Richard E. Palmquist, DVM, GDVCHM, ACCHVM

The Microbiome: An Integrative Veterinarian's View

As science advances, clinicians gain knowledge which allows them to better appreciate the importance of the microbiome and its relationship to healthy bodily function, The microbiome is critical to the optimal functioning of every organ system. Microbes contribute to assimilated nutrition, detoxification, as well as, local and global regulation of cellular organelles, organs and tissues. To ignore the microbiome is to ignore, dismiss and even risk harming half our patient's body. as well as the intimate control systems inherent within that system. With this understanding, we gain insight into our past, and open doors to an entirely new way of understanding health and recovery. In this lecture, Dr Palmquist examines how his personal and professional life and health challenges correlate with the microbiome, and discusses this issue from the veterinary point of view.

ABOUT DR. RICHARD PALMQUIST

Richard Palmquist, DVM was born in Greeley, Colorado and graduated from Colorado State University in 1983, where he received the Upjohn Award for proficiency in small animal medicine. He graduated from the Australian College of Integrative Veterinary Therapy with a graduate degree in veterinary Chinese herbal medicine in 2015.

He is chief of integrative health services at Centinela Animal Hospital in Inglewood, California. He is a past president of the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (Editorial committee and Council of Elders), and is a past president  and national research chair of the AHVM Foundation, which promotes scientific research and education into integrative therapies. He is also a board member of the World Association of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine. He provides fourth year veterinary students experience in integrative practice for UC Davis and Western University.

Dr. Palmquist is an international speaker in integrative veterinary medicine, especially homotoxicology, therapeutic nutrition, mitochondrial medicine, and modified hospice. He is an Alternative Medicine consultant for the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). In 2012 he was honored to receive the AHVMA Council of Elders Peacemaker Award for his work to bring harmony between CAVM and conventional veterinary medicine. He has published numerous papers and three books. The first is an evidence-based textbook for conventional veterinarians entitled Integrating Complimentary Medicine Into Veterinary Practice. The second is a book for clients discussing how integrative thinking works. The third is a poetry book. He has consulted with ABC and CBS news and his practice was featured for its unique integrative approach to oncology patients.

WHERE TO FIND DR. RICHARD PALMQUIST

Q&A

Why you are passionate about studying the microbiome and/or what motivated you to begin studying microbiome therapeutics:
”My father was a microbiologist and I grew up in a laboratory smelling anaeorobic cultures and looking a dark field microscopy. From my earliest age, my parents instructed me in the vital connections necessary to a life well-lived. Facomg several health challenges, led me to understand the importance of a more "wholistic" approach to wellness and recovery. After flying from Los Angeles to New York to delicense and "quack," my life and veterinary practice were transformed. We live in a time with vast public health challenges ranging from soil depletion, agricultural monoculture, malnutrition, pollution and climate challenges that necessitate new approaches from organized human and veterinary medicine. Simply considering microbial resistance shows us that it is so important we begin to shift our focus of medicine from warriors fighting disease, to gardeners creating healthier terrain. This is not simply a philosophical activity. It is actually a focused effort wherein we raise the diversity and richness of the microbiome of our entire globe, and in doing so, come to understand the incredible resources represented in the advancement of a more green medicine.“

What are 3 tips you would share with fellow healthcare professionals if asked how to support a consistent healthcare journey for the patients who struggle with staying on the road to success through a tough healing process?
Firstly, we must acknowledge the rightness and awesomeness of each person's existence. Each person is a literal miracle of biology dating back from the beginnings of time. To make it to NOW, that system's biology must be more right than wrong or it would have been lost along the road of evolution. Understanding that simple fact is quite empowering in the process, and assists us to face new challenges as we seek to find a path to Better (which is the ultimate goal of any interaction or relationship, whether medical or otherwise).

Secondly, we must recognize that it is through relationship that we survive optimally. None of us flourish alone. Our systems are based on successful cooperation. We are not conquerors striving to defeat our opposition. We are healers striving to find what things can draw us together, empower and align our energies into a better web of living.  We carve out safe space and then take our resources and create useful materials, which we can exchange with others for our mutual growth and success. The goal of healing requires we find the loving path -- that we go first to love and then discover what truth we can find. Once we find a truth, we must test it and see if it holds up to use and inspection. That is the process of evidence-informed practice. It is also the path to what the Native Americans call, "right living." Love drives us to ask, to look, to uncover and discover truths that can be shared and help us grow into more successful community.

Thirdly, we must know that as we go to love, and as we discover truths, our consciousness will change. Our very ideas of right and wrong are put up to inspection and we must make new choices as what is right advances and what is wrong is left behind. Change can be an unsettling thing accompanied by discomfort and uncertainty. We must be willing to walk that path and face what challenges arise with a pioneering, grateful spirit. The love we share guides us in that process, as we find out who we are and what we can really accomplish in a supportive, loving and respectful culture.