Owner and Medical Director
Beginning of the Journey
Dr. James Howton completed his residency in Family Medicine in 1996 and practiced emergency medicine in Oklahoma until moving to Estes Park, Colorado, where he purchased and developed a clinic that continues to this day. During his tenure in Estes Park, he cared for whole families from “cradle to grave.” The scope of his practice ranged from delivering babies to caring for the needs of the elderly in the nursing home, and, as he describes it, “everything in between.” During his time in Estes Park, he brought a number of innovative services to the community, including the following:
- First Urgent Care in the community
- First bone density scanner in the community
- First in-office cardiac stress testing
- First in-office endoscopy
- First in-office infusion therapy with biologics for autoimmune disorders
As the practice grew, he recruited other physicians and mid-level providers, most of whom continue to serve the community.
Becoming Disillusioned with Traditional Medicine
Over time, Dr. Howton became dissatisfied with the direction that conventional medicine was headed. He found that he had less time with his patients and that treatments were being decided upon based on the approval and/or interests of insurance and pharmaceutical companies, rather than what was truly the best patient care. He also had begun to embrace Functional Medicine, which emphasized spending more time with patients and adopting a “root cause” approach to solving medical problems. His new way of practicing medicine further placed him at odds with a system focused on disease management and treatment of symptoms. Even as the owner of the practice, he found it difficult to practice this new Functional Medicine within the established traditional model, culminating in his decision to sell his practice to a regional hospital and to start a new practice designed from the ground up to best serve the needs of patients.
Restore Health Center
Dr. Howton appreciates and embraces the strengths and positive aspects of conventional medicine. Furthermore, he encourages his patients to maintain their relationship with their traditional physician and to use them for acute care or other services not offered at Restore. Dr. Howton designed Restore Health Center to focus on issues currently not well addressed by a traditional medical model and to be able to emphasize health optimization rather than disease care. His diverse background in conventional medicine combined with his passion for and expertise in Functional Medicine make him uniquely qualified to help those not finding good answers in traditional medicine. Beyond addressing dysfunction, Restore Health center offers their clients that are already enjoying good health cutting-edge modalities to continue improving and optimizing their health.
Dr. Howton’s Areas of Special Interest / Expertise
- Bioidentical hormones, which he has used since the mid-1990s
- Adrenal dysfunction, including adrenal fatigue
- Thyroid optimization, including optimizing T3 and reverse T3 ratios
- Autoimmune disorders, such as Hashimoto’s, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, and ulcerative colitis
- Regenerative medicine, including the use of autologous stem cells for the treatment of a number of conditions ranging from orthopedics to autoimmune disorders
- The Bredesen protocol for the prevention and treatment of dementia
- Correcting the root causes of emotional disorders, such as depression or anxiety
- Cardiovascular disease prevention
- Aesthetic medicine from a Functional Medicine perspective
- Peptide therapy
- Exosomes
- Health optimization and performance enhancement for non-professional athletes
- Sexual health optimization
Dr. Howton’s Ideal Medical Client
Dr. Howton’s ideal medical client is someone who is willing to be responsible for their health, who wants to be at their best, and who is willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve their health goals. His ideal client is someone who is educated and/or hungry for understanding and who wants to partner with their physician in a collaborative and mutually respectful relationship. It is someone who appreciates compassion and empathy, and who is willing to continue changing their treatment plan until desired goals are achieved.
