Twenty doctors, twenty years, and one rash finally seen: the story behind the woman rebuilding what a doctor's visit in Raleigh can feel like.

In this episode: host Gretchen Coley sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Sierakowski, co-founder and medical director of Essential Health Raleigh, to unpack the real difference between functional, integrative, and family medicine, the therapies inside her new North Raleigh facility, and the patient story that changed the course of her career. Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

If you have ever left a doctor's office with a label but no answer, this episode is going to feel personal. Dr. Elizabeth Sierakowski spent 25 years as a patient bouncing between specialists before she became the kind of doctor she needed and could never find.

In this episode of Best of Raleigh, host Gretchen Coley sits down with Dr. Elizabeth, co-founder and medical director of Essential Health Raleigh, known to patients simply as Dr. E. The conversation covers her origin story as a patient failed by traditional medicine, the year-old wellness facility she built from the ground up, and the therapies, from hyperbaric oxygen to blood ozonation, that make up her approach to integrated care.

The Gaslit Patient Who Became the Doctor

Dr. Elizabeth's path into medicine started with a rash. Starting at age 15, she spent two decades cycling through 20 doctors, collecting labels like IBS, eczema, anxiety, and vertigo without ever getting a real answer. "I knew I came to you knowing I had a rash," she said. "I just got a label back and a Band-Aid." The turning point came from a dermatologist at Brigham and Women's who told her, "if you have a rash that I can see, it can't be in your head." Dr. Elizabeth paid $6,000 out of pocket for that visit after a nine-month insurance wait list fell through. Finally being believed became the blueprint for how she now practices medicine.

Functional, Integrative, and Family Medicine: What's the Real Difference

A lot of patients use these terms interchangeably, and Dr. Elizabeth says that is fine, because the goal is integration, not separation. Traditional medicine, learned in medical school, is built for treating the sick: prescriptions, surgery, and acute care. Functional medicine is data driven, using biomarkers and testing to catch problems before they become diagnoses. Integrative medicine is not a specialty at all. It is the practice of bringing multiple approaches together under one roof instead of referring patients to three separate providers. Dr. Elizabeth is triple board certified in all three, plus fellowship trained through A4M (the Academy of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine), which she says matters more than a single certification when choosing a provider.

From a 300-Square-Foot Office to a Sanctuary

Essential Health began as the vision of original founder Dr. J. Stevens, who built the model years before functional medicine was mainstream. Dr. Elizabeth joined as a provider in 2019 and bought the practice that same year, while pregnant, while her father was undergoing cancer treatment, and just before a pandemic. "There's never a good time to buy a business," she said. "We did it anyway." After years in a 300-square-foot space, she spent two years building a new facility designed to feel like a boutique hospitality experience: reverse osmosis water at every tap, natural light throughout, real plants, and a waterfall in the lobby.

Inside the Toolbox: Hyperbaric Therapy, Blood Ozonation, and Exosomes

Dr. Elizabeth only adds a therapy to her space if it has evidence behind it and helps the broadest range of people. Her top three: hyperbaric oxygen for tissue oxygenation and healing, EBOO (extracorporeal blood ozonation, a 45-minute process that filters the blood and triggers the body's own anti-inflammatory response), and a new exosome offering used for tissue repair, hair regeneration, and aesthetics. She is upfront that none of it is a cure-all. "I don't want to sledgehammer your body," she said. "I want to just help it."
Resilience, Not Restriction

Dr. Elizabeth's philosophy centers on connecting systems instead of treating symptoms in isolation. Thyroid, gut, hormones, and cognitive health all communicate, and treating them separately misses the point. One of her most defining moments in practice came from a patient mid-divorce who asked her point blank, "do you want me to quit my job or give up my kid?" It reshaped how she talks about stress: not as something to eliminate, but as something to balance with real, protected moments of rest.

Essential Health Raleigh at a Glance

• Founded by Dr. J. Stevens; acquired and led by Dr. Elizabeth Sierakowski since 2019
• Medical director triple board certified in family, integrative, and functional medicine, fellowship trained through A4M
• North Raleigh facility opened roughly one year ago after a two-year build
• Services include executive physicals, hormone optimization, hyperbaric oxygen, blood ozonation (EBOO), exosome therapy, and longevity testing
• Diamond Award winner, Midtown Magazine, and Wake County's Best Doctor, Wake Living
• Offers direct primary care membership options in place of traditional insurance billing

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between functional and integrative medicine? Functional medicine uses data and biomarkers to find root causes. Integrative medicine means combining multiple approaches, traditional, functional, and lifestyle, into one coordinated plan instead of treating each system separately.

How do I get started at Essential Health Raleigh? New patients can call or visit essentialhealth.health to schedule a meet and greet with the front desk team, who direct you to the right nurse consultation or provider visit. Read more on the practice's Best of Raleigh partner profile.

Rapid Fire with Dr. Elizabeth

• Favorite part of your work? Building a better health experience.
• Best piece of advice you've ever received? Wag your own tail.
• One word to describe the future of Essential Health? Integrity.
• Morning or night person? Morning. "I am useless at night."
• Go-to way to spend a day off? A book and a bathtub.

Why It Matters

Dr. Elizabeth's story is about what happens when someone spends 25 years not being believed and decides to build the place that would have believed her. In a city full of people juggling careers, kids, and their own health, Essential Health offers something harder to find than a diagnosis: a provider who treats the whole person as one connected system, in a space built to feel like a sanctuary rather than a strip mall waiting room. Her goal for every patient is resilience, not restriction, and a life with enough scaffolding to hold all of it.

Related listening: Inside D5 Health: How Dr. Philip Deibel Is Redefining Longevity Medicine in Raleigh

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