About N.E.W.S.

N.E.W.S. History:

N.E.W.S. was an independent medical office that was established in April 1993 by Dr. Elizabeth L Schultz and joined by Dr. Kirk A Melville in April of 1998. NEWS blended together Allopathic, Osteopathic, and Functional Medicine into their own brand of Biological Systems Medicine. N.E.W.S. Emphasizes Preventative Optimal Aging Health combined with routine Health Care Maintenance Exams. Even though N.E.W.S. cares for illness within the traditional medical model, they prefer to offer Preventative Health Medicine solutions in order to help their patients maintain a healthy life.

Dr. Schultz's Accomplishments, Prior to N.E.W.S:

• 1969 - Graduated from Diploma Program for Registered Nurses at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• 1970 thru 1971 - Served in USAF Nursing Corps, Stationed at Davis Monthan Air Force base in Arizona
• 1974 - Graduated from Stanford University with declared BS in Molecular Biology and undeclared AB in Psychology
• 1979 - Graduated as an Osteopathic Physician from College of Osteopathic Medicine & Surgery in Des Moines, Iowa.
• 1980 - Completed Rotating Internship in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
• 1982 - 1986 - Became a Jr. Fellow of American College of OBGYN
• 1980 - 1983 - Completed OB-GYN Residency in Akron, Ohio
• 1983 - 1986 - Opened an OB/GYN private practice in Barberton, Ohio and had 2 children herself while she waited for her husband to complete his ER Residency.
• 1986 - 1989 - Repaid a student loan from Public Health Service Corps by serving 3 years in an OB-GYN underserved area in Pennington Gap, VA. As their only OB-GYN physician, she established an OB Unit, delivering, over 50 babies the first year, 3 sets of twins over the entire 3 years, and birthing her son in late 1988. All of this was accomplished while maintaining an active gynecology practice, providing general gynecological care, and initiating her bio-identical hormone replacement therapy and pellet therapies.
• 1990 - 1993 - Her family moved to Georgia and she took the 3 years to make sure her young children were on a stable footing before she began her second phase of her medical life.

N.E.W.S. Accomplishments:

• 1993 - Opened a new office named N.E.W.S. and continued offering Bio-identical HRT and Hormone Pellets to the residents of Georgia..
• 1993 - Was the first medical entity, this includes hospitals, in Northeast Georgia to offer In-Office Bone Mineral Density testing. Way before Fosamax, so growing bone naturally was the only modality we had!
• 1996 - Dr. Schultz routinely offered ThinPrep Pap Smears, HPV and Genotyping. Back then, insurance companies refused coverage for such “experimental lab testing”. Today it’s preferred!
• 1998 - NEWS established its web presence by starting "www.noaw.com".
• 1999 - NEWS realized our concept of "Wellness Medicine" was reflected in Functional-Molecular Medicine for which they trained and have practiced since. Dr. Schultz graduated from Institute of Functional Medicine's, Dr. Bland's second class, "Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice".
• 2000 - Started offering Testosterone Replacement Therapy for Men; it being a natural off shoot of Women's Hormone Pellet Therapy. When women feel better their men should too!
• 2001 - Routinely added Vitamin D replacement which was well before the medical world caught on in 2010.
• 2001 - Began offering Breast Thermology as an adjunct to Breast Imaging Techniques.
• 2003 - Started offering Genetic Testing for Osteoporosis, Cardio-Vascular Disease and Inflammation.
• 2005 - Started our EMR-Electronic Medical Record System.
• 2009 - Advanced Cardio-Lipid Testing for Cardiovascular Health became our signature of Personalized Medicine. We felt you shouldn't have to go to a university setting for this important testing; so, we brought it to the people, right here in Watkinsville, Georgia. Right now, not 5 to 10 years into the future when your insurance company says you can do it
• 2010 - Started offering Testosterone Pellet Therapy for Breast Cancer Patients.
• 2011 - Met “Meaningful Use” criteria for the federal government. [This in no way means they have access to your medical health records, it means we are working toward making this information more functional for you.]
• 2012 - Added Genetic Testing with AssureRx for Depression, ADHD and analgesics. Why guess what will work? It’s better to know!
• 2013 - Added a HIPAA compliant “Portal” to communicate with us at NEWS. [ Updox ]
• 2014 from 1986 - Fellow of American College of OBGYN - Early 2015 my mother died; I was to retake a Board Exam on a computer around this time & I had no time to study with all of the demands on my time. I also came from the old school of paper testing thus I never had taken a computerized test. I had an office based GYN practice and did not plan on ever re-establishing a hospital practice. So, I spent my extra time with my mom and family.  ACOG, an organization dedicated to the care of women, felt no remorse for me when I asked for an extension and removed my name from their list members.
• 2014 - Added Genetic CYP450 Testing for drug to drug interactions. So that multiple drug usage in a patient is not conflicted, decreasing efficacy.
• 2015 - This was a maintenance year because my mother who had been living with us for 6 years passed away from Dementia.
• 2016 - Attended the Bale/Doneen-Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Seminar and started offering Carotid Intimal Thickness Testing.
• 2017 - Had to change EMR vendors due to our initial vendor closing it's digital doors! What an experience.
• 2018 - After 25 years of doing our own Bone Densities, we faced a big repair cost to the machine, so we stopped and out sourced the testing.
• 2019 - Added 4Kscore testing for men facing the possibility of a prostate biopsy.
• 2020 - Quickly converted our office into a TeleMedicine strong-hold as the COVID Pandemic spread across our nation. We had been waiting for TeleMedicine to be paid for by insurance vendors since 2015 and embraced it with open arms.
  NEWS is proud to say that we did not lose even one of our patients to COVID during this time period!!
  NEWS exited COVID exhausted. We had not had the "time off" that others had experienced. Our phones rang sun-up to sun-down.
• 2021 - Being faced with millennial work ethics or lack thereof, my husband's health issues, dwindling payments for health care, and our community becoming more urbanized, we decided to retire and move to a community more rural.
• 2022 - 2024 - We have rested, God knows we needed it.... but life goes on and there have been many exciting changes you need to know about.
  So, have fun with our website where I will bring you those changes. Enjoy!