Meet Dr Jackie Machado

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr Jackie Machado and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr Jackie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
After 20 years practicing hospital medicine, I kept seeing a gap—families who knew something wasn’t quite right with their child’s health, but conventional approaches weren’t giving them answers. They’d cycle through specialist after specialist, treating symptoms without ever addressing the why. I realized these parents needed a different kind of partner: someone who could look deeper, connect the dots, and create truly personalized solutions. I had become very skilled at delivering complex care and I knew I could handle the science, but I also wanted to honor the art of pediatric medicine. The rigor of functional testing and evidence-based protocols, paired with the intuition and collaboration that comes from really listening to families and honoring each child’s unique biology sealed the deal for me and I created Grove Wellness Kids.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Grove Wellness Kids is a cash-based pediatric functional medicine practice built on both clinical expertise and deeply personal experience. I am a solo practitioner, in a cozy office in South Gables across from a park. I have no office staff, you never have to wait, I greet you when you come in, escort you out, and every message you get is directly from me.

I spent 20 years as a pediatric critical care physician, but my real education in root-cause pediatric wellness came from raising my own premature son holistically. That journey—navigating his unique health needs, asking questions conventional medicine couldn’t answer, and seeing firsthand how personalized, integrative approaches could transform outcomes—fundamentally changed how I practice medicine.

It’s why collaboration and personalized wellness aren’t just buzzwords at Grove Wellness Kids. They’re embedded in everything I do, because I’ve sat in the parent’s chair. I know what it feels like to be told “he’ll grow out of it” when you know something deeper is going on. I understand the isolation of charting your own path outside conventional protocols. And I’ve experienced the profound relief of finally finding answers and having a child thrive with the foundations of nutrition, sleep, movement, environmental wellness and emotional connection.

That personal foundation, combined with my ICU training, gives me a unique lens. High-stakes critical care medicine taught me pattern recognition at the highest level—connecting seemingly unrelated findings, spotting subtle shifts in lab work, identifying the blind spots that get missed when providers only look at isolated systems. Now I apply that same diagnostic rigor to root-cause pediatric wellness. I can see what others miss because I’ve been trained to look deeper and because I’ve lived it.

But transitioning from academic medicine to building a cash-based practice in such a niche field? That’s been humbling. I wasn’t born an entrepreneur. I’m learning one painstaking, often uncomfortable lesson at a time. The isolation and uncertainty of building something completely outside the conventional medical model tested me in ways critical care never did. There are moments of real doubt—wondering if families will actually invest in this kind of care, if I could build something sustainable, and if I was making the right calls.

What’s helped tremendously is finding my business coaching community—especially watching other female wellness practitioners build practices that prioritize both their families and their freedom to serve and create profitable businesses while delivering the personalized medicine we believe everyone deserves. That’s been incredibly inspiring and validating. My husband, a nurse himself, has been both cheerleader and sounding board—the one who talks me down when I’m spiraling and helps me think through protocols with a clinical eye when I need a second perspective.

What sets Grove Wellness Kids apart is the entire patient journey I’ve designed. It’s efficient yet premium—from advanced diagnostics and precision lab interpretation to thoughtful consultations and longitudinal care that adapts as children grow. I’ve developed specialized programs that address the exact challenges families come to me for: the Whole Child Reset™ for comprehensive health transformation, Skin Shift™ for teens struggling with acne that won’t respond to conventional treatments, and Align™ for young women navigating PCOS. Each program treats the root cause, not just the symptoms showing up on the surface.

My families aren’t cycling through a revolving door of appointments. They’re getting expert-level pattern recognition, personalized protocols, and the kind of attentive support that actually moves the needle on their child’s health. Whether it’s a toddler with persistent eczema and gut issues or a teenager whose hormonal acne is destroying their confidence, we’re addressing the underlying imbalances that everyone else missed.

I’m most proud of the families who finally have answers after years of being dismissed or given surface-level solutions. The kids who are thriving because we addressed their gut health, optimized their micronutrients, and treated their whole system rather than isolated symptoms. The teens who walk in feeling broken and leave empowered with a clear path forward. That’s the work that matters.

What I want people to know is this: pediatric functional medicine isn’t about supplements or rigid protocols. It’s about honoring each child’s unique biology, supporting families with nutrition and science-backed solutions, and creating space for children to reach their full potential. It’s about practicing medicine the way it should be practiced—with time, attention, and genuine partnership—informed by both clinical excellence and the humility of walking this path as a parent myself.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Rent bikes and cruise through the Grove’s tree-canopy streets, stopping at the Barnacle Historic State Park, browsing the boutiques along Main Highway, then lunch at Lokal for craft beer and elevated bar food. Wynwood is edgy, I would go there to wander around, duck into galleries, go to a brewery and catch-up, dinner at 1-800-Lucky for wood-fired pizza and natural wine. I love furniture hunting in West Palm, small design boutiques along Antique Row. Lunch at Grandview Public Market for options, then maybe the Norton Museum of Art. Most people would go to South Beach for retro but I like Hollywood Beach, cruise the boardwalk, maybe a dip in the ocean, people-watching, dinner at one of the Italian spots along the strip, gelato for dessert. Finally, day trip south to the Keys, stopping at artisan studios and galleries in Key Largo where potters, painters, jewelry makers doing incredible work in laid-back studios. Lunch at the Buzzards Roost, fishing or snorkeling at John Pennekamp State Park, drive slow and take in the overseas highway views. Back by dinner for something low-key closer to home. Last day, take some coffee to Book and Books then spend a few hours at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden—it’s stunning, peaceful, the perfect counterpoint to a week of exploring. End the trip with takeout and good conversation.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to my business coach Carmen Stansberry at The Advanced Practice. She didn’t just help me shift from “functional medicine practitioner” to “CEO of a thriving practice”—she helped me recognize my actual value proposition. That clarity was everything. She taught me to see what makes Grove Wellness Kids unique, to own the premium positioning, and to build systems that protect that value while scaling sustainably. The mindset work was transformational: learning to lead with confidence, make decisions from abundance rather than scarcity, and understand that serving families exceptionally well and building a profitable business aren’t opposing goals—they’re the same goal.

Honorable Mention to Alex Hormozi. His content has been fuel on the harder days—those reminders that discomfort is growth, that building something meaningful takes relentless consistency, and that the market rewards those who solve real problems exceptionally well. His no-nonsense approach to value creation completely reframed how I think about premium service delivery.

Website: https://www.grovewellnesskids.com

Instagram: https://grove.wellness.kids

Facebook: Grove Wellness Kids (https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=grove%20wellness%20kids)