Dr. John Whitcomb, medical director of Brookfield Longevity and Healthy Living Clinic, grew up in India, the son of missionary parents. Surrounded by a family of physicians—including his grandfather, aunts and uncles—Whitcomb recalls always being curious about how his body worked and being fascinated with the concept of prevention. If he got sick, he wanted to know why and what he could have done to avoid it.

“The standard story of wanting to help people applies to my desireto enter into the medical field, but it’s also much deeper than that,” explains Whitcomb. “I’ve always had a restless need to be new and different—to be an innovator.”

His interest in medicine led him to John Hopkins University for undergraduate study, followed by the Yale University School of Medicine. There, he helped start the first longitudinal primary clinic in American medical schools, where medical students can learn about continuity of care by working with the same patients and families throughout their four years in medical school. This innovation earned him the Patient Advocacy award.

Whitcomb satisfied some of his restless energy by spending 29 years in emergency medicine, mainly in leadership positions. He was the medical director of emergency services at two hospitals and led a professional society and many committees with a style that encouraged new and innovative approaches.

Eventually, however, emergency medicine did not fulfill all of Whitcomb’s explorative curiosity, and he began to focus on forward-thinking ways to keep individuals and their families well. “I realized in my time as an emergency room doctor that we need to understand how the body functions in order to keep people functioning at optimal levels,” Whitcomb advises. “Individuals wait until they get sick and then come to a physician to reverse the illness, but that’s the wrong attitude. We should be evaluating and understanding underlying causes and working toward prevention.” The key, he notes, is to be proactive, not reactive.

His passion for prevention and optimizing health led him to become board certified with the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, of which he is a fellowship graduate. He also earned a master’s degree in metabolic and functional medicine at the University of South Florida, the only university-affiliated master’s program in anti-aging in the country, and was board certified in holistic and integrative medicine by the prestigious Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.

In 2011, Whitcomb launched the Brookfield Longevity and Healthy Living Clinic, a medically driven, cutting-edge, anti-aging practice, specializing in evidence-based therapies that include bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, identification of toxins and detoxification, nutritionally based and supervised weight loss, mitochondrial optimization and individualized age-management programs for both men and women.

Whitcomb says many chronic diseases are rooted in lifestyle choices. His goal is to identify the root cause of symptoms and help people feel well, look well and live well by identifying, stopping and even reversing the process and damage of aging. “We strive to calm your body’s inflammation, balance the core imbalances that put you at risk and restore a youthful endocrine system and countenance,” he explains.

He believes that this technology of prevention is the future of healthcare and that the Brookfield Longevity and Healthy Living Clinic has made great strides in changing the lives of those that walk through its doors. As an example, Whitcomb cites a 95 percent success rate among patients that have come to the clinic for help losing weight. “It’s not that hard, once you understand how the body functions,” he says.

Every patient receives a personalized plan to help achieve a long, healthy life. Often, these individuals have been frustrated by the lack of positive results they have received from traditional medicine. “People come to us and say that they can’t lose weight or they are suffering with a chronic disorder, and I tell them we can help,” says Whitcomb. “We can help clients bring balance to their metabolism, clean up their gut, reduce inflammation, restore function, reduce their risk of heart disease, get off medications for high blood pressure and diabetes and much more.”

Although at one time he found emergency medicine to be a thrilling occupation, Whitcomb says he loves the relationships he has built with patients of the Brookfield Clinic. “It is so gratifying to watch individuals heal naturally and abundantly; to see a 75-year-old patient keep running marathons or an 82-year-old enjoying a healthy relationship of intimacy and love.”

Brookfield Longevity and Healthy Living Clinic is located at 17585 W. North Ave., Ste. 160, in Brookfield. For more information, call 262-784-5300 or visit LiveLongMD.com.