Enrollment for the ADAPT Functional Medicine Practitioner Training Program Opens May 12, 2023 Learn more

Meet the Faculty

Chris Kresser

Chris Kresser MS, LAc

Creator and Executive Director

Chris Kresser M.S., L.Ac is the co-director of the California Center for Functional Medicine, founder of Kresser Institute, creator of ChrisKresser.com, and the New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Cure and Unconventional Medicine. He is one of the most respected clinicians and educators in the fields of Functional Medicine and ancestral health and has trained over 1,500 clinicians and health coaches in his unique approach. Chris was named one of the 100 most influential people in health and fitness by Greatist.com and has appeared as a featured guest on Dr. Oz, Fox & Friends, and in other national media outlets.


Tracey O’Shea

Tracey O’Shea, MSN, FNP-C, IFMCP

ADAPT Practitioner Training Program Director

Tracey O’Shea is a licensed Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-C) who graduated from Samuel Merritt University with a Master’s degree in Nursing. She became board certified through the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and was first introduced to Functional Medicine in 2013 when she knew there had to be another way to help patients reach their long-term health goals. She is the Director of the Kresser Institute ADAPT Practitioner Training and Certification Program and is Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner through the Kresser Institute and IFM.

Tracey chose to become a nurse practitioner because it provided her the opportunity to help patients gain control of their health and become active participants in life. Seeing people enjoy every aspect of their health is very fulfilling.

Tracey trained closely with and was mentored by Chris for many years. She has worked at the California Center for Functional Medicine, offering patients a personalized and comprehensive treatment approach to chronic illness, since 2016.

While she has experience managing a variety of chronic health conditions, she has particular experience with and training in:

  • Digestive problems and food intolerances
  • Low immune function, allergies, asthma
  • Heavy metal toxicity/detoxification
  • Mycotoxin and mold illness/Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS)
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • Hormone imbalances and Bioidentical Hormone Replacement (BHRT) therapy (HPA axis, adrenal, thyroid, sex hormones, etc.)
  • Metabolic problems (weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, etc.)
  • High cholesterol and cardiovascular disease
  • Fatigue, low energy, and poor sleep
  • Cognitive and neurological disorders
  • Any of the above conditions and neurodevelopmental disorders like ASD and ADHD in the pediatric population

Tracey enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, and boxer. They enjoy hiking, camping in their travel trailer, outdoor patio gatherings, wine tasting, visiting restaurants, and spending time with friends.


Lindsay Christensen, MS, CNS, LDN, A-CFHC

With a B.S. in Biomedical Science and an M.S. in Human Nutrition, Lindsay has been working in the functional medicine space for over four years. After completing a 1000-hour nutrition internship and fulfilling the rigorous requirements of the Board for Certification of Nutrition Specialists (BCNS), Lindsay also earned her Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) credential. This credential can only be attained by Masters or doctoral-level health professionals from regionally-accredited universities who have demonstrated expertise and experience in clinical nutrition.

Lindsay has worked as a research assistant and writer at Chris Kresser, LLC for over four years creating content and contributing guest articles to chriskresser.com. She also works as a technical writer for a prominent nutraceutical company in the functional medicine space. Her love of research and writing informs her evidence-based nutrition practice. In the spring of 2020, she joined the faculty at the Kresser Institute’s ADAPT Health Coach Training Program, where she enjoys guiding students through the functional health content within the program.

Lindsay loves translating nutrition science into personalized, realistic nutrition and meal plans for her clients. Her areas of interest include gut health, cognitive function, and complex chronic illnesses, including Lyme disease and mold illness. In 2019, she published a book specifically on the topic of nutrition for Lyme disease recovery titled, The Lyme Disease 30-Day Meal Plan: Healthy Recipes and Lifestyle Tips to Ease Symptoms.

Fun Fact: Lindsay’s “happy place” is out in the wilderness, where she enjoys rock climbing, backcountry skiing, alpine skiing, backpacking, and trail running.


Robert Biswas-Diener

Robert Biswas-Diener, PhD

Robert is the foremost authority on positive psychology coaching and has consulted with a wide range of international organizations on performance management and talent development.

He conducts trainings on coaching, strengths, positivity, courage, and appreciative inquiry with organizations and businesses around the world and through his own coaching school, Positive Acorn. Robert has trained professionals in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America, and the Middle East. He has a doctorate in social psychology and a master’s degree in clinical psychology and is an ICF Professional Certified Coach. He is the author of Practicing Positive Psychology Coaching, The Courage Quotient, and The Upside of Your Dark Side, among other books.


John Kinyon

John Kinyon, MS

John is on a mission to help people learn communication and conflict resolution skills that create empathy, compassion, and collaboration. For more than two decades, John has mediated conflicts in a wide range of contexts, including families, businesses, and organizations.

A certified trainer of the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) since 2000, he’s the co-creator of the international Mediate Your Life (MYL) training program, which draws on the international work of Compassionate Communication (Nonviolent Communication/NVC) with mindfulness and a mediation framework.

A seasoned speaker, trainer, and coach, he’s the author of several books, including When Your Mind Sabotages Your Dreams: Turning Your Critical Internal Voices into Collaborative Allies. He studied clinical psychology at Penn State University, and during his five years of doctoral study, he worked as a psychotherapist with individuals and groups and as a research assistant at the Stress and Anxiety Disorders Institute. John lives with his wife and children in the San Francisco Bay Area.


Forest Fein

Forest Fein, MA

Forest is the Founder + Director of Wise Up: Greater Wisdom + Wellbeing for All, a non-profit offering innovative mindfulness-based, science-backed trainings to the underserved, organizations and corporations. He is also the Head of Mindfulness Programs for Teens + Young Adults at UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.

Through community partnerships, Forest designs and teaches mindfulness-based wellness programs that incorporate yoga, social and emotional intelligence and positive psychology to support at-risk and homeless youth and the people who serve them to experience greater resiliency, health and well-being. As of 2019 Wise Up programs have touched the lives of over 3500 underserved youth and staff. All of his work is rooted in teachings and practices that support compassionate awareness of and care for oneself, one another and our world. Forest has been practicing mindfulness since 1999.


Kerry Evers

Kerry Evers, PhD

Kerry is Co-President and CEO of Pro-Change Behavior Systems, Inc., a research and development company on a mission to disseminate evidence-based behavior change solutions to maximize health and well-being.

In July 2011, Kerry was named one of Rhode Island’s top businesspeople in the annual “40 Under Forty” feature in Providence Business News based on her career success and community involvement. She has close to 40 publications and has been invited to speak at close to 100 meetings and conferences in the United States and around the world.

She obtained Pro-Change’s first SBIR funding from NIH in 1998 and has been integral in the awarding and implementation of many of Pro-Change’s corporate contracts. She is currently the Principal Investigator on $2.5 million of SBIR contracts with the National Institutes of Health. She received her PhD from the University of Rhode Island, where she is now adjunct faculty. She is actively involved in a variety of professional societies and several boards of local nonprofits.


Ken Kraybill

Ken Kraybill, MSW

Ken has worked in health, behavioral health, and homelessness/housing for over 30 years. He is a Senior Associate at the Center for Social Innovation and Director of Training for t3 (think. teach. transform.).

Drawing on his direct service and supervisory experience, Ken has developed various curricula in best practices. He provides onsite and online training nationally on motivational interviewing, supervision, outreach and engagement, tenancy support, trauma-informed care, and renewal for care providers. Ken earned his master’s degree at the University of Washington in Seattle and his undergraduate degree from Goshen College in Indiana.


Keith Rhys

Keith Rhys

For more than 30 years, Keith has helped natural health and wellness companies and entrepreneurs find their unique message, attract their passionate audience, and create lasting authority, impact, and income.

As a former health products marketing VP, content marketing expert, and strategic advisor, Keith has helped health practitioners, wellness authors, supplement formulators, and some of the biggest alternative wellness companies in the world break through the noise and get noticed.

Keith has shown his clients how to go from nonexistent to #1 on Google for meaningful keywords in under six months and grow their lists from 5,000 to 100,000 in under a year. In addition to producing multiple New York Times best-selling health authors, he has helped health practitioners launch digital products that produce 200 percent more income annually than they make from seeing patients.

Keith now works exclusively with current and future thought leaders in health and wellness through private consulting and via his online guided course, Evergreen Authority. He teaches you how to build an audience and attract clients, patients, and followers without becoming a full-time marketer, without putting your practice on the back burner, and without sacrificing your purpose and authenticity.


Mary Beth McGavran

Mary Beth McGavran, PhD

Mary Beth Diener McGavran, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kentucky and serves as the Associate Director of Clinical Training.

Her work focuses on clinical training with graduate students in clinical psychology, and she also enjoys working on an interprofessional team to facilitate service learning with medical and allied health students. Since 2014 she has been a mental health specialist doing pro bono work with people who are refugees at the Survivors of Torture Recovery Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. McGavran graduated from Grinnell College with Phi Beta Kappa honors and earned her PhD at the University of Kentucky in 1999. She grew up in Illinois.