Bridging Pharmacy, Functional Medicine, Root-Cause Wellness & Integrative Sleep
Dr. Tanaya Kizzine, Pharm.D., RPh, FMACP, a registered pharmacist, functional medicine practitioner, founder of Intentional Wellness by Design, and current participant in IPHI’s Integrative Adult Sleep Coach Certification Program.
Dr. Kizzine brings a distinctive perspective to the field of integrative sleep. Her professional foundation in pharmacy gives her extensive exposure to conventional healthcare and medications, while her education and work in functional medicine have led her toward a broader question:
What is driving the symptom in the first place?
That root-cause philosophy is at the heart of Intentional Wellness by Design—and it is also what makes her continued education in integrative sleep such a natural evolution of her work.
A Foundation in Pharmacy
Dr. Kizzine is a registered pharmacist in Texas and a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana.
Her professional experience within healthcare gave her a firsthand view of the conventional symptom-management model. Over time, however, she became increasingly interested in understanding why health problems develop and persist rather than focusing solely on managing their manifestations.
Her professional journey also became deeply personal.
On her website, Dr. Kizzine shares that her own experience navigating an autoimmune condition and years of debilitating symptoms that traditional approaches had been unable to fully explain or resolve became a catalyst for her exploration of functional medicine.
That experience ultimately changed the direction of her work.
Discovering the “Why Behind the What”
Dr. Kizzine pursued post-doctorate education and earned her functional medicine certification through the Functional Medicine Academy.
Functional medicine gave her a framework for exploring what she describes as the “why behind the what”, looking beyond symptoms to investigate the underlying imbalances and circumstances that may be contributing to an individual’s health concerns.
Today, that philosophy shapes the work she provides through Intentional Wellness by Design.
Her practice emphasizes personalized, science-based, root-cause-focused care that considers the complex relationships between genetics, environment, lifestyle, nutrition, and gut-brain health rather than viewing symptoms independently of the person experiencing them.
Founder of Intentional Wellness by Design
Through Intentional Wellness by Design, Dr. Kizzine has created a practice centered around individualized wellness rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.
Her model begins with understanding the individual’s health goals and history, followed by a comprehensive health review and personalized action plan. Depending upon individual needs, that process may incorporate functional laboratory testing, nutritional and supplemental support, and lifestyle changes.
Her services encompass several interconnected areas, including:
- Personalized holistic wellness plans
- Gut health and detox support
- Functional laboratory testing
- Nutrition and supplementation
- Sleep
- Stress management
- Mindfulness
- Corporate wellness programs
Rather than separating these areas into unrelated concerns, Dr. Kizzine’s approach recognizes that health is a dynamic system in which one area can influence another.
Sleep as a Pillar of Whole-Body Wellness
Sleep already holds an important place within Dr. Kizzine’s professional work.
Intentional Wellness by Design specifically identifies Sleep, Stress Management & Mindfulness as an area of service and describes sleep as a pillar of whole-body wellness.
Her approach combines sleep science with holistic techniques designed to support mental, emotional, and nervous-system health, while considering the relationship between sleep, stress, energy, autoimmune concerns, and hormonal balance.
This is an important distinction.
Sleep challenges do not necessarily begin and end in the bedroom.
Nutrition, stress, medications, lifestyle, emotional wellbeing, physiology, hormones, environment, nervous-system regulation, and other health factors may all be relevant pieces of an individual’s sleep picture.
Understanding those connections requires a wider lens.
Deepening Her Expertise Through Integrative Sleep Education
With an already extensive foundation in pharmacy and functional medicine, Dr. Kizzine chose to deepen her understanding of sleep through IPHI’s Integrative Adult Sleep Coach Certification Program.
Her participation represents an expansion of her existing professional philosophy rather than a departure from it.
IPHI’s integrative approach encourages professionals to investigate the broader circumstances surrounding sleep rather than assuming that every person experiencing a similar symptom requires the same intervention.
For a professional already committed to individualized and root-cause-focused wellness, this creates a natural bridge between functional medicine and integrative sleep science.
It also allows Dr. Kizzine to continue expanding the sleep component of the work she already provides through Intentional Wellness by Design.
Connecting the Gut, Brain, Stress & Sleep
One of the particularly relevant aspects of Dr. Kizzine’s work is her interest in the gut-brain connection.
Intentional Wellness by Design describes functional medicine as considering the interplay between genetics, environment, lifestyle and diet, while emphasizing the relationship between the gut and brain.
Her practice also uses a root-cause approach to gut health, incorporating functional laboratory testing where appropriate to identify imbalances and develop personalized protocols addressing areas such as digestion, detoxification and inflammation.
Adding integrative sleep education to this framework creates another dimension from which to consider whole-person wellness.
Rather than asking only, “How do we make someone sleep?”, the broader question becomes:
“What is happening within this person’s health, body, lifestyle and environment that may be influencing their ability to sleep well?”
That distinction sits at the heart of integrative sleep work.
Empowering People Through Personalized Care
Education and empowerment are also central to Dr. Kizzine’s philosophy.
Her practice emphasizes providing individuals with the knowledge, tools and support needed to become active participants in their wellness journey rather than passive recipients of a standardized protocol.
This personalized philosophy extends throughout the patient journey at Intentional Wellness by Design—from the initial discovery conversation and comprehensive health review to the individualized action plan and ongoing support.
It is a philosophy that aligns naturally with holistic and integrative sleep support: understand the individual first, then determine what support may actually be appropriate.
Professional Profile
Name: Dr. Tanaya Kizzine, Pharm.D., RPh, FMACP
Location: Texas, United States
Professional Roles: Registered Pharmacist | Functional Medicine Practitioner | Founder
Education: Xavier University of Louisiana
Post-Doctorate Education: Functional medicine education and certification through the Functional Medicine Academy
Founder: Intentional Wellness by Design
Current IPHI Education: Integrative Adult Sleep Coach Certification Program
Areas of Professional Focus: Functional Medicine | Root-Cause Wellness | Gut-Brain Health | Sleep | Stress Management | Mindfulness | Nutrition | Lifestyle | Functional Testing | Autoimmune Wellness | Corporate Wellness
Professional Approach: Personalized, science-based and holistic support that investigates underlying contributors to health concerns while considering the interconnected influences of genetics, environment, lifestyle, nutrition and whole-person wellbeing.
Continuing to Expand the Root-Cause Conversation
Dr. Kizzine’s professional journey demonstrates the value of allowing healthcare disciplines to inform one another.
Pharmacy. Functional medicine. Gut health. Nutrition. Stress. Nervous-system health. Mindfulness. Sleep.
Rather than treating these as entirely separate conversations, her work explores how they may intersect within the individual.
Her decision to further deepen her knowledge through IPHI’s Integrative Adult Sleep Coach Certification Program represents another step in that evolution.
We are honored to have Dr. Tanaya Kizzine as part of the IPHI professional community and look forward to seeing how she continues integrating sleep into the root-cause, whole-person work she has established through Intentional Wellness by Design.
Congratulations, Dr. Kizzine! We celebrate your commitment to continued learning and your dedication to helping individuals understand their health through a broader, more personalized lens.
