Susan's decision to study naturopathic medicine in 2005 followed a fifteen year career in pharmaceuticals and drug research. Having learned a great deal about healthcare and the role drugs play in the treatment of disease, Susan wanted to learn more about medicine and the body's innate ability to heal itself if supported using more natural methods.

Susan is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor receiving the Governor's Award in Academic Excellence from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (Toronto). Prior to her education at CCNM, Susan obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree at the University of Waterloo in 1982 and a Masters of Science Degree in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Toronto in 1985. Susan is also a member of the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors (OAND) and the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors (CAND).

I wish I would have discovered naturopathic medicine much earlier in my life as I know the energy I feel today as a woman in her fifties would be even more intensified. Unlike many other careers, becoming a naturopathic physician naturally changed my way of life for the better.

Changing the way I eat, paying more attention to my body's signals and being passionate about what is important to me continues to pay back ten-fold - it is a knowledge and experience anyone would want to share.

Total health is determined by the ongoing interplay between our mind's thoughts, our spiritual sense of community / belonging and the physiological health of our physical state. New fields in medicine such as psychoneuroimmunology and epigenetics are proof of the growing awareness of this fascinating interaction determining our health status.

Too often, psychological stressors and/or emotional trauma occurring years earlier in a person's life can be linked to the later appearance of serious illness and chronic disease. This is why it is so important to spend time talking with a patient - so that the health of the body, mind and spirit can be clearly ascertained. By taking the time, we hope to identify the root cause of illness whether it is mental, spiritual, environmental or physical in nature - and focus our efforts there. Naturopathic medicine uses the medical knowledge of today's world with the healing qualities of nature to gently assist the body, mind and spirit to get better and reach its natural potential.