Jennifer Engels, MD

By David Buice

Growing up in Houston, some of Dr. Jennifer Engels’s first childhood memories are those of wanting to help others. These feelings were reinforced by exciting instruction in biology from her fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Baker, and a microscope she received for Christmas. Her fascination with that instrument quickly led her surgeon father to conclude that she was the one of his four children most likely to become a physician. His instincts proved correct.

Trained as a Radiologist

Following graduation from Emory University, where she played on the tennis team while pursuing a demanding pre-med curriculum, she attended medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Next came an Internal Medicine internship at Dallas Presbyterian Hospital and then a residency in Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical School, followed by a one-year fellowship in Women’s Imaging at UTSW.

Her medical training was followed by practice in diagnostic radiology, with an emphasis on breast cancer prevention at Baylor Medical Center in Garland, UT Southwestern, and the Cooper Clinic.

While she enjoyed her radiology practice, over time she realized her greatest passion was for disease prevention rather than diagnosing diseases that were already terminal in some cases.

More Training and a Book

This new awareness led to more extensive medical training, a degree in nutrition and health coaching from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, Lifestyle Medicine certification from Duke University, and additional training from the Institute of Functional Medicine.

Amazingly, Dr. Engels also found time to co-author a book with several of her colleagues. Entitled Ultimate Health, it helps readers understand why food is medicine while also emphasizing the importance of spirituality and having a positive emotional outlook.

East and West Meet

Dr. Engels has had a life-long love of tennis, and various tennis-related injuries led her to seek acupuncture treatment from Dr. Xie Yin at Yin’s Clinic in Frisco. Over the years, their mutual interest in the practice of holistic medicine gradually grew into a friendship that led Dr. Yin to propose the establishment of a collaborative practice in November 2019.

Dr. Engels accepted the proposal, which led to the creation of one of the first and quite possibly the only East-West medical clinic in the DFW area.

Dr. Engels established WeCare Integrative Medicine in June 2020, while Dr. Yin continued to operate Yin’s Clinic, specializing in acupuncture treatment. The two practices share office space, and while each doctor sees her own patients, they sometimes combine treatment for patients desiring both Eastern and Western therapies.

Treatment at WeCare Integrative Medicine

At WeCare, the emphasis is on disease prevention. Services offered include:

Functional medicine and specialty lab testing
Regenerative medicine treatments to stimulate the body’s healing mechanisms
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy using the advanced EvexiPEL approach
Physician supervised detoxification and weight loss programs

Summing up her medical experiences and her practice at WeCare Integrative Medicine, Dr. Engels says, “I love spending time with my patients. I want them to be proactive in their health choices, and with my help, make lasting changes in their lives.”