Profile of a Successful Practice

After practicing family medicine, obstetrics, gynecology, and surgery in Grand Rapids since 1964, and chief of staff of Metropolitan Hospital (Grand Rapids Osteopathic Hospital) from 1969 through 1971, Dr. Grant Born developed the Born Clinic in 1982.

His father was a chiropractor, so he grew up with a natural healing philosophy, i.e., “given the right things the body can heal itself” So his primary interest in medicine was always to improve the diagnosis and treatment of the myriad of problems that beset our bodies from birth to death. As a result of this, he was an innovator in the very conservative field of medicine. He used his education and experience to share new ideas with the physicians of tomorrow, as Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Michigan State University.

How Innovation Becomes Mainstream

In 1966 Grant studied endocrinology with Dr. Herbert Kupperman, who was the world authority on hormone therapy at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York City. It was Dr. Kupperman’s belief that all women (unless there was a medical contraindication) should start estrogen therapy at menopause. He felt the therapy was preventive of osteoporosis and heart disease. At the time this was extremely controversial. Physicians who recommended estrogen therapy were severely criticized by the traditional medical community. Grant had been using estrogen replacement therapy since 1966. However, he did not just recommend hormone replacement therapy, but received an I.N.D. (experimental drug license) from the FDA to administer estrogen implants for women with hysterectomies. Only two offices in Michigan were granted that license. We reported our scientific findings on a regular basis to the FDA. Over decades of experience with the practice we saw no severe complications from the therapy, just as Dr. Kupperman taught. It took decades for estrogen treatments like this to become more widely accepted. Think of all the women that suffered needlessly that could have benefited from the therapy!

In 1974 Grant attended a seminar on colposcopy, the examination of the cervix and vagina with a microscope for cancer and precancerous conditions. The technique was used exclusively to examine women with abnormal pap smears. Here was a marvelous technique, by which one could see the cancers directly, that we were so blindly searching for with pap smears. The cost of the procedure at that time was $250. It was estimated that pap smears miss between 40-60% of significant lesions and this instrument was being used only for the positive pap smears! It was Grant’s feeling that it should be used on all women, along with the pap smear at no additional charge to the patient. This developed into a long term study with over 30,000 images of the cervix, and over 2000 lesions found that were missed by the pap smear. Colposcopies are now standard practice in the medical community—when we were doing it in 1974 they called it quackery!

The hospital procedure of cold knife conization for cervical lesions was so brutal and plagued with complications, that in 1976 Grant was studied in Co2 laser surgery, then in its infancy. He became involved with Coherent Radiation, the world’s largest manufacturer of Co2 lasers, and was placed on the medical advisory board of one of their marketing companies used to help develop the laser for office practice. Subsequently, he was one of the first physicians in the United States doing gynecology, proctology and dermatology with the Co2 laser. The results with laser surgery as far as scarring, ease of out patient surgery, bleeding, etc., were so superior that he started lecturing, and teaching physicians the techniques he had developed. In Grand Rapids it was considered controversial. However, after several years, major institutions began advertising “the gentle surgery” and developed departments to do laser surgery of all types. Co2 lasers are still used today!

The Wake Up Call

In 1982 Grant felt he received a “wake up” call from God when he suddenly went into congestive heart failure. After having six bypass surgeries at the Mayo clinic, he became worse, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, and was advised to get on a heart transplant list as he would not live long. At that time one of his patient’s had brought into his office a book on Chelation Therapy. This is an IV solution that could seemingly open partially obstructed arteries, and remove toxic substances from the body. It sounded too good to be true, but Grant sent his patient for treatment and the patient was cured. Grant started using chelation for himself and his symptoms subsided. “Chelation is like a miracle” he said. “Bypasses were prevented, amputations were prevented, strokes were prevented and health was restored to people with very grave outlooks.”

Today we hear about the toxic health effects of lead, aluminum, arsenic, mercury, and heavy metal poisoning from our environment. We find these on a daily basis as the cause of many health problems. We can remove these toxins from the body by chelation (with EDTA). While still considered somewhat controversial, it’s no where near as controversial as it was when we started the practice. In fact, the therapy is now fairly common all around the country among integrative health care institutions.

After discovering Chelation, Dr. Born and his wife Dr. Tammy Born became even more dedicated to rapidly emerging medical technology to test functions and find the cause of illness instead of just treating the symptoms which are the result of an underlying, usually progressive process. We can now check your vitamin and mineral status scientifically. We can now find hidden food sensitivities, malabsorption problems and chronic fatigue problems, scientifically. We can now look through the window of your immune system and know what to do to stimulate it. Why wait until you get cancer, heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, stroke, etc. If we can find a process not working right in your body we can usually correct or improve it.

Dr. Grant Born lived for another 16 happy, healthy and productive years after being given his grim prognosis—thanks in large part to his commitment to preventive care (and chelation). It’s impossible to say how many lives he improved around the world with his innovative approach to health care and the practices he pioneered. In the end, those that knew him were unsurprised by the cause of his death: cardiomyopathy. Or put another way, his heart was too big.

A Legacy of Excellence & Innovation

After Grant passed, Dr. Tammy Born took over management of the Born Clinic. She remains steadfast in her commitment to the values, she and Grant pioneered all those years. Under her leadership, Born Clinic continues to defy the notion of a “one-size-fits-all” model of medicine by integrating evidence-based medical practices and innovative therapies with individualized treatment plans to ensure every patient has the ability to reach their full health potential.

Tammy is also a proud public servant whose expertise has been trusted by many of the nation’s leaders. In 1994, Governor John Engler appointed her to the Michigan Board of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, where she served as President from 1999 to 2001. She later received two appointments from President George W. Bush and former Secretary of Department of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson. Most recently, she accepted a 2018 appointment to the National Advisory Council for Complementary and Integrative Health from Secretary of Human Services, Alex M. Azar II.

Today, Born Clinic is an internationally respected integrative health care clinic serving nearly 10,000 patients annually. We remain committed to living on the leading of edge of medical science. If you’re interested in learning more about what we can do for you, please call the clinic at (616) 656-3700 to schedule an appointment.