An association built by clinicians, for clinical standards.
A non profit professional association representing Functional Medicine doctors, nutritionists and health coaches across India, working to advance the science, education and responsible practice of root cause medicine.
Our story
How IAFM began.
Functional Medicine reached India through individual clinicians rather than through institutions. Doctors trained abroad or studied independently, brought the approach back to their own practices, and found there was no shared professional structure around it, no national forum, no common standard of training, no organised way to compare clinical experience.
IAFM was established to provide that structure. It was co founded by practising physicians: Dr Anish Musa, who serves as its President, together with Dr Ashwani Garg, Dr Priti Nanda Sibal and Dr Ruhi Agarwala. From 2021, the association's annual conference, IAFMCON, became its academic centre of gravity, and has been held every year since.
Vision
Making India a healthy nation.
Chronic disease is now India's dominant health burden. Our vision is a country where that burden is addressed at its origin, through prevention treated as clinical work, and care that accounts for the whole of a person's biology and circumstances.
Mission
Science, education, community.
To advance research and evidence based practice; to educate and train clinicians and health coaches; to convene the profession nationally; and to improve public understanding of root cause healthcare without overstating what it can do.
What we believe
Nine commitments.
These principles guide how members are expected to practise, teach and communicate, with patients, with colleagues, and with the public.
Root cause thinking
Treat the mechanism, not only the manifestation.
Scientific inquiry
Follow the evidence, including where it contradicts us.
Personalised care
One protocol rarely fits two patients.
Prevention
The most valuable intervention usually happens early.
Education
A standard is only real if it is taught.
Collaboration
Work with conventional specialties, not around them.
Continuous learning
Clinical competence has an expiry date.
Patient centred practice
The patient is a participant, not a case.
Responsible communication
No promises of cure. No claims beyond the data.
Co Founder and PresidentFounding leadership
The founders still practise.
IAFM's co founders were not administrators who took an interest in Functional Medicine. They were clinicians running Functional Medicine practices in India who decided the field needed a professional body, and built one alongside their clinical work.
That has shaped what the association is: an organisation whose agenda is set by people who still hold consultations, still teach, and still answer for their outcomes.
Meet the leadership and core team