I have a very common story of how I took the road less traveled. I got sick. Starting at the end of an exhilarating but grueling undergraduate degree in 2007 and then escalating during medical school, the years of stress amplified by the sudden loss of my first husband and, in general, suboptimal lifestyle habits, finally had their day. I broke. Diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder (with no relatable family history) I, a student of medicine, went off to seek my cure. From my own university hospital to Johns Hopkins Medical Center, to the blossoming vastness of the internet. I underwent biopsies and advanced imaging studies, trialed ineffective or downright poisonous medications. Nothing yielded any significant change. I discovered that exercise, diet and stress management were my foundation to any semblance of health maintenance and a functional life. I wasn’t getting sicker, though I was not getting better either. After a decade of struggle, and what felt like bumbling in the dark, I discovered Ayurvedic Medicine, Functional Medicine, herbalism… language that existed outside of the normative medical paradigm. But language that was not incongruent to it. In fact, it is in the embrace of the whole picture (the East, the West and everything in between) that a truly powerful form of medicine begins to develop. This is what I call integrative medicine. This had been my healing path.
I did not always want to be a doctor. Raised in households that held the arts in highest regard, I attended art camps and weekend studio classes while other kids played soccer and learned to pitch tents. I loved to paint, and held onto the notion of artist as a self identity until I dropped out of high school. Early emancipation brought lessons in pragmatism, and heralded new plains of self-discovery. Somewhere between the required practicality of poverty and getting far out from any previous comfort zone, I shifted from some of these initial formative labels. Desperately seeking practical skills and a paying job I matriculated into a technical college on a whim and a year later was repairing cars in automotive dealerships. The forging of physical ability, something completely outside of my then self-identity, set me on fire. The first time I removed a transmission imbued me with such incredible confidence and enthusiasm. It emboldened me to ask myself what else could I possibly do. I went back to school, starting in a local community college and then quickly into one of the top private colleges in the nation. I discovered science. From science to medicine. The rest is history, still in the making.
Early on, I dipped a toe in research. I did novel research in molecular biology as an undergrad, working with Trypanosomes, producing a completed thesis work upon graduation. As a biology major, I traveled to Central America briefly and toyed with field research. During medical school I worked for the NIH at the NIDDK, again in molecular biology and genetics working with hematopoietic stem cells. I was offered a position there upon graduation. I declined. It just wasn’t my path.
Primary care found me during the first few days of my third year of medical school. I was almost dumbfounded that I wanted to do something so… mediocre. It meant abandoning academia for the most part (I quickly figured out I wanted to practice rurally).
Today, I reside in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, nestled in the Allegheny Mountains. I work as a primary care physician at the local critical access hospital (think small one story building with a helicopter pad in front) near the local ski resort. I am an assistant professor for WVU Medical School and am honored to teach those few curious and driven students when they stumble down our way. I live on the side of a mountain with my husband and daughter. We grow big gardens, are completely off grid, pipe spring water into our home and heat exclusively with wood. It is as much health and hard work as it sounds. My passion is preventative medicine and my goal is to walk in that light as an example of it, not just a preacher. I balance home, work and self. I am by no means perfect… but I am getting a hang of this balance thing and it is pretty amazing. I continue to take exciting paths, life continues to unfold. It is no accident I arrived where I am (physically and otherwise), and while this place of landing is unusual in some respects, I arrived via a path taken by far too many.
I am board certified in Family Medicine. There was nothing else I wished to pursue when I graduated medical school. It is the closest approach to addressing the “whole patient” offered in contemporary medicine. But, if asked I would say I am an integrative physician. I know more about herbs, supplements, and their interactions with pharmaceuticals than most physicians. I have deeply learned the language of diet, of food as medicine. I have learned how to explain what and how to eat to patients, and why. I not only understand the benefits of meditation and other stress reduction modalities - I can teach them to people. What a powerful tool it is to be able to actually make someone feel truly better… without medication.
As stated above, I am also a patient. If there was anyone thing that has helped me the most I would have to credit Ayurveda for saving my life. Ayurvedic medicine is the system of medicine born from ancient India (believed to be 5,000 plus years old). Ayurveda is Sanskrit for “knowledge of long life” and is still a cherished approach to addressing chronic health and disease amelioration around the world. It is believed to be system that Chinese medicine was born from. While there is no one answer for everyone, I do believe it is the answer for many.
This site and associated blog has a few core goals. It is first and foremost about health in general, a place of provision for how-to on maintaining and improving individual health. Modern medicine has become such a complex arena to navigate while it cares for the sickest and least educated people around the world. We need more and better education about what is, and is not, possible in the modern science arena and why we do and do not do what we do. While I freely use my blog to express my opinions, I also wish to simply present science, as it is now and as it evolves, so that you, the Reader, can explore and grow.
Here, you come with me on my journey. But in reality, we are all in this together.
Peace. Shalom. Namaste.