Founder
Heather Christie, MD
Hello and thank you for your interest in Christie MD Functional and Aesthetic Medicine!
Dr. Christie was inspired to pursue training in Functional Medicine after more than 25 years of knowing she would ultimately practice medicine in a more holistic manner than traditional American medicine. She had a brief career in the business world in the early 1990s in sales and marketing before starting a family and then entering medical school with two young children. Dr. Christie practiced Family Medicine beginning with residency in 2005 and then as an attending physician since 2008. Over time, she became disenchanted with conventional medicine after seeing many patients taking more medications but who were not getting healthier. She learned of the enormous impact of chronic diseases in her patients’ lives and saw their quality of life decline as they aged prematurely. Knowing that nutrition and lifestyle modifications could reverse, or completely prevent, these chronic diseases, she discussed the importance of lifestyle changes with her patients. Working together, she and her patients achieved measurable improvements in their health conditions including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, preventative care and cancer screening. As a result of consistently meeting or exceeding objective quality measures, Dr. Christie received the following Awards and Recognition:
Dr. Christie was inspired to pursue training in Functional Medicine after more than 25 years of knowing she would ultimately practice medicine in a more holistic manner than traditional American medicine. She had a brief career in the business world in the early 1990s in sales and marketing before starting a family and then entering medical school with two young children. Dr. Christie practiced Family Medicine beginning with residency in 2005 and then as an attending physician since 2008. Over time, she became disenchanted with conventional medicine after seeing many patients taking more medications but who were not getting healthier. She learned of the enormous impact of chronic diseases in her patients’ lives and saw their quality of life decline as they aged prematurely. Knowing that nutrition and lifestyle modifications could reverse, or completely prevent, these chronic diseases, she discussed the importance of lifestyle changes with her patients. Working together, she and her patients achieved measurable improvements in their health conditions including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, preventative care and cancer screening. As a result of consistently meeting or exceeding objective quality measures, Dr. Christie received the following Awards and Recognition:
Awarded the Duke Family Medicine William J. “Terry” Kane, MD Award for Excellence in Clinical Family Medicine, 2008. This award is presented annually to one Third Year Resident.
Achieved Premium Care Physician status with United Healthcare. This is their highest level of status designation and includes quality and cost efficiency assessments, with quality as the primary measure.
Achieved Blue Distinction Total Care status with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Per BCBS website “These doctors go above and beyond to enhance the overall health of their patients, providing preventative services and wellness coaching as well as working with patients with chronic conditions to better meet their care needs.”
Impressing insurance companies was not her goal, however this recognition reflects getting healthy results with patients. Most importantly – her patients felt better!
Dr. Christie loved her patients and her ability to offer some alternative therapies within the insurance model but she was frustrated trying to give her patients better care within the typically brief 20-minute visits. She knew she wasn’t serving herself or her patients to the best of her ability within this insurance based model, so left primary care to practice Functional Medicine full time, thus realizing her vision of employing a more holistic method of healing.
Dr. Christie is originally from Tallahassee, FL and returned to her home state after a 32 year absence. She loves spending time with her family and friends, going to the beach, shell hunting, swimming, pilates, and traveling.
Education and Training
Dr. Christie continually stays up to date on current evidence-based, integrative therapies.
San Diego State University
Bachelor of Science, Business
San Diego, CA 1992
Tulane University School of Medicine
Medical Doctorate New Orleans, LA 2005
Duke University Medical Center, Community and Family Medicine
Family Medicine Residency Durham, NC 2008
Institute for Functional Medicine
Completion of all Advanced Placement Modules 2019
Kalish Institute of Functional Medicine
Additional Functional Medicine training with Dr. Kalish 2020
American Academy of Facial Aesthetics
Neuromuscular blockers and dermal filler training 2020
Professional Society Memberships
Institute for Functional Medicine
American Academy of Facial Aesthetics
Florida Board of Medicine
American Board of Family Medicine
Christina Brugler
Administrative Assistant/Social Media Coordinator
Christina joins our team having multiple roles including being Dr. Christie’s Medical and Administrative Assistant as well as being a Certified Holistic Health Coach. She is an integral part of our clinic’s team collaborating closely with Dr. Christie on a daily basis to ensure the seamless functioning of the clinic and with patient care.
With a robust background in healthcare, including a Bachelor of Science in Education and Communication Science Disorders (speech and language pathology), Christina brings 11 years of experience in multiple medical settings and client care with an emphasis in Integrative Medicine. She is passionate about guiding people into a more holistic approach for health including nutrition and lifestyle changes, in addition to traditional medical needs, to improve their health and well-being to a point not done with only traditional medicine. Becoming frustrated with our traditional healthcare system that did not resolve various health issues, she has incorporated functional medicine and lifestyle changes into her own life resulting in positive outcomes such as improved clarity of thought, skin health, and sleep quality.
In her free time, Christina enjoys spending time with her family, going to the beach
to watch the sunset, staying active, and taking group fitness classes. She loves yoga, barre, & pilates. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Christina has lived in St. Petersburg since 2018. We are excited to have her passion and excitement on our team!
Mariangela L. Cerojano
Healthcare Virtual Assistant (HVA)
Mariangela joins us remotely as our Healthcare Virtual Assistant. She does a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes tasks to keep our clinic running smoothly including patient interaction, creating lab and other orders, IT work with our Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, and medical scribing among other duties. She has 5 years experience working in healthcare with an emphasis from a pharmacology aspect. She has been involved in patient care working in multiple healthcare settings including hospital, clinical (outpatient), as well as retail pharmacy. After graduating college and certification exams, she worked as a retail pharmacist for two years, even during the height of the pandemic. Through these experiences, Marian gained extensive knowledge in patient interactions, technical support, and pharmacologic treatments. Mariangela continues to enhance her skills and knowledge, and especially enjoys learning about the medical aspect of non-pharmacologic treatments. After learning more about functional medicine and seeing the progress of the patients, Marian applied these treatments and lifestyle changes in her own life with great results such as improved sleep, eating habits, anxiety, and clearer skin. Outside of work, Mariangela loves spending time with her family and their dog, appreciating life with friends, taking photos, watching movies, and reading books while drinking a cup of coffee or matcha.
Alexis Christie
Social Media Coordinator/Administrative Assistant
Alexis Christie has been involved in the clinic from its inception. She started as our Administrative Assistant, putting her organizational and interpersonal skills to work ensuring the clinic runs smoothly. She has multiple behind the scenes activities including website design, online marketing, helping with technical issues as well as patient interactions. More recently, Alexis is increasing her responsibilities as our Social Media Coordinator, as these activities increase over time. Her background is in Communication Studies and she is applying her creative expertise of writing, speaking and organizing for Dr. Christie’s social media and marketing campaigns. Alexis has a 12 year history of leadership and community service. She most recently demonstrated her experience by leading a chapter of young women to have the highest GPA and most service hours completed out of all organizations on her university’s campus that year. This accomplishment earned recognition by her university, and she accepted awards on behalf of her sorority. Alexis enjoys seeing how the healing approach with functional and nutritional medicine is getting people better with their overall health, which directly impacts their quality of life. She has applied these principles to her own health with an improvement in eating habits, mood and energy. In her free time, Alexis enjoys spending time with her friends and family, going to the beach, and exploring the multiple things to do in the area.
Alexis Christie
Social Media Coordinator/Administrative Assistant
Alexis Christie has been involved in the clinic from its inception. She started as our Administrative Assistant, putting her organizational and interpersonal skills to work ensuring the clinic runs smoothly. She has multiple behind the scenes activities including website design, online marketing, helping with technical issues as well as patient interactions. More recently, Alexis is increasing her responsibilities as our Social Media Coordinator, as these activities increase over time. Her background is in Communication Studies and she is applying her creative expertise of writing, speaking and organizing for Dr. Christie’s social media and marketing campaigns. Alexis has a 12 year history of leadership and community service. She most recently demonstrated her experience by leading a chapter of young women to have the highest GPA and most service hours completed out of all organizations on her university’s campus that year. This accomplishment earned recognition by her university, and she accepted awards on behalf of her sorority. Alexis enjoys seeing how the healing approach with functional and nutritional medicine is getting people better with their overall health, which directly impacts their quality of life. She has applied these principles to her own health with an improvement in eating habits, mood and energy. In her free time, Alexis enjoys spending time with her friends and family, going to the beach, and exploring the multiple things to do in the area.
