Dr. Shayla Toombs-Withers

Dr. Shayla Toombs-Withers grew up in Atlanta, GA.  She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN in 2003 where she earned a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Dr. Toombs-Withers earned a Doctorate Degree in Osteopathic Medicine from the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine located on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA in 2007. After completing her formal medical education, she continued her medical training at the University of Cincinnati, The Christ Hospital.  She was board certified in Family Medicine in 2010.

Over the next 3 years, Dr. Toombs-Withers served as Adjunct Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine with the University of Cincinnati Family Medicine Residency Program and she worked as a Family Physician for a federally qualified health center caring for underserved populations in the Cincinnati area. In 2013 Dr. Toombs-Withers was named as the Medical Director for the All Care Health Center in Council  Bluffs, IA where she continued to practice family medicine and supervised a staff of physicians and nurse practitioners.

Dr. Toombs-Withers moved to Chattanooga, TN in 2015 and became a Family Medicine Physician in the UT/Erlanger Primary Care Medical Group at the Pineville Road office.  She earned a certification in Plant Based Nutrition in 2016 and was board certified in Obesity Medicine in 2018.

She founded the Essence of Health Wellness Clinic in Chattanooga, TN in 2019 so that she could combine her deep knowledge of medicine, plant-based nutrition, and athletic training to provide comprehensive primary care to her patients using a Direct Primary Care Model. Having practiced a plant based-diet for over 15 years and over the past 4 years, a vegan diet,  Dr. Shayla Toombs-Withers has strived to incorporate her lifestyle into educating her patients in how to improve and overcome their chronic diseases. Her basis for health are in line with two of her favorite quotes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and “let food be thy medicine.”

Dr. Toombs-Withers see patients of all ages.