PROVIDERS
A High Standard of Care
Elizabeth Daniels is a Family Nurse Practitioner with a focus on lifestyle medicine, functional medicine, and hormones. She graduated from BYU with a master’s degree in Nursing in 2011. She has worked in family practice as well as functional medicine since graduation. She completed her undergraduate nursing degree from Weber State University and worked as an RN in surgical services on the surgical floor, in the operating room, and in the recovery room from 2003 – 2011.
Elizabeth Daniels and Connie Taylor opened Optimal Health Family Practice in 2016. She enjoys helping people feel their best by optimizing hormones and working to improve health by getting to the root cause of their symptoms.
Elizabeth grew up in Utah. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband Tyler and their 6 children. She enjoys camping in the beautiful Utah mountains, vacationing anywhere warm, and reading.
Connie Taylor has been a Family Nurse Practitioner for 10 years. She completed her undergraduate degree in Nursing from BYU and worked at UVRMC on the Cardiac unit for 5 years. After a couple years of working, she went back to school and received her Masters degree in Nursing from BYU. She has worked in a family practice/functional medicine setting since graduation.
She has been married for 13 years and has 3 children! Her favorite thing is her family. She also enjoys running/exercising, gardening, spending time in the outdoors, and being home with her family!
Connie opened this practice with Liz because she wanted to provide a much needed health service to the community. She likes being able to incorporate integrative and functional medicine practices into the insurance based model and hopes you will find the care you need here!
Sara Maestas is a Family Nurse Practitioner that graduated from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. She completed her undergraduate Nursing degree at the University of Utah. She worked as a Registered Nurse for 7 years at the University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, in Urgent Care and inpatient acute care, as well as at Huntsman Cancer Institute.
One of her favorite things about her work is seeing the positive life changes that individuals have as a result of optimizing their health.
She loves spending time with her son and her cat. She also enjoys weight lifting, stand up paddle boarding, listening to podcasts, and spending time outdoors. She is also an artist, and loves painting and creating digital art.
Julia Knaphus has been a Family Nurse Practitioner since 2018. Julia earned her Master’s Degree from the University of Cincinnati and undergraduate degree from Weber State University. She has worked as an RN and APRN at the Utah State Hospital. Julia enjoys science and loves exploring new, interesting, alternative, and emerging medical technologies. She also enjoys seeking and learning about different therapies and procedures that will help her patients feel their best.
Julia grew up in a military family and moved all over the United States. She has made beautiful Utah her home and loves it here. Julia has been married to her loving and supportive husband for 25 years. They share four wonderful adult children. Before nursing, Julia and her husband, Steve, were foster parents for 11 years to many amazing kids. Her passions include quality time with her husband and children, organization, decorating, thrift shopping, being outdoors, and continuing to learn.
Melissa Blakey is a Certified Family Nurse Practitioner. She has a background in women’s health and has worked as a Labor & Delivery nurse at Utah Valley Hospital for the last 15 years. She completed undergraduate nursing studies at Provo College and Dixie State University and received a Masters degree from Northern Kentucky University. She is passionate about optimizing health, and working to find and correct underlying issues. She has a strong desire to help patients to feel their best, at any age.
Melissa has been married for 21 years, has 3 children, and has been a lifelong Utah County resident and loves working with the people in the community. She loves spending time with her family and traveling as often as possible. Her favorite travel destinations usually have a beach. She also enjoys learning new things, being outdoors, photography, graphic design, and watching her kids in their many activities.
