The functional medicine doctor will arrive in West Palm Beach next month with a simple premise for a complex system: stop treating bodies only after they break
When Dr. Mark Hyman takes the stage at this year’s Eudēmonia Summit in West Palm Beach next month, he’ll be addressing a problem that’s haunted him for decades: a healthcare system that waits for people to get sick before it acts.
As a longtime family physician and leader in functional medicine, Dr. Hyman has seen firsthand how powerful personalized, data-driven care can be, and how often traditional medicine intervenes too late.
“The U.S. healthcare system is built to be reactive, not proactive,” he told Athletech News. “That means we’re missing critical opportunities for prevention and early detection.”
He points to the human cost behind the numbers, where over 75% of Americans have at least one chronic condition, and in 2024 alone, more than 134,000 cancer cases went undiagnosed. Dr. Hyman isn’t a problem-solver so much as a problem-preventer, a doctor trying to catch disease in the silence before it speaks.
“Those numbers aren’t just statistics; they represent real people,” he said, a position that defines both his thesis and his company, Function Health. The barrier, as he points out, is access.
“Proactive health has long been positioned as a luxury or an afterthought,” he said. “That needs to change — and it’s exactly why we built Function: to make advanced diagnostics both accessible and actionable for everyone.”
The platform, which he co-founded, offers an annual $499 membership that bundles more than 100 lab tests with clinician insights and access to advanced imaging.
“Everyone deserves the right to know what is happening in their body,” Dr. Hyman said.
credit: Eudēmonia Summit
A ‘Cultural Shift Toward Proactive Health’
Next month, Dr. Hyman takes his argument to the Eudēmonia Summit in West Palm Beach, a three-day convergence on prevention, performance, mental health and longevity. The event runs November 13–16 across the Palm Beach County Convention Center and Hilton West Palm Beach, with headliners including Andrew Huberman and Dr. Hyman joined by Halle Berry, William Li, Amy Shah, Andy Galpin, Will Cole and more than 130 speakers.
While he’ll be joined by other high-profile names, the summit represents what Dr. Hyman believes is the tide finally turning.
“We’re seeing a cultural shift toward proactive health — people are starting to realize that waiting for symptoms isn’t a strategy,” he said. “Consumers are no longer waiting for symptoms to arise — they’re demanding tools to stay ahead of potential risks.”
That mindset fueled Function’s new standalone Heart & Lungs CT Scan, a $349 offering. The launch followed Function’s acquisition of Ezra, an AI imaging startup. Other advanced scans are also available, including MRI Scans ($499), MRI Scans with Spine ($1,499) and MRI Scans with Skeletal & Neurological Assessment ($3,999).
“Most people assume they’re ‘fine’ until they’re not,” Dr. Hyman said. “That gap in awareness is proving to be deadly, especially among younger adults.”
The scan requires no membership, referral or insurance and delivers results within 7 to 10 days.
“Function’s approach is designed to provide meaningful insights without unnecessary over-testing,” Dr. Hyman explained. “By creating a longitudinal health record, patients can track changes year over year, identifying risk before symptoms appear.”
A New Wave in Telehealth
Function’s mission has drawn investor attention. Launched in 2023, Function raised $53 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from several celebrities including Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal and Kevin Hart. The investor momentum reflects a widely held belief that technology can fill the essential gaps that traditional medicine leaves behind. To Dr. Hyman, AI isn’t just the future, but the fix.
“AI is completely changing how we think about care,” Dr. Hyman said. “It’s helping us move from a reactive system — treating people after they’re already sick — to something much more proactive.”
Function uses AI to analyze complex biomarker data and detect patterns that might escape even the most seasoned clinician, Dr. Hyman explained. The goal, he said, is to help people spot issues early and make changes before problems escalate.
That’s especially critical for women, a group Dr. Hyman notes has long been underserved by traditional medicine and has been 66% more likely to be misdiagnosed than men.
“There is a systemic gap in women’s health,” he said. “For decades, medical research has centered on the male body as the ‘default,’ leaving women underdiagnosed, undertreated and misunderstood.”
Through Function’s more than 100 biomarker tests, the platform gives women more precise data on hormones, fertility, inflammation and heart health.
“Women’s health isn’t a single chapter; it’s an evolving story,” Dr. Hyman said. “Function helps bridge those gaps by empowering women to take control and truly understand what’s happening in their bodies.”
As for what comes next, Dr. Hyman said the future lies in integration — connecting labs, imaging, genetics and lifestyle data into one picture.
“The combination of technology, accessibility and personalization has the potential to completely reshape healthcare as we know it,” he said. “We’re just at the beginning of that transformation.”
