My name is Judy Marshall and I am a Nurse Practitioner trained in conventional medical methods. I began learning functional medicine concepts in February 2019. In early 2023, I received a certification as a Functional Medicine Practitioner through the Institute for Functional Medicine.
I utilize Lifestyle Modification principles in my approach to patients.
I grew up Catholic and all Catholic girls of that age aspired to be a nurse, a teacher, or a nun. The latter two were out (but not completely), so I settled on nursing. It was more than settling; as a baby, I was a patient at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago and at age 7, I proclaimed my desire to be a nurse. I returned there when I was 17 and proclaimed that my goal after graduation from nursing school was to work at Children’s Memorial.
I graduated from Purdue University in NW Indiana in 1978 with an Associate Degree in Nursing. During Nursing School, I worked as a nurse’s aide in a Nursing Home and then on a surgical ward at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in Dyer, Indiana.
My first position as a nurse was on a telemetry unit at OLMH. Telemetry was just invented, and I was hooked on cardiology. I loved being able to teach my patients how to change their life style for the better and to hopefully prevent a future heart attack or stroke.
But my love was pediatrics…
So in 1981, I made the move from NW Indiana to the big city of Chicago. I wasn’t really a city girl type – but I wanted to work at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Lincoln Park.
I started in the ICU, and cared for the sickest of the sick.
For the next 36 years, I worked in many different roles and departments. I achieved a Bachelor Degree in 1992 and a Master Degree in 1997. In 2017, I made the move to the division of Genetics where I was assigned to the connective tissue population of patients. Part of this population was the Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) group of patients. (Please see my page on Hypermobility.) I had never really heard of this condition, but given that the naming and guidelines of this disease was changed in 2017, I got to work and learned a lot about the care of these patients.
When I started in Functional Medicine (FM) in 2019, I recognized so many symptoms in common with my Hypermobile EDS/Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder (hEDS/HSD) patient. I knew in order to help them, I needed to go down the functional medicine path.
Throughout this time, I was in the Army Reserve Nurse Corp for 22 years and taught full time and part time at various nursing schools for 14 years. I retired from Lurie Children’s Hospital in August 2023, after 42 years. I currently work part time as a School Nurse in a Catholic Pre-K-8.
I’m a life-long learner, so after I finished learning about FM, I had a little down-time because of COVID, so I became certified as a Personal Trainer and a Corrective Exercise Specialist. Knowing these concepts will help me to direct therapies for pain management.
Although my focus is primarily for people with Hypermobility Syndromes, I can see anyone with any kinds of unusual symptoms who have been to many providers without an answer to the cause of their symptoms.
On these pages, you will find education about medical conditions, discussions about food as medicine, and much more about lifestyle medicine.
I am able to see patients through telemedicine and in-person visits. Please go to my Getting an Appointment Page to introduce yourself and make an appointment.
Feel free to contact me with any questions.
I am always fine tuning this website, so keep checking for updates. You can subscribe to the website in the lower right hand corner and you will automatically receive updates.
The Center for Happy-NESSS 