nutrition textbook Krause’s Food & Nutrition Care Process- 13th, 14th and 15th eds. Dr. Dean served on the advisory board for the nationally acclaimed Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s Food As Medicine professional education course and was the Professional Advancement Director for the Dietitians in Integrative and Functional Medicine dietetic practice group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as well as the recipient of their 2010-2011 “Excellence in Practice” Award and the 2018-2019 “Visionary Award”. In August of 2016, Dr Dean was awarded “Distinguished Dietitian” by the esteemed Dietitians for Professional Integrity.
Dr Dean is also the co-founder of IFNA™, the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy, a comprehensive online training and mentoring program designed to teach health care practitioners how to seek the true root causes of disease to restore optimal health and function and ultimately transform the practice of nutrition using the most effective integrative and functional nutrition diagnostic tools and treatment protocols for preventing and reversing chronic illness.
She’s served as the consulting sports nutritionist for the Philadelphia Phillies, has consulted for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Toronto Blue Jays and was the media spokesperson and columnist for the Ironman Institute and is the author of Nutrition & Endurance: Where Do I Begin? (Meyer & Meyer Publishing).
Sheila is also an amateur musician, lover of language and very proud mother of two amazing adult children who always dutifully remind her of when it’s time to take a break.
