Summer Savon, MD, PhD

Medical director

Meet Dr. Savon

Dr. Savon has always been interested in what makes living joyful and meaningful and to that end, she has trained in both molecular science and western medicine.  Her PhD in biochemistry has enabled her to consider the importance of nutrient metabolism and epigenetics in health, and her MD has trained her in the gifts of psychotherapy and pharmacology to help heal the mind.

As a result of these ideas, Dr. Savon has trained as a Functional Medicine Practitioner and therefore takes a functional medicine approach to mental health - considering the whole person.  She may be described as a “wholistic” psychiatrist who offers an integrative approach to whole- person wellness.  Dr. Savon focuses on all the aspects that make you, you - lifestyle habits, diet, nutritional deficiencies. sleep patterns, gut health as well as inner life, relationships and purpose.

Dr. Savon’s “complementary” approach does not abandon the best of what medicine has already established but seeks to honor the highest ideals of the physician’s role by giving appropriate time and attention to a nuanced understanding of the patient’s complete situation.  In fact, in typical “physician, heal thyself fashion”, she has often had to apply such thinking to her own life. A recent example is her decision to leave a fulfilling group practice in the Bay Area of California and move back to Cleveland to be closer to her daughter.

Now, back in her home state, she is very pleased to be aligned with cutting edge colleagues and focused on new challenges as we all adapt to an, arguably, especially complicated time.  It is Dr. Savon’s goal to join forces with her patients to see how minimal medication and maximal exploration can lead to greater daily satisfaction and the restoration of peace and hope which are the birthright of all beings.

“As an integrative psychiatrist, I work with my patients to look for the most fundamental root causes of their malcontent and together we consider how best to create a specific functional medicine approach that will work - understanding that the true heart of wellness resides in addressing the continuum of mind/body/spirit.”

In addition to her day gig, Dr. Savon relishes a return to her musical and artistic outlets and when not “working on her fitness” (less outward-bound, more rebounder) she relaxes with the occasional antiquated art song or Prismacolor art pencil.