Meet Dr. Zubkov, Your Integrative Neurologist in Minnesota
Dr. Alexander Zubkov built an integrative neurology practice around one question: what created this condition, and how do we fix it instead of managing it?
Book Your ConsultationYou came here after years of chasing symptoms instead of answers. Standard neurology controlled your condition without resolving it, and at some point you started wondering whether an integrative neurologist in Minnesota approaches your condition differently.
Dr. Zubkov built Mind Body Neurology around a single question: what created this condition in the first place? Instead of layering medication on top of symptoms, the practice tests your biology directly and treats the environment, lifestyle, mindset, and nutrition patterns driving your health, alongside conventional medical care and functional medicine testing.
The practice sees patients via telemedicine across Minnesota and selected states.
On This Page
Dr. Zubkov's Story
Alexander Zubkov, MD, PhD entered medical school over 30 years ago fascinated by the gap between Eastern and Western medicine. Early training pulled him toward the conventional path, and for years he prescribed medications the way most neurologists do. Those drugs controlled chronic disease well but rarely resolved it.
His neurology training led him into stroke management and neurocritical care, work he still credits with saving countless lives. Years into practice, he started seeing young patients with the same chronic conditions once reserved for the elderly, and medication alone stopped feeling like an honest answer for people getting sick this early in life.
Over the past decade, Dr. Zubkov moved deeper into integrative and functional medicine. He tried the diet-first approach many functional practitioners start with, including an early version of the Paleo diet. Patients struggled to sustain restrictive eating long term, and diet alone rarely solved the underlying problem.
Extensive study convinced him patients get better when they understand their own biology and address several systems together, not one diet or one drug in isolation. Mind Body Neurology grew out of this idea: a practice built to test environment, lifestyle, mindset, and nutrition together, giving the body enough resources to repair itself.
The Four Pillars of Care
Mind Body Neurology treats four connected systems instead of chasing one symptom at a time. Each pillar below covers what the practice targets and how testing replaces guesswork there.
Environment
Mold exposure, toxin load, and everyday chemical exposure quietly strain your nervous system. The practice tests for these exposures directly instead of guessing at them.
Lifestyle
Sleep quality, movement patterns, and daily structure shape brain health as much as any lab value. Dr. Zubkov builds lifestyle changes around your actual schedule, not a generic template.
Mindset
Chronic stress keeps your nervous system locked in a defensive state. The practice teaches nervous system regulation alongside medical treatment, not instead of it.
Nutrition
Food sensitivities and nutrient deficiencies drive inflammation in ways standard blood work misses. Targeted testing replaces restrictive diets with a plan built around your own chemistry.
Meet the Integrative Neurology Care Team
Alexander Zubkov, MD, PhD
Integrative Neurologist and Founder
Dr. Zubkov leads every case at Mind Body Neurology, combining his stroke and neurocritical care training with functional medicine testing. He reviews your history personally, orders labs fitting your specific situation, and builds the treatment plan around them.
Rivka Pesta, RN, MPH
Health Coach
Rivka Pesta works alongside Dr. Zubkov as the practice's health coach. She built her career around integrative mind-body medicine, grounding her coaching in neuroscience and quantum biology research across more than a decade of client work worldwide.
Rivka designs health optimization programs around each patient's specific biology and daily life. Her coaching centers on stress management, nutrition, movement, sleep, light therapy, and circadian rhythm alignment, teaching patients to run their lifestyle like medicine rather than an afterthought.
Every coaching relationship runs as a partnership. Rivka checks in consistently, holds patients accountable, and adjusts strategy as your results come in, rather than handing you a static plan and stepping back.
Rivka earned her Bachelor of Nursing and Master of Public Health at the University of Haifa in Israel. Her clinical background spans nursing, public health, and mental health practice, and she served as a MN LEND Research Fellow with the Maternal Child Health Bureau at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Zubkov and Rivka build every plan around your specific biology, not a generic protocol.
Book Your ConsultationIs Mind Body Neurology Right for You?
This Practice Fits You If:
- Standard care controlled your symptoms but never resolved the underlying condition
- You want lab testing explaining why you feel this way, instead of another prescription
- You are ready to change lifestyle habits gradually, with support along the way
- Telehealth visits work for your schedule and location
- You want a coach and a doctor working from the same plan
This Practice Might Not Fit You If:
- You want a medication-only solution with no testing or lifestyle component
- You are unwilling to complete the recommended lab work
- Your current care already resolves your condition and you are not looking to change it
- You are experiencing emergency or rapidly worsening neurologic symptoms, go to the nearest emergency room immediately
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to what patients ask most before their first visit.
Standard neurology diagnoses and manages neurologic disease, mainly through medication. Integrative neurology adds root-cause testing and addresses environment, lifestyle, mindset, and nutrition alongside medical treatment, working toward resolution instead of lifelong symptom control.
Yes. Dr. Zubkov trained in stroke management and neurocritical care and draws on this background daily. Mind Body Neurology combines conventional neurology training with functional medicine testing rather than replacing one with the other.
The practice sees patients in person in Minnesota and offers telehealth visits in Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
Rivka Pesta works alongside Dr. Zubkov to translate your treatment plan into daily habits. She handles accountability, coaching, and lifestyle adjustments week to week, while Dr. Zubkov handles diagnosis, testing, and medical treatment.
No referral is required. Book directly through the consultation link on this page, and Dr. Zubkov reviews your history before your first visit.
The initial consultation costs $99 and includes a full review of your history and goals before a testing plan takes shape. Mind Body Neurology does not offer free consultations.
Normal standard labs rule out emergencies, not root causes. Mind Body Neurology runs advanced biomarker and genetic testing designed to surface imbalances standard panels miss entirely.
References
- Beidelschies M, Alejandro-Rodriguez M, Ji X, Lapin B, Hanaway P, Rothberg MB. Association of the Functional Medicine Model of Care With Patient-Reported Health-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes. JAMA Netw Open. 2019. View on PubMed
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Chronic Diseases. View on CDC.gov
- The Institute for Functional Medicine. Introduction to Functional Medicine. View on IFM.org
- McEwen BS. Neurobiological and Systemic Effects of Chronic Stress. Chronic Stress. 2017. View on PubMed
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Environment Strongly Influences Chronic Disease Development. View on NIEHS.nih.gov
Dr. Alexander Y. Zubkov, MD, PhD treats patients across Minnesota and via telehealth in select states. Minnesota communities served include Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Edina, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Plymouth, Bloomington, Maple Grove, Eagan, Woodbury, Lakeville, Burnsville, Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Champlin, Chanhassen, Crystal, Excelsior, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Minnetrista, New Hope, Orono, Robbinsdale, Rogers, St. Louis Park, Victoria, Waconia, Shakopee, Chaska, Coon Rapids, Blaine, St. Cloud, Stillwater, Hudson, and River Falls.
Get the Root-Cause Answer You Have Been Looking For
Dr. Zubkov and the Mind Body Neurology team test your biology, not only your symptoms, and build a plan around what they find.
Prescribed only after a medical consultation. Telehealth available in Minnesota and select states.
Email: support@mindbodyneurology.com • Tel: 952-209-6209