Integrative and functional medicine physician Tasneem Patel, DO, operates New Beginnings Health Care from 8911 La Mesa Boulevard in the heart of La Mesa Village, where the weekly La Mesa Village Farmers Market draws foot traffic along the same commercial corridor. Her board certification in family medicine from Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine (class of 2002) anchors a practice that layers functional medicine's root-cause diagnostic framework over conventional primary care, with routine vision screening referrals coordinated through La Mesa Optometry on the same La Mesa Boulevard corridor. The practice emphasizes hormone balance and gut health as clinical pillars, utilizing advanced lab panels — including comprehensive stool analysis, DUTCH hormone testing, and micronutrient assays — to identify systemic imbalances that conventional metabolic panels may not capture. Prior experience at Kaiser Permanente and county-level clinics informs her integrative approach, and musculoskeletal complaints route to complementary providers like Acru Health - La Mesa for neurologically focused chiropractic co-management. The functional medicine workup protocol includes organic acids testing, salivary cortisol mapping, and intestinal permeability assays to establish biomarker baselines before initiating targeted nutritional and hormonal interventions.