| Contributor
An overwhelming majority of the medical schools in the United States require less than 20 hours of education in nutrition in four years of training, while courses in lifestyle and root-cause medicine remain rare. Physicians graduate with superb skills in the diagnosis and treatment of disease but far less in their prevention until the disease sets in. This highly important and, in fact, life-saving system works reactively. With the rise of chronic diseases and age-related morbidity, another approach must be introduced in parallel with this system: one that empowers people to direct their wellness at an earlier point and, one that can, on the whole, increase longevity and health span.
That belief inspired Dr. Darshan Shah, a board-certified surgeon whose own health journey became the spark for Next Health. After the birth of his first child, Dr. Shah was warned by his physician that if he didn’t make drastic changes, he was unlikely to live to see his son graduate high school. Determined to turn his health around, he sought care from specialists across Los Angeles, receiving a protocol of multiple prescriptions and piecing together functional medicine services on his own. The tipping point came when he was prescribed an antidepressant to help cope with the cascade of other treatments; this moment made clear to him how fragmented and reactive the system had become.
Out of that experience, Dr. Shah envisioned a better way: a single place where proactive medical providers and science-backed services could be integrated, personalized, and accessible. Almost ten years ago, he founded Next Health to change the trajectory of healthcare, shifting from a model that waits for illness to one that empowers people to preserve vitality and extend their healthspan.
From Treatment to Optimization
Dr. Shah distilled this philosophy into Medicine 4.0, a new framework that integrates four pillars of forward-thinking care: functional medicine (root-cause analysis), preventive medicine (early risk detection), lifestyle medicine (daily behaviors that support well-being), and longevity medicine (advanced diagnostics and therapies that support healthy aging). Together, these pillars form a proactive model that doesn’t replace traditional medicine but complements it, giving individuals tools to navigate their health with data, foresight, and personalization.
“Healthcare when you’re already sick is vital, but that’s not where it should begin,” says Dr. Shah. “Medicine 4.0 is about filling the void for proactive healthcare and creating a personalized roadmap that helps people take control of their health today. In doing this, it’s possible to change the trajectory of a patient’s future in a really positive direction. I’m thrilled to say that this happened in my own life!”
Scaling a New Standard of Care
Through Next Health, Dr. Shah and his team are scaling this model rapidly. With more than 70 centers open or in development across 13 states and two international markets, and a projected 100 locations worldwide by 2027, the company has grown into a wide-ranging health optimization and longevity network with a strong international presence.
Each center offers services like biomarker and genetic testing, longevity-focused services like Therapeutic Plasma Exchange, regenerative treatments, wellness technologies such as cryotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and much more, all integrated with expert provider oversight to ensure a personalized plan of care. Next Health makes proactive healthcare approachable for a wide range of people through memberships, as well as complementary education through platforms like the EXTEND Podcast.
Strengthening the Scientific Foundation
As Medicine 4.0 takes hold, Next Health has also fortified its scientific and medical foundation with the formation of a Scientific Advisory Council. This distinguished group includes leading voices including a functional medicine pioneer and a global sleep science authority.
Their role is to advise on protocols, validate emerging therapeutics, and ensure that Next Health’s approach remains scientifically rigorous as it scales. The council’s expertise adds academic depth and credibility to a field often criticized for lacking clear guardrails, positioning Next Health as both innovative and evidenceblue-driven.
A Movement Toward Healthspan
The broader shift behind Medicine 4.0 is one of redefining healthcare’s ultimate goal. For much of the last century, success was measured in lifespan, or how long people live. Increasingly, the focus is on healthspan, or the number of years lived in good health, free of chronic disease and decline.
“Extending lifespan without healthspan doesn’t serve anyone,” Dr. Shah notes. “What people really want is to feel strong, focused, and resilient well into their later years. Medicine 4.0 is about giving them that possibility.”
The Future of Medicine, Now
As healthcare systems worldwide grapple with chronic disease, ballooning costs, and aging populations, Medicine 4.0 offers a timely evolution. Merging science, technology, and personalized care into a scalable model, it offers a model for how medicine may develop in the years to come.
For Next Health, the mission remains personal. “I started Next Health after realizing the future of medicine couldn’t just be about waiting until disease arrived,” says Dr. Shah. “It had to be about prevention, optimization, and extending vitality. This is more than a healthcare model, it’s a movement.”
This article is for informational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider.
