Applicants must meet all scholarship eligibility requirements and be a licensed professional who meets the eligibility requirements for the Functional Medicine Certification Program™. The new Functional Medicine Certification Program™ will launch in 2026. If awarded the scholarship, you will be enrolled into the appropriate certification program then. To learn more about IFM certification and the two certification programs, please read the requirements here. The eligibility requirements for both new certification designations (FMCP-M™ and FMCP™) continue to require practitioners to:
- Hold at least a master’s level degree (for some professions, a bachelor’s degree is accepted) in a health-related field from an accredited university. International equivalents and designations will be evaluated based on degree, regulatory status, and scope of practice.
- Hold an active healthcare license to practice by the appropriate authority in the state, province, or country of clinical practice.
- Applicants from outside the United States must hold at least a bachelor's or advanced diploma level degree in a health-related field from an accredited university. International practitioners whose degrees may not have a US equivalent are also required to submit additional information about their degree, which may include, but is not limited to, the length of the program, curriculum, and clinical hours.
To successfully earn their designation, candidates will be required to:
- Complete an application for the new program.
- Complete a minimum of 100 hours of accredited functional medicine education and training that align with the designation’s functional medicine competencies. At this time, IFM’s core curriculum is the only organization teaching to the functional medicine competencies. Approved accrediting bodies will be announced prior to program launch.
- Pass either the FMCP™ or FMCP-M™ written examination. Each designation will have a separate written examination based on the respective functional medicine competencies, not specific courses or trainings by a specific educational organization. The written exams will incorporate new, detailed, case-based test questions to assess clinical skills. There will no longer be a separate case study submission.
Please reach out to scholarships@ifm.org with any questions.
Through the scholarship application questions, Debbie Sanstad applicants will demonstrate their:
- Excitement and understanding of how functional medicine will impact their patients and/or community
- Commitment to completing functional medicine certification