Patients often come to Ayur when individual symptoms, lab values, lifestyle factors, and medical history do not seem to fit neatly into one category.
At Ayur Integrative Medicine in Portola Valley, Dr. Malathi Acharya, MD provides personalized integrative medicine care, drawing on her medical training to bring together evidence-informed approaches to nutrition, lifestyle, mind-body health, functional medicine, and Ayurveda.
Care is designed around the whole person, not one symptom in isolation.
Portola Valley, near Palo Alto, serving patients throughout the Bay Area.
An integrative medicine doctor looks at the same medical information used in conventional medicine, including symptoms, history, medications, laboratory results, risk factors, and diagnoses, while also considering factors such as nutrition, sleep, stress, movement, environment, relationships, and daily habits.
Rather than functioning apart from conventional medicine, integrative medicine considers that same information alongside complementary approaches, bringing them together within one personalized medicine plan built around whole-person care. Many patients find Dr. Malathi while searching for a holistic medicine doctor, the whole-person philosophy is the same, delivered with the rigor of physician-led care.
At Ayur, this work is led by Dr. Malathi Acharya, an integrative medicine physician and board-certified internal medicine doctor with advanced training in evidence-informed integrative approaches.
Dr. Malathi spent years practicing conventional internal medicine before expanding her training into integrative medicine. That background allows her to evaluate patients from both perspectives rather than asking them to choose between them.
As an integrative medicine physician in the Bay Area, she combines the rigor of conventional medical training with a broader, whole-person view of health. Her background includes:
Board-certified internal medicine physician
Diplomate, American Board of Integrative Medicine
Fellowship-trained, Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona
25+ years of clinical experience
Advanced training in Integrative Ayurvedic MedicineEvidence-informed integrative approachesEvery plan begins with a conversation about your health history, current concerns, and goals.
Some patients want more than a single consultation. The Ayur Membership provides a longer-term relationship with Dr. Malathi for those who want continuity, ongoing guidance, and a personalized approach that evolves with their health.
Explore the Ayur MembershipCare is organized around common reasons patients seek an integrative medicine doctor in the Bay Area, then personalized from there.
Changing sleep, energy, cognition, metabolism, and mood can overlap during the perimenopausal transition. Dr. Malathi helps patients understand these shifts within a broader integrative medicine framework.
Explore Perimenopause Care →
Insulin resistance, metabolic risk, cardiovascular risk factors, energy, and nutrition are considered together as part of a proactive, preventive approach.
Explore Metabolic Health →
Integrative cancer care is designed to support and complement appropriate oncology treatment, not replace it, during treatment, recovery, and survivorship.
Explore Integrative Cancer Care →
Persistent stress, sleep disruption, and changing energy levels are considered alongside the interaction between mental and physical health.
Proactive health planning can help patients understand risk factors, maintain function, and plan for long-term health as priorities change.
Explore Preventive Care →Integrative medicine and functional medicine overlap, but they are not identical.
Functional medicine often focuses on understanding interactions between biological systems and factors that may contribute to symptoms or disease risk.
Integrative medicine is broader. It considers a patient’s physical, emotional, social, behavioral, and lifestyle health alongside their existing conventional medical care, adding evidence-informed complementary approaches where appropriate.
At Ayur, functional medicine can be one part of Dr. Malathi’s broader integrative medicine approach, alongside nutrition, lifestyle medicine, mind-body medicine, and Ayurveda.
Ayur Integrative Medicine is located in Portola Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, close to Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Los Altos, and surrounding Bay Area communities.
Patients seeking an integrative medicine doctor in the Bay Area can work directly with Dr. Malathi Acharya for personalized, physician-led care built around their medical history, current concerns, lifestyle, and long-term health goals.
Ayur Integrative Medicine · Portola Valley, CA · +1.650.671.2023
Patients work with an experienced medical doctor rather than receiving care through a generic wellness program.
The model allows for a more detailed discussion of history, symptoms, lifestyle, concerns, and goals.
Your conventional medical care continues with your existing physicians, while Dr. Malathi’s integrative approach is layered alongside it where it may add value.
Recommendations are based on the individual rather than applying the same protocol to every patient.
Care can consider current symptoms alongside prevention, metabolic health, resilience, and healthy aging.
An integrative medicine doctor is a licensed physician who evaluates the same medical information used in conventional care, including symptoms, history, medications, and laboratory results, while also considering nutrition, sleep, stress, movement, and other lifestyle factors. At Ayur, Dr. Malathi Acharya, MD is a board-certified internal medicine physician and Diplomate of the American Board of Integrative Medicine who brings both perspectives together in one personalized plan, rather than treating integrative medicine as separate from conventional care.
Integrative medicine does not replace conventional medicine, it works alongside it. Your primary care physician and other treating providers continue to manage conventional diagnosis and treatment, while an integrative medicine doctor adds a broader look at nutrition, lifestyle, stress, sleep, and other factors that may influence how a person feels.
Not exactly. Functional medicine typically focuses on interactions between biological systems and factors that may contribute to symptoms or disease risk. Integrative medicine is broader, taking a wider view that considers a patient’s physical, emotional, social, and lifestyle health alongside their existing conventional medical care. At Ayur, functional medicine principles are one part of Dr. Malathi’s wider integrative medicine approach.
Patients seek care from Dr. Malathi for a range of concerns, including perimenopause and hormone-related changes, metabolic health and prevention, persistent fatigue, stress, and burnout, and supportive care alongside conventional cancer treatment. Every visit is individualized, and not every concern is appropriate for this model of care, so an initial conversation helps determine whether it is a good fit.
Yes, selectively. Ayurveda is one of several tools within Dr. Malathi’s broader physician-led integrative medicine approach. It is considered alongside your conventional medical care, nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and functional medicine, and is applied only where it may appropriately complement your overall care. Learn more about Ayurvedic medicine at Ayur.
Ayur Integrative Medicine is located in Portola Valley, California, near Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Los Altos, and other Bay Area communities.
The first step is a discovery call, a brief conversation about your health history, current concerns, and whether Ayur’s integrative medicine approach is right for you. You can book a discovery call directly online.
If you are looking for physician-led care that considers your medical history, current health concerns, lifestyle, and long-term goals together, you can begin with a discovery call with Ayur Integrative Medicine.
Portola Valley • Palo Alto • San Francisco Bay Area
