From a Life-Changing Diagnosis to Changing the System with Pravan Health: David Melchor's Parkinson's Journey
Today, on a mission to pioneer new frontiers in holistic patient care through a blend of Western medicine and alternative healing, Melchor's philosophy is rooted in his journey with Parkinson's. From a single tremor in 2020 to a diagnosis two years later, this battle was as challenging as it was illuminating. "It was a real wake-up call," he recalls. "The transformation I'm going through is prolific, informing the pillars and values of Pravan Health."
Looking at Melchor's life, there is a clear 'before' and 'after' distinction, one marked by a mindset shift from ego-driven to purpose. From a young age, he was a thriving entrepreneur, carving a path of his own. He even turned his favorite hobby—throwing unforgettable parties—into a successful business by the age of 25, overtaking the Caribbean as the owner of multiple nightclubs and venues. As his endeavor expanded to South and Central America, so did his entrepreneurial interests. For instance, by leveraging his connections within the entertainment industry, he was able to build a successful Pan-American technology business that caught the early wave of the 2000s ringtone trend.
Undeniably, Melchor's lifestyle was carefree and enjoyable. But the signs of not taking care of his health have eventually started showing, and he knew change was needed. To find it, he traveled to Peru. "I had a successful career, many friends I could travel the world with, and a supportive girlfriend I truly loved," he says. "But there was something missing. I wasn't contributing to society in a way I was destined to."
This soul-searching odyssey culminated in a life-changing experience: participating in multiple ayahuasca ceremonies alongside his girlfriend, now wife, during a week-long jungle retreat. It was Melchor's first exposure to psychedelics, and it was transformative. "It was completely different from any other experience. It wasn't about losing control but expanding consciousness and discovering something profound within you," he says. It's fair to say he was curious, ready to delve deeper into alternative healing.
During his experience in Peru, he received a clear message that his lifestyle needed to change. Guided by this wisdom, he embarked on a voyage through the alternative medicine realm. There, he found solace and a renewed sense of purpose, with conventional medicine and new medical technologies, enriched with the power of psychedelics.
Equipped with this knowledge, he set out to elevate healthcare. What further fueled his mission were the gaps and challenges he witnessed through his wife's lens. In 2004, after meeting his wife, he moved part-time to New York, where she was studying medicine. Every day, he would hear about the system's broken parts, and that's when their combined vision was born: a fusion of his entrepreneurial aptitude and her firsthand healthcare understanding, leaving an eternal impact on the industry.
"My wife is not just my partner—she's the reason I stepped into the health and wellness space in the first place," he shares. "She's an extraordinary physician, deeply committed to healing and transforming lives. Watching her work, her empathy, and her precision made me realize the power of medicine not just as science, but as a calling."
After extensive research and raising capital, the couple opened Pravan Health's first office in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2017. Its high-end, concierge membership model quickly took off. Moreover, its preventative care with a focus on wellness attracted patients not only from the island but also from the US and beyond. As the clinic grew, from Melchor and his wife to hundreds of members and practitioners, the pillars Pravan was built on, the spiritual, mental, and physical, became more pronounced. David Melchor and Pravan Team
It was a few years later that his life took yet another unexpected turn. A tremor that eventually evolved into an official Parkinson's diagnosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms started with a lack of coordination and slower movement, which quickly alarmed Melchor's wife, who studied medicine. Hearing the diagnosis from the doctor's mouth was scary, completely changing his mindset. "Although the experience in Peru set me on a profound journey of change, there was still more work to be done," he reminisces. "The diagnosis was the ultimate message that set me on the next chapter of the Pravan mission. I focused on getting better, no matter what it took." He learned how to live with the incurable disease. "It wasn't just about healing," he shares. "It was about figuring out how to manage this new reality, one I would be living in forever."
What truly helped Melchor find happiness again was the powerful blend of friends and family's support, combined with a fusion of resources. Driven by this philosophy, Pravan expanded from one clinic, building an ecosystem rooted in holistic wellness and community support. Melchor and his wife have since co-founded Pravan Foundation, an organization on a mission to transform Puerto Rico's mental health landscape, and will soon be opening Pravan Longevity Center.
The center will offer all modalities that helped Melchor heal under one roof, including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, infrared sauna, peptides therapy, stem cell therapy, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and Eastern modalities like acupuncture, yoga, and sound healing, to name a few. This solution will make all-encompassing care convenient for all, marking yet another step in Melchor's grander vision for the future of healthcare: a place where healing happens from the inside out.
When most people hear the word "Parkinson's," they think of limitations. For David Melchor, it ignited transformation. Especially in an era when human disconnect seems like an epidemic, individuals like him, people ready to channel adversity into a catalyst for positive change, stand as a beacon of hope for generations to come. "There's still a long way to go, but I've never felt more energized to do what's right," he reflects. "As an entrepreneur, I've always been able to identify trends and drive businesses forward. But before, I was driven by ego. Now, I'm driven by purpose—and that's how personal growth stories turn into legacies."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
DW
6 hours ago
- DW
Africa: A tentative start in mass vaccine production – DW – 08/21/2025
Since COVID, there've been growing initiatives in Africa to start producing vaccines and medicines locally, thus gaining greater independence from global supply chains. But are these schemes sustainable in the long-run? During the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa's dependence on vaccines imported from abroad really came to light: while vaccines against the novel coronavirus were seen as an important milestone in containing the pandemic globally, they also were in short supply and due to unequal distribution mechanisms, only became available to lower-income African countries after significantly long delays. At that time, governments across the continent decided to ensure they had greater independence in the production of vaccines and medications in future years. But five years after the height of the pandemic, is Africa still headed in that direction? "COVID was a turning point — we are on our way," says Lenias Hwenda, the founder of Medicines for Africa, a non-profit organization that promotes healthcare across Africa. "Before the pandemic, there was insufficient awareness of how vulnerable the continent was, as it was 99 percent dependent on vaccine imports, and over 90 percent dependent on drug imports," Hwenda told DW, adding that since then, "African leaders emerged from this crisis with a renewed political commitment to expand local production of drugs and vaccines." A lot of change has indeed happened in the past five years: Not only are medical centers in Egypt producing their own drugs to treat diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure but in other parts of the continent, local vaccine production is also becoming a reality. In South Africa, companies such as Biovac and Afrigen are expanding their vaccine manufacturing capacities significantly; in Senegal, the Pasteur Institute is now producing vaccines against yellow fever. Pharmaceutical production facilities are also being set up in Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d'Ivoire, while Zambia is developing a cholera vaccines in collaboration with China. In East Africa, the governments of Kenya and Rwanda are promoting the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector in collaboration with Western partners: BioNTech, the German company behind the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer, has built factories in Rwanda, with mRNA test production set to begin later this year. This is being regarded as a flagship project for further mRNA-based vaccine production facilities elsewhere in Africa. But there's still a long way to go: according to information from the international vaccine alliance Gavi, only 0.1 percent of all vaccines in the world currently are being produced in Africa — despite the fact that 20 percent of the world's population live on the continent. The push for expanding the pharmaceutical industry in Africa is by far no longer about the coronavirus vaccine, but is rather intended to expedite the distribution of vaccines against other diseases such as malaria, Mpox and potentially HIV in the future. Despite these recent development and notable initiatives, the continent remains heavily dependent on imports — particularly from China and India. According to Hwenda, regional organizations such as the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have put forward strategies on how research and manufacturing could better be implemented on the continent in the future. But even in these ambitious strategies, consensus ultimately appears to be reached through compromise among the various stakeholders: Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, African heads of government could only commit to increasing the proportion of vaccines manufactured in Africa from just one percent before COVID to 60 percent by 2040. That is the stated goal of the African Union. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Above all, a lack of infrastructure and inadequate healthcare systems seem to be major hurdles on the path to reaching a sustainable rate of self-sufficiency for African nations. Hwenda remains hopeful, citing the establishment of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) in Kigali in 2024 as a major step forward, among other things. In the future, AMA will coordinate the harmonization of the regulation of medical devices in Africa, pool expertise and capacities together across borders, and also regulate selected medical devices. Meanwhile in June 2024, the Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty also took an important step in helping African countries reach their goals by inaugurating the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) in Paris — a new funding system designed to promote vaccine production on the African continent. AVMA says it seeks to purchase more than 800 million vaccine doses manufactured in Africa over the next ten years in collaboration with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The initiative will initially cushion the higher production costs of African manufacturers for this limited period of ten years, while the necessary production facilities are being set up. This way, however, AVAM hopes to contribute to their competitiveness in the medium and long term once those facilities are fully up and running, especially against competitors from Asia. The EU announced meanwhile that it would support the initiative with more than €750 million. But strengthening Africa's autonomy will be a long process spanning several decades, says Hwenda: "Building a health infrastructure is very capital-intensive; funds must flow over the long term so that the goals now set can develop their full potential," she says. "Now is the time to expand production capacity with sustainable investments, broaden the product range beyond medicines and vaccines to include diagnostics and medical devices, and ensure the long-term profitability of production projects that have already been initiated," Hwenda highlights. Although governments are also part of these various initiatives, they need to invest more into healthcare and the production of appropriate medicines, says health expert Glenda Gray. "There is political will," the scientific director of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) told DW, explaining however that this does not necessarily translate into cashflow. Furthermore, she believes there's another essential component also missing: "We need our own discoveries and more technology transfer," says Gray, highlighting that this can include research into new drugs and therapies, or into new ways of understanding or combating disease. The issue of Africa's vaccine production capabilities will also be on the agenda at the upcoming G20 summit, which will take place in Johannesburg in November. However, it is unlikely to be solved there and then. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
DW
21 hours ago
- DW
US: RFK Jr. risking 'nation's health' with misinformation – DW – 08/21/2025
Federal health staff have warned their safety is at risk in a letter to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. It comes after a deadly shooting at CDC HQ in Atlanta. Those who signed the letter said that the attack "was not random." Over 750 US Department of Health and Human Services staff on Wednesday called on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure health workers' safety. A signed open letter said health staff were being put at risk by misleading claims about vaccines and infectious diseases and came in the wake of this month's deadly shooting at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) buildings in Atlanta. The open letter said Kennedy "is complicit in dismantling America's public health infrastructure and endangering the nation's health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information," and implored the health chief to change his stance. "The deliberate destruction of trust in America's public health workforce puts lives at risk. We urge you to act in the best interest of the American people — your friends, your families, and yourselves," the letter said. Wednesday's letter was signed by former CDC leaders such as Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director, although many who signed did so anonymously for fear of retaliation. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video On August 8, a man fired nearly 200 rounds at six CDC buildings, killing a police officer in the process before taking his own life. Investigators said that notes found at the gunman's residence suggested discontent with the COVID-19 vaccine, blaming it for making him sick. Those who signed the open letter said that the attack "was not random," and pointed to "growing mistrust in public institutions, driven by politicized rhetoric that has turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization — and now, violence." Kennedy has been a long-time vaccine skeptic and notably removed all 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel last June. He announced earlier this month that research funding for mRNA vaccines would be slashed. Kennedy argued that the vaccines had failed to protect effectively against infections like COVID and flu.
DW
06-08-2025
- DW
US cancels mRNA vaccine contracts worth $500 million – DW – 08/06/2025
The Trump administration is terminating 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines, questioning the safety of the technology. The US government has decided to halt the funding of 22 projects focused on the development and manufacturing of mRNA-based vaccines that help fight respiratory diseases like COVID-19 and the flu. The decision, announced by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., stemmed from doubts over vaccines' efficacy and marks the latest attempt in a string of efforts that weave vaccine distrust into US health policy. "We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted," Kennedy said in a statement. The health department's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is "terminating 22 mRNA vaccine development investments because the data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu," he added. In total, the halted projects are worth "nearly $500 million," the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In a video that he posted on social media, Kennedy criticized mRNA vaccines, explaining the decision to cancel projects being led by the nation's leading pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, that offer protection against viruses like the flu, COVID-19 and H5N1. "To replace the troubled mRNA programs, we're prioritizing the development of safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don't collapse when viruses mutate," Kennedy said in the video. "Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them," he stressed. The mRNA technology is currently being used for more than infectious disease vaccines, with researchers around the world exploring its use for cancer immunotherapies. In a statement Tuesday, HHS said "other uses of mRNA technology within the department are not impacted by this announcement." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Kennedy has been a longtime vaccine critic. Since his appointment as health secretary, he has overseen the remodeling of US health policy. Kennedy has pulled back recommendations around the COVID-19 shots, fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, and refused to offer a vigorous endorsement of vaccinations as a measles outbreak worsened. He has also ordered a sweeping new study on the long-debunked link between vaccines and autism.
