As a board-certified emergency physician with over 25 years of experience, I’ve seen a lot of what western healthcare has to offer. As an Integrative Medical Specialist, I’ve learned there are a variety of ways to heal and there are better outcomes when physician and client become partners in the client’s journey towards better health.
I earned my medical degree from SUNY at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in Buffalo, NY in 1995 and completed an emergency medicine residency at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona in 1999. I have conducted NIH-funded research and published book chapters and articles for peer-reviewed journals. I volunteered for medical missions in Africa and Peru.
I was a founding partner in Premier Emergency Medical Specialists, an emergency medicine group established in 2003, and helped to grow the group from 8 to 100 employees, covering two hospitals that saw 100,000 patients a year. It was the experience of a lifetime! Over the years, I saw an increase in the number of dissatisfied healthcare providers and patients across the board. I thought there had to be a better way.
Transitioning to an integrative medicine clinic specializing in regenerative, lifestyle and Chinese herbal medicine was a great learning opportunity. I gained advanced training in nutrition and stem cell therapy as well as other forms of alternative care. Still, I wondered why so many patients were not getting better and not following through with the recommended changes? Perhaps if the mental and spiritual health was addressed, the overall well being would improve.
Transitioning to an integrative medicine clinic specializing in regenerative, lifestyle and Chinese herbal medicine was a great learning opportunity. I gained advanced training in nutrition and stem cell therapy as well as other forms of alternative care. Still, I wondered why so many patients were not getting better and not following through with the recommended changes? Perhaps if the mental and spiritual health was addressed, the overall well being would improve.
I finished a two year fellowship at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. My interests include psychedelic medicine and it’s therapeutic uses for patients and healthcare providers. I completed training in Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy at the Psychedelic Coalition for Health. I helped create Journease, an organization devoted to training therapists in ketamine assisted therapy as well as treating individual clients. During that time I worked with a variety of therapists who specialize in psychedelic integration. I saw what processes worked and what modalities needed work. I saw first hand the transformative experiences clients would have in the right setting with the proper preparation and mindset. I would describe these encounters as unique and life altering. I am currently facilitating ketamine therapy with clients and their personal therapists. I recently created Safe Pathways Wellness where we use psychedelic therapy to improve the client’s mental health. Along the way the other pillars of integrative health are realized.
Psychedelic assisted therapy is an invaluable tool within the scope of integrative medicine. I hope to dedicate the rest of my life to this concept and transform healthcare into better health and care for all.
I live in Park City, Utah with my wife Amy and our two pups, Faye Delores and Gary. When I’m not working I am playing in the mountains, traveling and going to music festivals with friends. I’m always asking myself “what matters most?”