Choosing naturopathic medicine was no surprise given my upbringing. My mother cared for me (and my three older siblings) without the aid of doctors. She used cool, wet cloths to manage my fevers and offered hot lemon and honey and chicken soup when I was ill. As a kid, I remember having chicken pox and mumps, without feeling particularly sick, and recovering rapidly.
I graduated Northern Arizona University in 1984 with a BS in biology and began working as a research assistant at the University of Arizona Cancer Center thinking conventional medicine was the direction to go. But the medical paradigm of my childhood had impressed me as ‘normal’ and conventional medicine was like putting on shoes that were too small...very uncomfortable. While perusing the University medical library stacks one day I found a catalog for the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, and, well, the shoe fit.
With my doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from NCNM, Portland, OR, 1994, I began my private practice on NE 45th and Fremont, turning what once was a hair salon into a clinic with multiple practitioners who all support the inherent self-healing process. When not doctoring or making medicines, I am often walking in the mountains of the Pacific NW with a pack on my back.