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Welcome, I’m Dr Nina

DOCTOR - SCIENTIST - EDUCATOR

My mission is to create a future where integrative oncology is the standard of cancer care.

DR NINA FULLER-SHAVEL

I am an award-winning Oxbridge-trained integrative medicine doctor, scientist and educator with over a decade’s experience in integrative healthcare and extensive education in nutrition, integrative and functional medicine, herbal medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine, yoga and mindfulness.

I am the Director of Synthesis Clinic, a multidisciplinary integrative medicine practice specialising in women’s health and integrative cancer care, and the Co-Chair of BSIO (British Society for Integrative Oncology).

I believe that our current healthcare system, while often life-saving, is not life-optimising, and is rarely able to deliver whole person care for prevention and management of complex, chronic disease. 

As a cancer thriver, I personally experienced both the benefits and the shortcomings of the current care model. I also experienced how integrative oncology can transcend these by marrying the latest biomedical science with the whole person view and an extensive support toolbox. 

As a doctor providing integrative, personalised care to support people with cancer, I see the transformative impact of this approach on personal resilience, quality of life and clinical outcomes.

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My Story

From Doctor…to Cancer Patient

Studying medicine was a natural fit for me. I’ve always been scientifically-minded and after studying both Natural Sciences and nutrition, I wanted to delve deeper and help more complex patients. However, working as a doctor in an understaffed NHS hospital led to enormous stress. Shift work and the physical and emotional impact of caring for very sick patients without making a true long-term difference, along with caring for my young daughter, took a heavy toll on my health. I struggled with depression and was eventually diagnosed with breast cancer. 

I knew something had to change. The conventional care model clearly wasn’t working for me or for my patients. I was working incredibly hard to do the ‘fire-fighting’, yet I knew I wasn’t making a long-term difference in people’s health. 

My vision has always been to integrate nutrition, lifestyle and mind-body approaches with conventional medicine. With my cancer diagnosis, it was time to put my vision to the test. I got through a gruelling six months of chemotherapy, targeted treatment with anti-HER2 medications and two operations by throwing the book at it. I integrated a variety of modalities to support myself, including:

  • Nutrition and targeted supplementation

  • Lifestyle – sleep, exercise and stress management

  • Yoga and mindfulness

  • Psychological and emotional support, including trauma therapy

  • Acupuncture

  • Herbal medicine

At the end of the year, I was in remission, and my trajectory and resilience through this intensive treatment surprised my surgeons and my oncologist (to whom I will be forever grateful).

I found ways to support my wellbeing through breast cancer treatment that allowed me to get the results I wanted and to thrive after treatment.

My outcome couldn’t be attributed to just luck. I was intentional about creating an environment where I could thrive instead of just surviving, and it was through walking this path as both a doctor and a patient that I realised just how much conventional healthcare was failing people in the long term. 

  • No one advised me on nutrition, and the leaflets I found were completely generic without any practical information or up-to-date evidence.

  • No one asked me about my sleep, questioned my wellbeing or asked how I was coping emotionally.

  • No one offered prehabilitation advice on how to prepare for different phases of treatment or assessed my changing needs.

  • No one talked about proactive strategies to minimise side effects and optimise resilience.

I couldn’t continue being an NHS doctor. It wasn’t only for the sake of my own health, but because I couldn’t keep practising the same symptom-driven, “one-size-fits-all” medical approach invested in delivering sick-care rather than true healthcare. I knew there had to be a better way.

Today I take care of hundreds of people using an effective combination of approaches at my award-winning practice, Synthesis Clinic. At Synthesis, my team and I work together to deliver personalised integrative care in our specialty areas of cancer support and women’s health. We integrate all the tools available to us:

  • Conventional medicine – practised within a root cause-based, whole person framework tailored to the individual 

  • Nutrition and lifestyle medicine

  • Psychological and emotional wellbeing support

  • Evidence-based complementary therapies

Our patients are often thriving on a level not seen in most conventional medicine-only practices. They walk their path through cancer treatment with fewer side effects and a renewed sense of vitality, agency and empowerment. 

An integrative, systems approach to cancer helps people live a fulfilling life during and after cancer treatment and when living with metastatic disease.

Now

MY MISSION IS TO CREATE A FUTURE WHERE INTEGRATIVE ONCOLOGY IS THE STANDARD OF CANCER CARE.

I want to help more healthcare professionals realise that conventional treatment modalities need to be personalised and supported by a wider toolkit throughout the cancer care continuum. I am passionate about bringing both agency and the whole person approach to the core of cancer care where it belongs.

All of us want to feel we are doing the absolute best for the people we look after as healthcare professionals.

 You may be a physician looking for information on the lifestyle factors that can improve your patients’ clinical outcomes. You know there’s a lot of pseudoscience out there, but you don’t have the time to sort through the research to determine what actually works. You want to have practical, impactful information that you can use to help your patients. 

 Or maybe you’re a nutrition professional, a valuable expert who’s too often missing from the cancer care team. You want to help, but you may feel like you don’t have enough specialised knowledge to be successful. 

 When it comes down to it, you just want to give the people you care for more options and a personalised management plan that supports both better clinical outcomes and quality of life. I’ve encountered the same feelings and challenges – both as a doctor and as a patient. 

Working with the Systems Approach to Cancer® every day, I am inspired by the power of integrative and personalised medicine to transform people’s lives in a myriad of ways across the cancer care continuum. 

I want the same for you.

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Be empowered with the knowledge and tools to support resilience and clinical outcomes in people with a cancer diagnosis.

Over the years, I’ve spoken to many of my wonderful medical colleagues who have dedicated their careers to helping people with cancer. Through these conversations, I’ve learned that they, too, have experienced the same frustration I did as a doctor and as a patient. Some of their toughest cases left them feeling defeated. They wanted to do more for their patients — they just didn’t know where to start. 

Perhaps you’ve had the same feelings. 

I believe cancer care is a team effort, regardless of the specialty or modalities used. We’re stronger together, and collaboration is key to the best clinical outcomes. 

Our patients deserve so much more than a “pill for every ill” approach. That’s why I’ve made it my mission to make integrative oncology the standard of cancer care in the UK. Whether we are dealing with cancer risk reduction, preparation for and support through active treatment, post-treatment recovery or living well with advanced cancer, there is an effective model to help you create a robust personalised care plan.

I hope you’ll join me.

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Qualifications

My Professional Background


EDUCATION AND TRAINING


ONGOING TRAINING

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

ADDITIONAL TRAINING

  • Women’s Integrative and Functional Medicine Professional Training Program with Dr Aviva Romm

  • Heartwood Herbal Medicine, Functional Herbal Therapy and Aviva Romm Herbal Medicine for Women

  • Integrative approach to Breast Cancer — University of Arizona

  • Functional Herbal Therapy in Cancer with Prof Kerry Bone

  • Mentorship programme in integrative oncology with Dr Nasha Winters

  • Basic and Advanced Courses in Mistletoe and Integrative Oncology with PAAM (Physicians' Association for Anthroposophic Medicine)

  • SIBO Pro course with Dr Allison Siebecker

  • Gastrointestinal Health, Neuroinflammation and Autoimmunity — Kharrazian Institute

  • Introduction to Theory and Practice of CFT (Compassion Focused Therapy) — Compassionate Mind Foundation

  • Training in polyvagal theory and SSP (Safe & Sound Protocol)

  • Yin Yoga and Mindfulness — Level 1 and Level 2

  • Yoga Therapy Skills for PTSD, Therapeutic Yoga in Cancer Treatment and Yoga Nidra for Mental Health — The Minded Institute

  • The Transformative Power of Conscious Breath with Lauren Toolin through Pranamaya

PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND REGISTRATIONS

RECENT PAPERS AND ARTICLES

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS, POSTERS AND CHAIRED SESSIONS

  • BOPA (British Oncology Pharmacy Association) Conference Oct 2022 – ‘Non-pharmacological interventions [in cancer care]’

  • Integrative and Personalised Medicine Congress 2022

    • Presentation - ‘A Systems Approach to autoimmune thyroid disease’

    • Workshops - BSIO workshop ‘Integrative oncology in the UK - expanding collaboration and improving access’, industry workshop on mistletoe therapy

  • BANT Annual Conference 2022 - ‘Mental Health, Precision Nutrition, and Lifestyle Medicine: Translating Evidence to Clinical Practice’:

    • Presentation - ‘Precision Health and Integrative Medicine Approaches to Supporting Trauma Recovery’

  • Integrative Oncology UK 2022:

    • Presentation - ‘Case studies in precision integrative oncology’ with Dr Penny Kechagioglou and Dr Jonathan Krell

    • Chair of ‘Mistletoe – mechanisms, evidence and clinical practice’ session

  • ECIM 2021 Virtual Congress, 19th European Congress of Integrative Medicine (ESIM/ISCMR) - Chair of ‘Yoga for Health’ session

  • 18th International Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) Conference 2021 - poster presentation ‘Breast cancer patients’ experience within a UK integrative cancer support clinic and wider perspectives on the need for integrative oncology input within the public healthcare service’

  • ISNPR (International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry), Oct 2019 - poster presentation ‘Vitamin D in old age psychiatry inpatients’

  • Integrative Health Convention, Oct 2019 - ‘Functional and Integrative Medicine as the future of chronic disease care’

TALKS AND LECTURES

  • BANT Oct 2022 - ‘Optimising Women’s Health in Menopause and Beyond’

  • ATCM lecture Sept 2022 ‘Integrative medicine in breast cancer: the role of TCM’

  • Verve Festival Sept 2022 - ‘Integrative approaches to menopause support’

  • Your Life and Cancer Feb 2022 - ‘Supporting balanced immunity’

  • Penny Brohn UK Resilience Room webinar - ‘An introduction to Systems Approach to Cancer’

  • Genostics webinar Nov 2021 - ‘Systems Approach in practice: bringing data to life’

  • Datar Cancer Genetics webinar Jul 2021 - ‘Precision Oncology and Integrative Medicine – contradiction or synergy?’

  • Open Clinical Day at the National Centre for Integrative Medicine, Feb 2020 - ‘The Functional Medicine approach to chronic inflammation and autoimmunity’

  • Genova Diagnostics Clinical Training Day, Feb 2020 - ‘GI testing in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome’

  • Your Life and Cancer, Sept 2020 - ‘Laboratory tests: what is available and what to prioritise’

Expand your knowledge and transform your practice.

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