About Us
AURA Academy was founded two practicing physician assistants and medical educators with a shared mission to make evidence-based hormone optimization a routine part of modern primary care. Through practical, whole-patient education grounded in both conventional and functional medicine, Matthew and Stefan created this course to empower clinicians to confidently diagnose, treat, and optimize hormonal health across the lifespan.
Stefan Hartmann MPAS PA-C
Co-Founder and Course Instructor
Stefan Hartmann is a practicing Physician Assistant with diverse clinical experience in urgent care, internal medicine, family medicine, spine surgery, interventional pain management, and psychiatry. His multidisciplinary background, combined with a degree in Sports and Exercise Science, has shaped his approach to patient care by emphasizing prevention, lifestyle optimization, and identifying the root causes of chronic disease. Currently Stefan is the owner of Iron Direct Primary Care, a highly successful primary care office in Florida that practices the medical model this course teaches.
Stefan has dedicated much of his career to advancing functional medicine and hormone optimization within the primary care setting. As an educator, he regularly delivers continuing medical education (CME) lectures for healthcare professionals and has developed educational programs focused on translating complex endocrine physiology into practical, evidence-based treatment strategies that clinicians can confidently implement in everyday practice.
As co-founder of this educational platform, Stefan played a central role in developing the clinical protocols, treatment algorithms, and therapeutic frameworks presented throughout this course. His passion for medical education and lifelong learning is reflected in a curriculum designed to bridge conventional medicine with functional medicine while maintaining the structured, physiology-based teaching style familiar to physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners.
His goal is to empower clinicians with the knowledge, confidence, and practical tools needed to integrate hormone optimization and whole-patient care into modern primary care practice much like he did when IronDPC was founded.
Matthew Bach MMS PA-C
Co-Founder and Course Educator
Matthew Bach is a practicing Physician Assistant with clinical experience spanning orthopedic surgery, urgent care, and primary care. Throughout his career, he has developed a passion for combining evidence-based medicine with practical, patient-centered care, with a particular interest in preventive medicine, hormone optimization, and functional medicine.
Beyond clinical practice, Matthew is deeply committed to medical education. He is the author of PA PASSifier: Clinical Guidebook and PANCE Review, a comprehensive board review resource that has helped thousands of physician assistant students and new graduates prepare for certification and strengthen their clinical knowledge. His educational philosophy emphasizes simplifying complex medical concepts into practical, systematic frameworks that clinicians can confidently apply in everyday practice.
Matthew co-developed this hormone optimization curriculum to bridge the gap between conventional medicine and functional medicine. Recognizing that many healthcare professionals receive limited formal training in hormone replacement therapy and root-cause medicine, he designed the course using the structured, physiology-based teaching methods familiar to medical and PA education. The result is a practical, evidence-informed curriculum that equips clinicians to confidently evaluate, diagnose, and manage hormonal disorders while treating the whole patient rather than isolated laboratory values.
His goal is to help healthcare providers integrate hormone optimization into routine primary care through thoughtful clinical reasoning, evidence-based protocols, and a comprehensive understanding of endocrine physiology.
