OUR
STORY
Conventional medicine often underemphasizes the potential for natural self-healing through a rebalanced lifestyle.
After years of focusing on late-stage treatment in inpatient hospitals, emergency rooms, and urgent cares, we had a growing desire to shift our attention to preventative care.
We now focus on prevention by addressing underlying imbalances & stresses, nutrition, lifestyles, and habits. Our goal is to work holistically with our patients to reverse their illnesses and achieve their best states of health. We incorporate medications in our practice as needed but are careful not to over-rely on them.
YOUR PROVIDERS
SALMA HAQUE, MD
Dr. Haque is board certified in Internal Medicine and has been practicing in the DC/Virginia area for the past 20 years. She values her relationships with patients and loves to learn their stories. Her interest is in preventative medicine, with an integrative approach that appreciates the underlying causes of your illness and applies an encompassing treatment plan.
Dr. Haque is particularly interested in the mind/body connection, and the potential for anti-inflammatory nutrition to treat diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and musculoskeletal inflammation and injuries, and gastrointestinal health. Her goal is to address the underlying causes of your illness, develop healthy lifestyle approaches and therapies, and minimize the need for prescription drugs wherever possible.
Dr. Haque received her Medical Degree from LSU Health Sciences Center and then completed her residency training in Internal Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital-Medstar Washington Hospital Center. Prior to that, she obtained a Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Dr. Haque has served as an Assistant Professor for George Washington University School of Medicine in the Clinical Apprenticeship Program and loves teaching students. Her past research has been in oxidative stress, vascular neoprolifteration, and prostaglandin expression at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, as well as the properties of aortic compliance with the Framingham Heart Study at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School.
She participates in advanced courses for practitioners through the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. She has also trained under Dr. Nirali Jacobi in functional digestive health and SIBO mastery, Dr. Steven Sandberg-Lewis in functional gastrointestinal kinesiology, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and visceral manipulation therapy for ileocecal valve syndrome and reduction of hiatal hernia. Dr. Haque has completed additional training in Integrative Strategies and Protocols for Liver and Gallbladder Diseases under Dr. Kievan Jinnah and Dr. Steven Sandberg-Lewis.
She has also completed training in Endocrine Balance and Bioidentical Hormone Restoration from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, hormone therapy courses through the Hormonal Health Institute, DUTCH Hormone Education: Introduction to Hormone Replacement Therapy, Mastering Functional Hormone Testing, & Perimenopause Management.
Personal:
I grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana – a college town with lots of southern charm – LSU, eating fresh sugar cane, pecan pies, delicious Cajun food, crawfish boils. I was the middle of 5 kids and painfully shy, but also a tomboy and loved exploring outdoors.
In college I majored in Chemical Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology – I chose this major partly as a challenge and partly to find out what it really was that my dad did. 3 years later I graduated with a 4.0 in the major, and entered medical school very unprepared for a completely different world of education.
Medical school is a time when you spend every hour outside of class studying. I can’t count the number of times I woke up in the morning having fallen asleep at my desk. Anatomy and cutting cadavers starts in the first week of school. Your skin always smells like formaldehyde. It’s hard to know what field is your calling, but I loved problem solving – taking a good history and figuring out what went off path and why. So I stayed general and went into internal medicine.
Residency is another interesting time in life. 3 or 4 pagers hanging on my scrubs, triaging the whole hospital for the ICU, running codes, placing lines, and finally learning to competently read EKGs. “See one, do one, teach one” – if you are a patient, you don’t want to know the meaning of this. The hospital was always full, patients were very sick, and we were burned out – this was before the new work hour limits were enforced. Hospital politics behind the scenes affected the safety of patients. When I finished training, I knew I didn’t want to practice in this setting. I went fully outpatient and started working in urgent care. It was shift work, fast paced, and I ran into the same issues of business run “numbers” determining too much of medical care. I didn’t find a different option, so I continued on. At this point, Rachel and I had become good friends. I found in her a treasured companionship – and someone who shared my values, goals, and frustrations. When she suggested we exit what we had lost faith in and think bigger, I had come to a point where this seemed the only path forward. We both had a desire to make a difference in our patients that would change their trajectory beyond what a one short visit or a bandaid prescription could offer.
NVH Primary Care was born and grew organically into what it is today. I can honestly say I love my job, we love our patients, care genuinely about their wellbeing, and have never stopped learning since.
RACHEL SHELTON, NP-C
As a Nurse Practitioner, Rachel evaluates the whole person both physically and emotionally. She focuses on providing comprehensive care by understanding the individual and the causes of their illness, not just treating their symptoms. She educates her patients with wellness and prevention strategies to help them feel their best as well as provide safe and effective care. Rachel collaborates with each patient to provide a personalized plan to maintain or achieve optimal health through lifestyle modifications, nutrition, mental health strategies and exercise. She believes in building meaningful relationships with each patient through listening, and respecting every individual.
Rachel is a native of Arlington, Virginia. She obtained her BSN from George Mason University in 2001. She worked as an Emergency Department Nurse at Virginia Hospital Center for eight years before returning to George Mason University for her MSN in Nursing Education. She worked as an Emergency Department Clinical Nurse Educator as well as an adjunct faculty member, teaching second degree nursing students at Marymount University. She continued her education at Marymount University to obtain her Post Master’s Certificate, Family Nurse Practitioner. Since becoming a Family Nurse Practitioner in 2012, she has worked in the urgent care setting caring for patients of all ages. Rachel has experience in urgent care, telemedicine, and primary care within the urgent care setting and is a trained wellness coach.
Personal:
After working alongside one another for the past 10 years, Dr. Haque and Rachel developed a professional and personal relationship through their shared beliefs and philosophy for practicing medicine as well as a deep commitment to compassionate care for their patients.
These common priciples resulted in a shared vision and mission for the goals and values of Northern Virginia Holistic Primary Care.
WE TALK ABOUT WHY WE STARTED
NVH PRIMARY CARE
(3 MIN)
OUR CORE VALUES
- Treat our patients with the love and concern we would want for ourselves.
- Listen. The answers usually come from patients' own stories.
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Give our patients appropriate time during visits.
- Grow with our patients. We are open and always learning.