About my care

Naturopathic medicine is a distinct system of healthcare that combines the rigorous diagnostic training of conventional medicine with evidence-informed natural therapies. It is not an alternative to conventional care — it is a complement to it, designed to work alongside your existing medical team to support your health in ways that standard appointments often don't have time to address.

Naturopathic doctors (NDs) complete a four-year graduate-level medical education at an accredited naturopathic medical school, including training in biomedical sciences, physical diagnosis, laboratory interpretation, pharmacology, and clinical medicine — alongside specialized study in nutrition, botanical medicine, lifestyle medicine, and hormonal health. In licensed states, NDs are trained primary care providers.

What distinguishes naturopathic medicine isn't just the tools — it's the philosophy behind how those tools are used.

Treat the whole person, not just the symptom. A symptom is rarely the whole story. Naturopathic medicine looks upstream — at the hormonal, metabolic, nutritional, and lifestyle factors that contribute to how you feel — rather than simply managing what's in front of you.

Find and address the root cause. Rather than suppressing symptoms, naturopathic medicine asks why they're happening in the first place. That question changes the entire approach to treatment.

Do no harm. Therapies are chosen with attention to safety, interactions, and your individual health picture. In the context of complex care — like cancer treatment or hormonal transitions — this principle is especially important.

Prevention is treatment. Many of the most significant health outcomes later in life are shaped by decisions and interventions made years earlier. Naturopathic medicine takes the long view of your health, not just today's concerns.

Integrative Oncology

See additional informationhere.

Integrative Hormonal Health

• Perimenopause and menopause

• PCOS

• Absent period

• PMS & PMDD

• Fertility

Integrative Dermatology

• Acne

• Rosacea

• Eczema

• Hirsutism

Integrative Gastrointestinal Health

• IBS

• Bloating

• Constipation or diarrhea

• Food sensitivities

• IBD (Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis)

Integrative Mental Health

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Brain fog

If your situation falls outside these areas but you're looking for thoughtful integrative care, reach out — I'm happy to discuss whether I'm the right fit.

The first appointment is unlike most medical visits you've had.

It is long — typically 60 to 90 minutes — because understanding your health requires time. Not the kind of time that fits in a standard 15-minute slot, but the kind of time that allows for a real conversation about your history, your symptoms, your concerns, and your goals.

Here is what to expect:

A thorough intake conversation. We begin by talking — at length. I want to understand not just your current symptoms but the full arc of your health history. Past diagnoses, medications and supplements, surgeries, family history, previous lab work. How you sleep, how you eat, how you manage stress. What's changed, and when. What you've already tried. What matters most to you. This conversation is the foundation of everything that follows.

A review of existing records and labs. If you have recent bloodwork, imaging, or medical records, I review them as part of the appointment. Often, the same lab values tell a different story when interpreted through an integrative lens — or reveal gaps that are worth investigating further.

An initial assessment and conversation about next steps. By the end of the appointment, you will have a clear sense of what I think warrants further investigation and what the initial direction of care might look like. This isn't a rushed handout at the door — it's a conversation about what comes next and why.

Lab or diagnostic recommendations, if appropriate. In many cases, I'll recommend additional testing to get a clearer picture — comprehensive hormone panels, metabolic markers, thyroid function, nutrient levels, or other assessments relevant to your situation.

My appointments are not billed to insurance directly. We can provide a super bill that patients can submit for out-of-network reimbursement. I recommend checking with your insurance provider to understand your specific benefits. And feel free to reach out with additional questions.

If you or someone you love has recently received a cancer diagnosis, you're likely navigating a flood of information, appointments, and decisions. Your oncology team is focused on one critical goal: treating the cancer. And they're extraordinarily good at it.

But cancer treatment is hard on the body. Chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery — while lifesaving — come with side effects that can significantly impact your quality of life, your ability to tolerate treatment, and your recovery. Fatigue, nausea, neuropathy, cognitive changes, sleep disruption, anxiety — these aren't minor inconveniences. They're real, they're common, and for many patients, they're undertreated.

That's where integrative oncology comes in.

The "Integrative" Difference

Integrative oncology is not alternative medicine. It doesn't ask you to choose between conventional treatment and natural therapies. It brings them together — thoughtfully, safely, and with your whole health in mind.

In practice, integrative oncology care is deeply individualized. No two patients are the same, and no two treatment journeys are the same. But in general, this kind of care addresses:

Side effect management. Using evidence-informed natural therapies to reduce the severity of chemotherapy and radiation side effects — nausea, fatigue, neuropathy, mouth sores, digestive disruption, and more.

Immune and nutritional support. Cancer treatment is metabolically demanding. Targeted nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle strategies help maintain strength, support immune function, and reduce treatment interruptions caused by the body breaking down.

Inflammation and recovery. Chronic inflammation plays a significant role in cancer progression and treatment tolerance. Integrative care addresses inflammatory pathways through diet, botanicals, and lifestyle — always within the context of your conventional treatment plan.

Mental and emotional wellbeing. Anxiety, depression, and fear are nearly universal in a cancer diagnosis. Mind-body approaches, adaptogenic herbs, and nervous system support are tools that help patients feel more like themselves, even on the hardest days.

Long-term survivorship. The end of active treatment isn't the end of the journey. Integrative oncology supports recovery, reduces the risk of recurrence where evidence allows, and helps patients transition back into their lives with a body that feels capable again.

Can Integrative Therapies Help Treatment Work Better?

This is a question more and more patients — and researchers — are asking. And the emerging answer is genuinely exciting.

Beyond managing side effects, certain integrative therapies are being studied for their potential to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation — making conventional treatments better at doing what they're designed to do.

This is an area of active and growing research, and while it's important not to overstate what we know, the science is compelling enough that it belongs in this conversation.

High-Dose Intravenous Vitamin C One of the most studied integrative oncology therapies, high-dose IV vitamin C has shown in multiple clinical trials the potential to selectively target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells relatively unharmed. At pharmacological doses — levels only achievable through IV administration — vitamin C acts as a pro-oxidant in the tumor environment, generating hydrogen peroxide that is toxic to cancer cells. Several studies have explored its use alongside chemotherapy and radiation, with findings suggesting it may improve tumor response and reduce treatment side effects simultaneously. Research at institutions including the University of Iowa and the NIH has added credibility to this once-controversial therapy.

Mistletoe (Viscum album) Mistletoe extract is one of the most widely used integrative oncology therapies in Europe and one of the most researched. Its mechanisms are multifaceted — it has demonstrated the ability to stimulate immune activity, induce cancer cell death (apoptosis), and inhibit tumor growth in laboratory and clinical settings. Importantly, several studies suggest mistletoe may enhance the body's immune response to cancer in ways that complement rather than interfere with conventional treatment. A landmark study published in a major oncology journal found that mistletoe therapy was associated with improved survival outcomes and significantly better quality of life in cancer patients undergoing conventional treatment.

Medicinal Mushrooms Compounds derived from medicinal mushrooms — particularly turkey tail (Coriolus versicolor), reishi, and maitake — have been studied extensively for their immune-modulating properties in cancer care. Turkey tail, in particular, contains polysaccharopeptides (PSP and PSK) that have been shown in clinical research to enhance immune surveillance, improve survival rates in certain cancers, and support the body's response to chemotherapy. PSK is actually an approved adjunct cancer therapy in Japan, used alongside conventional treatment for decades.

Melatonin Often thought of simply as a sleep hormone, melatonin has a surprisingly robust body of research in oncology. It functions as a potent antioxidant, has demonstrated anti-tumor properties in laboratory studies, and several clinical trials have explored its use alongside chemotherapy. Some research suggests melatonin may enhance chemotherapy's effectiveness while simultaneously reducing its toxicity — a rare and valuable combination. Its role in regulating circadian rhythm also matters: disrupted sleep cycles are common in cancer patients and have been linked to poorer treatment outcomes.

Fasting and Metabolic Approaches An emerging and fascinating area of research involves short-term fasting or fasting-mimicking diets around chemotherapy infusions. The hypothesis — supported by preclinical and early clinical data — is that healthy cells respond to fasting by entering a protective, low-activity state, while cancer cells (which cannot regulate their metabolism the same way) remain vulnerable to chemotherapy. Research from USC and other institutions has explored how this metabolic differential may make chemotherapy more targeted and less damaging to healthy tissue. This is still an evolving field, and implementation requires careful guidance, but it represents one of the more intriguing frontiers in integrative oncology.

The Common Thread What these therapies share is a focus on the terrain — the biological environment in which cancer grows and treatment occurs. Healthy immune function, reduced inflammation, optimized cellular metabolism, and regulated oxidative stress all influence how well conventional treatments perform. Integrative oncology works at this level, supporting the conditions that give your treatment the best possible chance of working.

It's worth saying clearly: none of these therapies replace chemotherapy or radiation. But the question is no longer simply whether integrative care helps patients feel better during treatment. Increasingly, the question is whether it helps them do better — and the research is beginning to answer that affirmatively.

Is It Safe?

This is the most important question — and the right one to ask.

The short answer is: yes, when practiced by a qualified provider who communicates closely with your oncology team.

Not all natural therapies are appropriate during cancer treatment. Some supplements can interfere with chemotherapy. Some botanicals affect how drugs are metabolized. Some can significantly help some therapies but then interact with others. This all is exactly why integrative oncology requires specialized training — and why I review every recommendation against your specific treatment protocol before suggesting anything.

Evidence-based integrative oncology is not about throwing supplements at a problem. It's about applying the right therapies, at the right doses, at the right time — in full collaboration with your medical team.

What the Research Says

Integrative oncology is one of the fastest-growing areas of cancer research. Major cancer centers — including Memorial Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson, and the Mayo Clinic — now have dedicated integrative oncology departments. The Society for Integrative Oncology has published clinical practice guidelines endorsed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

The research is clear that certain integrative therapies — including acupuncture, mind-body medicine, specific nutritional interventions, and select botanical medicines — have meaningful evidence supporting their use during and after cancer treatment.

This isn't fringe medicine. It's where oncology is heading.

Who Is Integrative Oncology For?

Integrative oncology is for anyone who wants to:

• Better tolerate chemotherapy, radiation, or immunotherapy

• Reduce side effects that are diminishing their quality of life

• Support their body's resilience throughout treatment

• Feel like an active participant in their own care — not just a bystander

• Explore whether certain therapies may help their treatment work more effectively

• Build a recovery plan that goes beyond "you're in remission, see you in six months"

You don't have to be deep into treatment to benefit. In fact, the earlier we can work together, the more we can do.

A Note on Collaboration

I want to be clear about something: I deeply respect the oncologists, nurses, and medical teams caring for cancer patients. This work is only possible — and only safe — when integrative providers and conventional providers work as a team.

I communicate with your oncology team. I flag potential interactions. I defer to your treatment protocol. My job is to make your conventional care work better, not to work around it.

If you've ever felt like something was missing from your cancer care — like you were being treated, but not fully supported — integrative oncology may be what you've been looking for.

There's a moment many women describe — sometime in their late 30s or 40s — when they look up and think: something is different. Sleep isn't what it used to be. Energy has shifted. Moods feel less predictable. Weight is changing in ways that diet and exercise don't fully explain. Periods are different. And yet, when they bring it up with their doctor, they're told their labs are normal.

Normal, but not well. That gap — between the absence of disease and the presence of actual health — is exactly where integrative hormonal care lives.

Perimenopause is one of the most significant physiological transitions a woman will experience in her lifetime. And it is still, remarkably, one of the most undertreated. Women are frequently handed a standard protocol — or told to wait it out — without anyone stopping to ask: what does this particular woman need, right now and ten years from now?

That's the question integrative care is built to answer.

What Is Perimenopause, Really?

Perimenopause is the transition period leading up to menopause — the point at which a woman has gone 12 consecutive months without a period. But perimenopause itself can begin anywhere from 2 to 10 years before that point, often starting in the early-to-mid 40s, and sometimes as early as the late 30s.

During this time, the ovaries gradually produce less estrogen and progesterone, but the decline is rarely smooth or linear. Hormone levels fluctuate — sometimes dramatically — before they ultimately drop. This is why perimenopause can feel so unpredictable. One month feels fine. The next brings insomnia, irritability, and a hot flash at 3am.

Common symptoms include:

• Irregular periods

• Hot flashes and night sweats

• Sleep disruption

• Brain fog and memory changes

• Mood shifts, anxiety, or low mood

• Fatigue

• Decreased libido

• Vaginal dryness

• Weight changes, particularly around the abdomen

• Joint aches

• Heart palpitations

What's important to understand is that these symptoms aren't just uncomfortable — they're signals. They reflect real physiological changes happening across virtually every system in the body. Hormones don't just govern reproduction. They influence brain function, bone density, cardiovascular health, metabolic function, immune regulation, and more. When they shift, everything shifts.

The Problem With a One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Conventional medicine has historically offered women two options for perimenopause: manage symptoms with hormone therapy, or manage symptoms without it. And while hormone therapy is a valuable and often underutilized tool — more on that shortly — the issue isn't just what is prescribed. It's how the decision is made.

A standard protocol applied without individualization misses too much.

It misses the woman whose primary struggle is sleep and anxiety, not hot flashes — and who may need a very different hormonal approach than the woman whose main concern is heavy bleeding.

It misses the woman with a history of migraines, autoimmune conditions, thyroid dysfunction, or insulin resistance — all of which intersect with hormonal health in meaningful ways.

It misses the woman who has been told her labs are "normal" but whose symptoms are telling a different story — because standard hormone panels often don't capture the full picture of what's happening hormonally.

And it almost always misses the long game.

Short-Term Relief and Long-Term Health: Why Both Matter

This is where integrative hormonal care is fundamentally different. The goal is never just to make symptoms manageable today. It's to make decisions that protect your health for the next 20, 30, and 40 years.

The hormonal shifts of perimenopause have long-term consequences that go well beyond hot flashes. Estrogen, for example, is profoundly protective. It supports bone density, cardiovascular function, brain health, and metabolic regulation. As estrogen declines, risks shift — and the decisions made during the perimenopause window have real implications for what comes after it.

Bone health. The most rapid period of bone loss in a woman's life occurs in the years immediately surrounding menopause. Osteoporosis is not an old woman's disease — it's a perimenopausal one. Early, individualized intervention matters enormously here.

Cardiovascular health. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women, and estrogen's decline is directly tied to increasing cardiovascular risk. Cholesterol patterns change. Arterial flexibility decreases. Blood pressure may rise. An integrative approach tracks and addresses these shifts proactively rather than reactively.

Brain health and cognition. Estrogen plays a significant neuroprotective role. The brain fog many women experience in perimenopause is not imaginary — it reflects real neurological changes. Emerging research on estrogen, cognition, and Alzheimer's risk is reshaping how we think about the timing of hormone therapy, with growing evidence that the window of intervention matters.

Metabolic health. Insulin sensitivity often decreases as hormones shift. Weight gain, particularly visceral fat, becomes more common. Inflammation tends to increase. These aren't inevitable — but they require attention and, often, a different strategy than what worked in a woman's 30s.

An integrative approach holds all of this in view simultaneously. The symptom relief you feel today should be built on a foundation that's also protecting your brain, your bones, your heart, and your metabolism for the decades ahead.

What Individualized Hormonal Care Actually Looks Like

Integrative hormonal care begins with a thorough picture — not just a basic hormone panel, but a full assessment of where you are hormonally, metabolically, and physiologically. This includes:

Comprehensive hormone testing. Looking at estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, and thyroid hormones — not in isolation, but in relationship to each other and to your symptoms. Hormones are a system, not a checklist.

Metabolic and cardiovascular markers. Fasting glucose, insulin, lipid panels, inflammatory markers, and bone density where indicated. These inform both the immediate treatment picture and the long-term risk conversation.

A detailed symptom and history intake. Which symptoms are most disruptive? When did they start? How is sleep? How is mood? What does energy look like across the day? What is your personal and family history — cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoporosis, autoimmune conditions? This conversation shapes everything.

Understanding your priorities. Some women want to feel better as quickly as possible. Others are primarily motivated by long-term disease prevention. Most want both — but knowing what matters most to you shapes the approach we take together.

From there, an individualized plan is built. It may include:

The Tools of Integrative Hormonal Care

Hormone Therapy — Reconsidered

Hormone therapy has had a complicated public history. The 2002 Women's Health Initiative study created widespread fear about its safety — fear that led many women to suffer through perimenopause unnecessarily, and many doctors to under-prescribe a genuinely effective treatment.

The science has evolved significantly since then. We now understand that the type of hormone, the dose, the route of delivery, and critically, the timing of initiation all matter enormously. The concept of the "timing hypothesis" — sometimes called the critical window — suggests that hormone therapy initiated during perimenopause or early menopause carries a very different risk-benefit profile than therapy initiated years later.

For many women, hormone therapy is not just symptom relief. It's a long-term investment in bone, brain, and cardiovascular health. The conversation deserves nuance, not a blanket yes or no.

Bioidentical hormones — hormones that are molecularly identical to those your body produces — are one option within the hormone therapy conversation, and one I discuss in detail with patients who are candidates. The goal is always the lowest effective dose, the most appropriate delivery method, and a regular reassessment of whether the therapy is still serving you.

Nutritional Medicine

What you eat directly influences how hormones are produced, metabolized, and eliminated. An integrative approach to perimenopause addresses:

• Blood sugar regulation — one of the most impactful levers for hormonal stability and symptom management

• Phytoestrogens and their role in modulating estrogenic activity

• Cruciferous vegetables and their support of healthy estrogen metabolism

• Anti-inflammatory eating patterns that reduce the inflammation amplified by hormonal shifts

• Protein and strength — critical for maintaining muscle mass and metabolic health through the transition

Botanical Medicine

Select plant-based medicines have meaningful evidence for hormonal support. Black cohosh, ashwagandha, maca, chasteberry, and others each have distinct mechanisms and indications — meaning the right botanical for one woman may not be the right one for another. This is exactly why individualized prescribing matters.

Adrenal and Stress Support

The adrenal glands become increasingly important during perimenopause, as they take over some hormone production as ovarian function declines. Chronic stress, poor sleep, and HPA axis dysregulation can significantly worsen perimenopausal symptoms. Addressing cortisol patterns, sleep quality, and stress resilience is a core part of integrative hormonal care — not an afterthought.

Thyroid Optimization

Thyroid dysfunction is common in perimenopausal women and frequently goes underdiagnosed because standard testing doesn't capture the full thyroid picture. Fatigue, weight gain, brain fog, and mood changes can be thyroid symptoms masquerading as — or compounding — perimenopausal ones. A thorough integrative workup always includes a complete thyroid assessment.

Lifestyle as Medicine

Resistance training, sleep optimization, stress management, and alcohol reduction are not generic wellness advice in this context — they are specific, evidence-based interventions for hormonal health. Each one has a mechanistic rationale for why it matters during perimenopause, and each one is discussed as part of an individualized plan rather than a checklist handed to every patient.

You Deserve More Than "Your Labs Are Normal"

Perimenopause is not a disease. But it is a physiological transition that deserves real medical attention, real time, and a real plan. Not a pamphlet. Not a prescription written in a 10-minute appointment. Not reassurance that what you're experiencing is "just part of aging."

What you're experiencing is real. It has causes. It has solutions. And the decisions made during this window — how you support your body, whether and how you use hormone therapy, how you eat and move and sleep — have ripple effects that will shape your health for decades.

Integrative hormonal care meets you where you are, with a full picture of who you are, and builds a plan that addresses today's symptoms without losing sight of tomorrow's health.

That's not a luxury. That's what good medicine looks like.