Derek Shelton, DNP · Evansville, Indiana
Medicine
at street level.
Nurse practitioner, clinic owner, author, and host of Better Human. Labs, lifting, and plain talk about what it takes to get better. Everything he builds lives here.
- Name
- Derek Shelton, DNP
- Class
- Urban Shaman
- Base
- Evansville, IN
- Status
- Still gives a damn
Credential
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Clinics
Optimize U, Evansville and Columbus
Podcast
Host, Better Human
Book
Author, Dying Breed
Watch23 Questions With Dr. D
01 / What he stands for
For the ones who still give a damn.
Pride, accountability, grit and purpose are disappearing from healthcare. Not here.
Pride
Do the work right, even when nobody is checking.
Accountability
If you say you value it, reward it. Healthcare forgot the second part.
Grit
Show up for the patient in front of you. Then fight the system behind you.
Purpose
People at the center. Not the system protecting itself.
02 / About
The short
version.
Derek Shelton is a nurse practitioner, clinical leader and healthcare executive with decades inside the system. He has worked the emergency room, the provider chair and the leadership table.
Today he runs clinics, not theories. He sees patients and reads labs every week, and that is where most of what he talks about starts.
The Urban Shaman part is simple. Old instincts, modern medicine, and no patience for noise.
03 / The work
What he builds
and backs.
The clinics, the show, the book, and the brands he believes in. One place to find all of it.
Optimize U
Hormone, recovery and wellness clinics. Where the labs get read and the plans get made.
Evansville, IN · Columbus, IN · Book a visit
Better Human
Long conversations about body, mind and purpose. Athletes, founders, clinicians, artists and veterans.
New episodes Fridays · betterhumanworld.com
Dying Breed
A memoir and manifesto on pride, accountability, grit and purpose in healthcare.
Available on Amazon
Ohio River Muscle Co.
What's in his gym bag.
ohiorivermuscleco.com
OffScript Studios
The team behind Better Human and this site. Run by Markus Barnett and Lucas Washington.
offscriptyourlife.com
04 / Writing
From the
clinic floor.
The first essays are on the way. Hormones, recovery, and what healthcare gets wrong, in plain language.
Become a Seeker
Latest on Better Human
From Diagnosis to Design
Ande McConnell, Davena Day · LizzieLu's Crew
05 / The book
Dying
Breed
A blunt, memoir-forward look at what happens when pride, accountability, grit and purpose start disappearing from healthcare.
06 / The Seekers
Become a
Seeker.
For the ones looking for answers their last appointment didn't give them.
Field Notes · every week
- From the clinic floor. One pattern Derek is seeing right now.
- One thing to try. A small experiment for the week ahead.
- Myth vs. lab. One popular claim, checked against the evidence.
- On the nightstand. What he's reading and listening to.