Dr Andrew Greenland: 0:00

Welcome to Voices in Health and Wellness. This is the podcast where we dive deep into conversations with the thinkers, practitioners, and trailblazers who are redefining what care looks like today. I'm your host, Dr. Andrew Greenland, and today I'm genuinely excited for today's guest with Dr. Jeff Gross, MD. Jeff is a board-certified neurologist and regenerative medicine specialist, but he's also a visionary at the intersection of science, performance, and patient transformation. He's the founder of ReCelebrate, a company that helps people literally put their own stem cells to work to rejuvenate from the inside out. And what makes Jeff's work so relevant for this podcast and for all of you listening is the deep commitment to root cause medicine. Whether it's stem cells, peptides, or neurorehabilitation, Jeff's focus is always on resolving cellular dysfunction and helping patients thrive. So with that, Jeff, I'd like to welcome you to the show and thank you so much for joining me.

Dr Jeff Gross: 0:51

It's my pleasure to be here. Thank you so much.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 0:53

Perhaps we could start just from the top. Could you share a little bit about your background and what led you into this space of regenerative and precision medicine?

Dr Jeff Gross: 1:02

Well, uh, my patients get the credit for nudging me into sort of uh this more logical, precise, you know, cell root cause thinking. But uh I'm I'm a practicing neurological surgeon with a fellowship in spine surgery. So the vast majority of my career was dealing with people who had neck and back trouble, disc problems, pinched nerves, uh, all kinds of things requiring a host of treatments from physiotherapy all the way up through surgery, making surgery the last option, uh, of course. But there's a large gap in that uh treatment menu. And that that gap is, you know, there's therapy, there are medications, there might be some pain management injections, and then there's surgery. And so so many uh clinicians just, you know, when they're out of things to do after the injections, they jump to the surgery because there's nothing else in there to try. Well, you know, that was frustrating for my patients and for me for many years, and I felt stuck uh in a career that that was not offering anything relatively new. Yes, there's a new implant or surgical approach, but it's the same old thing. So my patients said, Hey doc, how about uh this or that or stem cells? And luckily I have um you know baccalaureate background in in uh molecular cell biology. So I said, you know, I miss uh those topics. And I one year, instead of going to the spine surgery conference, I went to a stem cell conference and it's about seven, eight years ago, and just dug my heels in and said, wow, a lot has happened since I had my medical training in the in the biological fields. And the clinical applications have been tried and tested, but not here in the states, mostly in Europe and in Asia. And in the States, we're sort of held back by influences by the pharmacy companies and you know other companies that make surgical hardware. So I said, this is ridiculous. We need to protect our patients and offer them everything that's potentially helpful. So I dug in and started offering for my spine patients things in the stem cell realm, and I'll say that broadly because there are so many things, but that has opened up my practice to longevity and treating other parts of the body and general wellness uh through self-regeneration, and now it's all I do.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 3:36

Amazing. And I totally resonate with your um philosophy because in conventional medicine, of which I practice as well, we really only have two things in our toolbox day-to-day, drugs and surgery. So I'm delighted to have this conversation to explore what else is available and um hear a lot about sort of stem cells and some of the other therapies you've talked about. So I guess this was your inspiration to launch Recelebrate as a business company clinic. Is that right?

Dr Jeff Gross: 4:01

Right. Yeah, and we wanted to have the name match the philosophy to celebrate the renewal of our own cells, which we can do naturally, and we have done for you know millions of years or beyond. And now we're tapping back into that with a renewed enthusiasm and knowledge.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 4:22

So, what does your clinical and business work look like day to day at the moment? Because obviously you've got fingers in various pies. There's obviously the development work, there's the clinical work. How does it all pan out for you at the moment?

Dr Jeff Gross: 4:32

Well, uh as a as a top-level proviso, you know, I'm I'm trained as a neurological surgeon and we're crazy workaholics to begin with. So I do a lot of things. But uh my my professional day is still seeing patients five days a week. Uh, you know, we we try to try to make ourselves available and we love offering things to people that they can't find in the traditional, you know, mindset uh typically. So I see patients in the clinic, I do televideo uh uh appointments, you know, and um we have a filled calendar. Usually one day a week is set aside, at least maybe half a day to a full day of doing injection procedures. I do a lot of joints and spine regenerative injections, and we do that at a local uh injection facility, sterile conditions, what have you. Uh, and uh and then I I change hats. And as the you know, you know, uh mediocre businessman that I might be, I uh uh we have a nutraceutical line uh based on regenerative medicine. Uh it's a plant-derived exosomes. And um, we've got some other uh things we're working on in that space uh so that we can expand the offerings to many more people who may not need uh a knee injection or a spine injection or an IV to stimulate their stem cell and regenerative activities, but might want to do something preventative or support longevity.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 6:05

Amazing. I mean, you have a very fun-packed schedule, but I mean, with all of that, how do you find time to innovate? Because you are a great innovator. So where's the time for the innovation?

Dr Jeff Gross: 6:15

Yeah, the innovation happens sitting in front of each patient. You learn something new, you try a new approach, and um, you know, every patient is an edge is a is a learning experience both for the patient and for myself. And you know, you we collect enough of those observations, and you know, as a clinician, uh, you know, you don't stop learning once you go into practice, right? You you continue to gain uh and and refine your your tools and you think of new things. Well, why don't we try it this way? And and that's where that comes from. I don't I don't think I you know sit at home and think, oh, I I have an idea. I think it comes right in the clinic. Amazing.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 6:56

And um what major shifts are you seeing in regenerative care right now, whether it's clinical, technological, regulatory, or all of the above?

Dr Jeff Gross: 7:04

Well, I I see that we're going into a more precise area. So, you know, we're not talking as much science here, but when you look at stem cells and the signaling that is given off by stem cells, uh, which are called uh, you know, the secretome, what's secreted by stem cells? We have these growth factors, we have these small vesicles we call exosomes. We're now looking at more precise exosomes, exosomes that are for muscle mass, exosomes that are for bone development, exosomes, you know, secretome that might be for in improving the pancreas health, maybe in the diabetes population. So I think that this in 2026, we're going to see a lot of this more specific precision medicine in the regenerative space and not just the generic shotgun blast of stem cells, which are helpful, but boy, if we can improve that help, we're just uh moving the needle forward to help people get the type of results that they they desire and we want them to have with less invasion.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 8:08

Brilliant. What's the current patient awareness of um therapies like these? Do they come well informed, or do you have this massive uh repertoire of tools in your box that you can offer people who are uninformed? What's the kind of situation?

Dr Jeff Gross: 8:22

I I think there's a spectrum, but uh you know, let's focus on the two poles of the spectrum. We have an audience that already has an appetite for what we do. Uh they've they've researched stem cells or regenerative medicine, they have shopped it, they've they've they've they come prepared saying, I'm seeking this, and you know, those patients are great because we're all ready to offer them potentially something if they're a candidate. Then we have the other side of things. People see me maybe for a back pain, a spine condition. And um, you know, when I when I lay out the options from injections to surgery to regenerative approaches, sometimes they're quizzical and they they're misinformed. Uh, you know, they they think it's illegal to you know have stem cell type of treatments here in the US and in other places. And we have to explain that it's the marketing claims that we have to be compliant with and that we always want to use high-quality uh donated sources that are tested, screened, and accredited, uh, things like that. So when we when we source stem cells or secretome or exosomes or amniotic products, we want those from a non-COVID vaccinated mother who's been screened and healthy and and uh you know uh the the tissues have been tested and quarantined, they have no endotoxin or or you know, difficult to define uh hidden, occult infections or any problems. We want the best sources. And this the these are regenerative biologics that I use on myself and my family as well. So I wouldn't offer something less to any patient. We want them to have the best results because that is our best way of uh showing results.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 10:09

Thank you. And you just briefly touched on the regulation around advertising claims. So, what is the kind of regulatory environment looking like globally for things like stem cells? You've probably got a better idea about the US, but do you have any sense of how it kind of pans out globally?

Dr Jeff Gross: 10:24

Well, uh, there are a lot of clinics uh neck next door to the US in Mexico and in Central America, and and there are patients that still think one has to leave uh the country, the US, to go to these clinics to have some type of regenerative treatment. That's not the case. However, those regenerative clinics can make claims. They can make what are called cure and treatment claims for a disease or condition. Here in the US, those marketing claims have not been approved, so we can't make those. We can show medical evidence, uh, I can give uh you know published medical journal articles, I can show before and afters of you know anecdotal patient care, but I cannot make any claims, and we we do seek that compliance to maintain it all the time. I really can't speak too much to other locations, except that uh many places in Europe are way ahead of the US, and they have, you know, some of the research we base our actions on have 15-year follow-up studies published in in Europe. Asia is also very cutting edge. China is typically the first to try something, and there are a lot of publications out of China, Korea, uh, and Japan as well. Thank you.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 11:41

Do you think um mainstream healthcare is equipped to integrate this um style of medicine or cellular uh medicine at scale?

Dr Jeff Gross: 11:48

Not yet. And I don't think they have an appetite for it yet because it doesn't fit the financial model, and the financial model is the tail that wags the dog, unfortunately. Uh they they are deeply rooted in um undue influences from the large pharmaceutical companies and other other uh in health insurers, at least here in the US, and that payer system dictates medical care at the corporate level and cloaks it under some type of statute. Uh but it make no mistake, it is the corporate practice of medicine, and it is rationing by hassle every day. And we have patients complain. Uh, and I say, don't complain to us. You're the one that that bought that uh insurance plan, or that that's the government plan that you voted for. So so it's out there. Um, so I don't think that organized medicine is equipped for this. They're not training this in the medical schools. Uh, and and we make ourselves available, I'd be happy to lecture at medical schools on regenerative medicine and how it uh stimulates these young minds going into medicine.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 12:58

So it ain't happening anytime soon. But I mean, is there a financial saving overall for somebody with a particular condition if we think about using this treatment versus you know more invasive surgery as an example? Or is this really gonna just not really advance beyond a private setting?

Dr Jeff Gross: 13:16

No, I think there is a cost savings. We've seen that in the US. Um, the lowest level, lowest form, and I don't mean in a bad way, but the entry-level form of regenerative medicine is called platelet-rich plasma or PRP, which is taken from your own blood. And um, that is also not yet approved for marketing claims. Uh, but some of the health insurers, the private health insurers, have started to pay for that because the accountants have figured out it's cheaper than a joint surgery or repeat cortisone injections. So I think that as the more detailed financial analyses come to play, um, that there will be a move towards looking at the long-term economic benefits of a regenerative procedure over, let's say, a surgical joint replacement.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 14:08

Thank you. Where do you think the um the biggest misconceptions still lie in your field, whether that's from patients or fellow clinicians?

Dr Jeff Gross: 14:16

Well, I think uh patients are more open-minded and are looking for a less invasive option. But I I have to sink my teeth into the question about clinicians because you know, we're trained, you know, through our through our schooling and our our here in the US residencies, or I think your registrars over across the pond and things like that. And that training usually comes from professors who are two or three decades older. And the the forward movement scientifically in advancing clinical medicine is very slow because there's this apprenticeship generational slowness of moving forward. It's so hard to get the professors who are older to adopt these new ways or at least take a fair look at them. And sometimes the the science isn't funded because it would work against those providing the funding. Um, you know, government, uh, big pharmaceutical companies, things like this. So I think that medical training is is stuck in the old ways because of that. And I see that in my own field as a neurosurgeon, spine surgeon. For 30 years, I've been going to spine surgery conferences, and they literally present the same material decade after decade. Yeah, there's a new widget, there's a new, you know, this incision's a little smaller, or maybe it's robotically guided or something, but it's the same thing that we're doing. And nothing's changing. And I that gets old. And I I did I saw no innovation. So to the clinicians out there who are not telling their patients that there are other options, they are doing them a disservice and they are actually violating the doctrine of informed consent, because informed consent must have all options listed on the table.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 16:06

Correct. So we celebrate is a business as well as a clinic. And what's working for you particularly well right now, either clinically or operationally?

Dr Jeff Gross: 16:16

We our low-hanging fruit is is the joints and spine injections, inflammatory, joint degeneration, wear and tear, osteoarthritis, and these are all in the same spectrum of joint pain. And a life of accumulated cellular inflammation typically has a patient that suffers some joint pain. Joint pain is an early clinical indicator of inflamed cells or accumulation of some bad lifestyle habits, you know. So we see some of the best results from addressing uh joint problems. And we do the whole spectrum. It's not just come in and get an injection. We want to talk lifestyle, epigenetics, sleep, exercise, nutrition, supplements, uh, you know, avoidance of certain behaviors, smoking, too much alcohol, things like that. You know, we want to cover everything because people will have a better outcome if we if we set the foundation before we jump into regenerative medicine or peptides or you know, synolytics or things like that. So that's our probably one of our most rewarding things we do.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 17:28

Brilliant. And on the other end of the spectrum, what's sort of more frustrating or where do you kind of hit bottlenecks or find challenges in your work?

Dr Jeff Gross: 17:36

The the mythology uh surrounding uh regenerative medicine that's perpetuated by traditional medicine uh clin clinicians who aren't open-minded, uh, you know, it has to do with, oh, I thought that wasn't legal, to uh um, oh, I thought it's cost prohibitive, uh, and it really isn't all the way through, oh, I thought you get these from aborted babies, which of course we do not, things like that. We we have to overcome that mythology. So being on a show like yours, it gives an opportunity for us to share the truth and let people know there are better natural options because our body knows how to heal best. Sometimes we just need to remind it.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 18:22

So it's really an education piece, really, from what you're saying. Yes. Amazing. And in terms of um running running the clinic and uh tracking outcomes, what do you sort of most focus on measuring? What are your kind of key metrics or things that you're perhaps um really trying to improve on at the moment?

Dr Jeff Gross: 18:39

So on the the joint uh side of things, uh cartilage regeneration, we look at number one clinical improvement, you know, and that is by symptom, how do you feel? And function, what can you do? And MRIs in those that are interested. So we we target off of MRIs to begin with. And a year later, if if someone is so inclined, because you don't have to have an MRI if you feel great, but if they're interested, we can do an MRI, and we do have before and after MRIs where we have actually shown cartilage regeneration.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 19:15

Um, in terms of your you do a lot of things, you obviously are clinical, you have a business to run, you're seeing patients, procedures. What's your biggest time drain? The thing that you take takes you away from the things that you actually like doing in doing this kind of um clinic operation?

Dr Jeff Gross: 19:30

Uh it's the administration, right? All the all the licensure and paperwork and renew this and the you know the the red tape, we call it. So that stuff really drags on me. I have help, I have good help with that, but still it has to come across my desk. So that that's probably the biggest waste of time, but it has to be done.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 19:51

Absolutely. And similarly, if you had a um bit of a hypothetical situation, if you had a tenfold increase in patient. That are interested in your services next week, what would happen? I mean, would anything break, or would you have a sort of system or capacity to mop up the extra work?

Dr Jeff Gross: 20:11

The obstacle for me would be uh spending time with those new patients. Like I the procedures are brief. That isn't an issue. I could do 10 times more procedures in a week. It would be being able to get all those patients in as consult consultations and ordering the testing and the labs and the follow-up. So I might have to hire a clinician to a young clinician who's open-minded to work with me so we can we can grow together.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 20:39

And what's on the cards for the next six to 12 months or so, um, whether that be as a clinician or a founder or as both?

Dr Jeff Gross: 20:46

Well, we're opening our own state-of-the-art injection facility, and it uh has a three-dimensional low-field CT scan. We'll be doing our procedures in even a more precise way, uh, with the the highest uh available technology uh in our own facility. That'll that'll make things just incredible. Um it won't save any time, uh, but it will allow us to practice at the absolute highest level that even hospitals, many hospitals don't have. Uh, second, we are you know working to expand our line of biologic nutraceuticals. We have one product, plant-derived exosomes from curated Italian organic fruits, known to support the phytonutrient delivery to our cells in the Italian Mediterranean blue zone to support longevity. The preclinical studies are showing improvement in anti-aging genes, particularly CER2 in one, and reduction in reactive oxygen species, meaning less cellular stress, less cellular inflammation, all uh markers of longevity. So we seek to add some additional products down the line here that are exosome-based. Exosome, of course, being a vesicle from a cell. So we use a lot of stem cell-derived exosomes, but this is a plant-derived exosome nutraceutical. So it's it's somewhat laborious and expensive to derive these from plants, but we do now have the lab techniques to do it.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 22:23

Sounds really exciting. Is there anything else that you're particularly excited about coming online or things that you may have seen in the research and you're sort of each to get your hands on is bringing in the therapy that you can help patients with?

Dr Jeff Gross: 22:35

Great question. Uh, we've just sourced some natural killer cell exosomes that we use as an adjunct for cancer care uh to support the immune clearance of cancer cells. We are sourcing MUSE cells, MUSE cells being a very small percentage of stem cells, which are even more robustly powerful in their abilities to regenerate. Um, we have uh we're looking at other tissue-specific exosomes, as I sort of alluded to earlier, uh, that I think is going to become robust. And we're gonna have neural stem cell-derived exosomes. We already have source some skin uh stem cell exosomes we're going to be using for to assist with hair regeneration in a more robust way than we can with regular stem cell exosomes.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 23:26

Well, the future sounds really, really exciting. Are there any um medical conditions, chronic medical conditions that you think at the moment don't really get a very good deal? And is there anything on the cards that you think may help them going forward?

Dr Jeff Gross: 23:40

Yes. So we um we like to use the regenerative biologics to help people with autoimmune issues, um, autoimmune being a you know a revved up immune system, an overactive immune system against the body. And the regenerative biologics are incredible at reducing inflammation. So we can help sort of reset the immune system, reduce inflammation, reduce flare-ups, and even suppress patients who have these issues. So, and we can do that without pharmaceuticals, without these immune suppressants, which do have a downside.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 24:22

I was actually going to ask you about downsides. So all this um treatment sounds fantastic, and the potential for healing and regeneration sounds amazing. Just speak a little bit to the downside. So people are, you know, get a kind of a 360 kind of view on all of this.

Dr Jeff Gross: 24:37

Fair enough. The um there is a theoretical risk of rejection um with cells, because cells are foreign. Uh, however, stem cells are immunoprivileged, they modulate the immune system, and typically we don't see any type of reaction beyond maybe uh the 24-hour low-grade fever. Um, nothing like a blood transfusion reaction, which you do have to cross match. You do not have to cross match stem cells. Exosomes are even less immunogene. So we have never seen any meaningful rejection or reaction to exosomes. So we like that. Exosomes have fewer markers on the surface and they're not identified as foreign to the body. They're they are bioidentical to what your own body would produce. And we know this to be true because if you look at pregnant women, pregnant women tend to have beautiful skin and growing hair. Uh, you know, they're glowing and they're healthy. And of course, there's a survival advantage because they're about to extend the species and they should have that, but it's because they're getting a daily dose of stem cell-derived exosomes that are small enough to cross the placenta into their own body. And that's why they're getting that those benefits. They are not getting stem cells crossing the placenta. The cells are too large. And if they were getting stem cells crossing the placenta, they would have to deal with you know a large amount of cells being 50% foreign to their body. So, not that I'm worried about a rejection there, but there are cases where you know there is a you know mother rejecting the fetus situation. And I wonder if that has something to do with you know some type of difficulty in in the placental barriers holding uh tight. So uh we we know that the exosomes are less immunogenetic.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 26:38

Thank you for clarifying that. So um, if you had a magic wand and you could fix one thing in your business or the wider specialty or field that you're in, what would that be? We've already um taken away the paperwork and the admin. Is there anything else you would like to be able to fix with a magic wand?

Dr Jeff Gross: 26:54

We'd love to make this uh widely available to all people, which means we need to spread the word and educate people accurately as to what is out there, what is available to them legally, compliantly, and that would be getting the word out better. So here we are and in your podcast, which is the tip of the spear in free speech. We are held back. We cannot advertise on Facebook and Google and large social platforms where people go to you know entertain themselves and sometimes educate themselves. So I would love to wave that wand and and really open up free speech uh in all on all platforms, not just uh uh on your show.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 27:39

Well, anything we can do to spread the word through this, and obviously we'll um we'll get the word out and hopefully get as many eyes and ears on this conversation as possible. Thank you. Um if you could rebuild celebrate from scratch tomorrow, would you do anything differently?

Dr Jeff Gross: 27:52

Oh, I'd probably do a lot differently. Uh, you know, uh we've we've spent money on certain certain things we've done, you know, whether they're brochures or websites that I would I would have done very differently, maybe save some money over here. Um, how how we uh what what events we've attended to promote uh what we do, where I've where I give lectures, I would have probably gone some different directions. Uh but uh this you know you you can't learn if you don't make these mistakes. So and not that they're mistakes, but uh we probably have higher yield in expanding our reach, and we're learning how to do that. We're getting better at it, hopefully, every month. Brilliant.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 28:33

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but sometimes one just has to learn organically to kind of get these lessons. Um, is there anything about your current model you'd love to evolve, but probably justn't had the time or the resources to explore yet? And you've obviously been a great innovator and you've got lots of things on the cards. But is there anything left untapped at the moment?

Dr Jeff Gross: 28:51

Well, administratively we're implementing a new electronic system to automate things, but I don't want to de-personalize it. So I'm very careful. I still want to have face-to-face time with all my patients uh and and have them have a smooth experience without feeling like a number, because all too often patients uh in the in the in the more institutional systems are just a number. And uh on the clinical side, you know, we're gonna streamline all our uh procedures. People fly in for these procedures from all over. Uh I'm here based in Las Vegas, Nevada, which luckily is a reasonable destination for people that can come into town, enjoy a nice show, have a good dinner, maybe, you know, throw some dice around if they enjoy that, and then have a procedure before they go. So we're trying to make that a smooth experience with our new injection center. We'll be doing that.

Dr Andrew Greenland: 29:47

Amazing. With that, Jeff, I'd like to thank you so much for your time on the podcast today. It's been such a rich conversation, really interesting to hear your insights. Hopefully, you've been able to educate our audience about the value of regenerative therapies and stem cell therapies. Um, so thank you very much, really appreciate it. Thank you.