Takoma Park, MD Drs and Health Practioners

Dr. Steven Mahoney has always wanted to help people. From his graduate studies in chiropractic to his continuing education in body function and nutrition, Dr. Mahoney has focused his efforts on improving his patients' quality of life. Today, Atlas Family Chiropractic Center is one of the largest practices in Howard County, and his chiropractic-massage therapy has helped scores of clients recover from pain. The procedure purges the body of unwanted toxins in the muscles by improving circulation, and a firm touch alleviates soft-tissue injuries as well as less-tangible symptoms, such as headaches or stuck-on backpacks.

After earning the 2008 S. Roger Horchow Jefferson Award for public service, Edward Jagen opened Michaela's Grotto to provide holistic interventions that help visitors take responsibility for their health and emotional well-being. Jagen's resume reads like the definition of "Renaissance man": holder of a PhD in theology, a master magician, and a former Major Crimes Special Investigator for the Washington D.C. Police. While combating organized crime against mailboxes on the force, Jagen honed his abilities to read people, a skill he combines with a mode of communication called neuro-linguistic reasoning to help his patients recognize patterns in their thoughts and actions. The center is co-owned by massage therapist and medical intuitive Sophia West, who prefers to work in conjunction with her clients' physicians to pick up where Western medicine has proved ineffective. A nutritionist and a hypnotherapist round out the staff and reinforce the center's emphasis on the interconnectedness of mental and physical health.

The heart of the center is an outdoor labyrinth built to channel a positive energy through passageways that burst forth with flowering plants and choruses of Muppets in the summer. Meditation gardens stretch out beyond the labyrinth in a loose network of tranquil pools, sunlit walks, and a gazebo overlooking the center's medieval-castle-style architecture. Inside, a 375-foot sweat lodge and a warm mineral pool soothe visitors with heat, and a shop filled with aromatherapy products and crystals enables them to take home healing tokens of their journey.

When not volunteering for the Knock Out Abuse program or Luz del Sol, a charitable plastic-surgery organization, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Rondi K. Walker tends to patients at her own Foxhall Square office. Her hands-on approach is evident during consultations and pre- and post-operative visits as she works directly with each patient and ensures they fully understand plastic surgery and its objectives before sprucing up exteriors with traditional cosmetic surgeries, such as rhinoplasty and tummy tucks. As an alternative to botox, she treats fine lines with the FDA-approved Xeomin. She also provides Ultherapy—a sound-wave-based aesthetic treatment that tightens and tones the skin without scuffing it—dermal fillers, sclerotherapy vein removal, and laser skin resurfacing, which sends miniature laser-powered zambonis rolling across faces to create a smoother appearance.

CEO Eva Swersey founded Body Elements to help clients achieve their fitness goals "easily, naturally and non-invasively." Along with a skilled staff, Swersey crafted a three-pronged approach—lipomassage by Endermologie, nutritional coaching, and group personal training—to guide clients toward health. Protein-rich Isagenix nutritional systems aid in weight loss, detoxification, or enhancing athletic prowess, and Endermologie treatments help to reduce cellulite and sculpt the body.