Functional Medicine Consultants
Stephanie Harrington MS, CNS, LDN
Stephanie works exclusively with adults, and her expertise sits squarely at the intersection of gut health and hormones- the two systems that drive most of what patients are actually struggling with, and the two that rarely get treated together.
On the gut side, she takes on chronic disorders including IBS, SIBO, IBD, parasites, and fungal overgrowth. On the hormonal side, she works through PCOS, fibroids, endometriosis, and the full arc of perimenopause and menopause. Because these two systems drive one another, she treats them as one case rather than two - which is also why chronic skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, acne, and hair loss so often resolve as part of the work.
Education: Stephanie holds a Master of Science in Nutrition from the National University of Natural Medicine and a bachelor's in psychology from the University of Rhode Island. Her advanced training maps directly onto both specialties: she is SIBO-certified through Dr. Nirala Jacobi on the gut side, and certified through The Menopause Society and in Dr. Aviva Romm's Women's Integrative & Functional Medicine Professional Certification on the hormone side. She has also completed Katie's six-month intensive mentorship at GHT Academy.
In Practice: Stephanie listens harder than most. She'll catch the pattern in what you're describing before you finish the sentence - which is exactly why she does her best work with patients who have cycled through practitioner after practitioner and still walked out feeling unheard.
Ayla Heppding MS, CNS, LDN
Ayla is the only practitioner at GHT who sees patients of every age, which means she often ends up treating an entire household - a mother working through preconception or postpartum, and the child sitting next to her.
Her clinical focus runs across four areas that rarely stay separate for long. Gut health and microbiome restoration - SIBO, candida, parasites, and dysbiosis. Hormones and reproductive health - preconception through postpartum, hypothyroidism, menopause, and metabolic health in both men and women. Toxic burden - the mold, heavy metal, and environmental exposures that quietly drive symptoms nobody can otherwise explain, and which she works to identify and clear before chasing anything downstream. And pediatric nutrition, where the same functional principles apply on a smaller, gentler scale. It's also why she's comfortable with the cases that resist easy answers: connective tissue disorders, MCAS, and chronic fatigue.
Education: Ayla holds a Master's in Human Clinical Nutrition and Integrative Health from Maryland University of Integrative Health and a bachelor's in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. She began her career interning and then assisting Katie directly, before going on to treat hundreds of functional medicine patients at one of the largest functional and integrative health clinics in the DC area.
In Practice: Ayla believes you know your body better than any practitioner ever will, and she practices like it. She leads with food and lifestyle, pulls in functional testing and supplements only when the data earns it, and parents especially appreciate how she is with their kids: calm, thorough, never alarmist.