Shel Di Montagna

Dr. Shel di Montagna, DAOM, KICP, LAc, is a Clinical Doctor of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, and an integrative health expert who specializes in creating sustainable health strategies that bridge ancient wisdom and modern science. Licensed in pediatric, adult, and cosmetic acupuncture, she serves the Greater San Francisco Bay Area from Jade Rivers Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine in San Carlos, California. Through a unique synergy of expertise in sports medicine, functional medicine, holistic esthetics, and lymphatic therapy, she offers transformative, customized programs to help patients achieve higher standards in health, fitness, beauty, and mind.

From Teacher to Doctor:

As an accomplished former educator and special needs advocate, Dr. Shel’s unique approach to healthcare is deeply enriched by her early degrees in Social Psychology, Early Childhood Education, and Community Health Science. For more than a decade, her work as “Teacher Shel” documented the profound benefits of inclusive classrooms, celebrating diverse family structures, abilities, and cultures as irreplaceable influences for cultivating emotionally intelligent, compassionate, and confident young children and future teachers. During the unfolding anti-bias movement, she pioneered child-centered holistic development curricula through innovative early literacy story-building, garden-to-table nutrition events, and interactive “early science entertainment” programs.

The holistic, patient-centered nature of Dr. Shel’s clinical practice today is built firmly upon these classroom foundations. While pursuing her master’s and doctoral medical degrees over the following decade, her rigorous schedule transitioned her from the classroom to working as a Family Resource Specialist for local families, schools, and nanny recruitment agencies. In this role, she supported families in finding renewed hope, innovative focus, and emotional reprieve. She designed customized home-learning educational games to target unmet developmental milestones and bridge neurodivergent talents towards classroom expectations. She enchanted picky or undernourished eaters to broaden their pallets through fun, therapeutic cooking and kitchen empowerment, and helped reorganize family efforts with fresh insight to navigate difficult transitions into the new school year.

A Holistic, Client-Centered Practice:

Much like her time in education, Dr. Shel continues to inspire, educate, and empower individuals of all ages. She brings an experienced, caring ear, a personalized approach, and a resourceful toolbox of skills derived from a global education. After completing an extensive four-year clinical acupuncture doctorate, Dr. Shel pursued advanced post-doctoral studies in sports medicine, cosmetic and Japanese acupuncture, pediatrics, integrative neurology, advanced acupuncture orthopedics, H.A.N.D.L.E. (Anthroposophic Holistic Neurodiversity Learning Strategies), European holistic esthetics and lymphatic therapies (MLD).

As integrative internal medicine evolved, so did Dr. Shel’s educational pursuits. This led her to specialize in advanced lab analysis, personalized supplementation programs, and functional nutrition food plans through extensive training at The Institute for Functional Medicine and The Kalish Institute of Functional Medicine. As a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, she passionately collaborates with families and colleagues globally, offering lifestyle health education that empowers communities toward wellness.

Since 2023, she has proudly led “The StressCase Study,” a six-month educational program rooted in the foundations of functional medicine. This program provides coaching for families experiencing pain, premature aging, weight gain, hormone shifts and mental-emotional burnout from the stressors of modern life. Participants learn to understand their health through personal lab data, discover tailored dietary choices and supplements, and cultivate the systems-based skills necessary to independently sustain higher standards of well-being.

Driven by a lifelong insatiable awe of the natural sciences and human experience therewithin, Dr. Shel has gathered a rich alchemy of resources over decades of collaboration with families, students, patients, and mentors.

It is her passion, privilege, and purpose to steward these resources back into the community in their honor.