About me
ALBINA, FNP-c, MPH For most of my life I had disempowering experiences with healthcare providers. I was given a diagnosis of IBS, with no understanding of why I felt so bad at such a young age, or what to do about it other than take drugs for the rest of my life. They would treat my symptoms without searching for the root cause, and I continued to experience unexplained pain, discomfort, and imbalance for years, until I took my health into my own hands. I decided to pursue a career in herbalism, integrative medicine and counseling to help folks just like you to find and heal the cause of your symptoms, and start living your best life. As a University of California San Francisco trained, licensed and nationally board certified Family Nurse Practitioner, I am trained in and offer the best of both worlds: Functional Medicine (often called Integrative or Holistic Medicine) and Western Medicine. I prescribe lifestyle changes, nutrition (with a focus on health at all sizes), supplements and herbs, and pharmaceuticals as needed. I'm also a Life Coach, and help folks make changes in areas that western medicine often forgets - what good is a carefully crafted nutrition or supplement plan if you're not following it because your thoughts lead you to feel overwhelmed? How can you ever truly heal your gut when you're not managing your daily stressors? I have been working in health and wellness for over 15 years, and have helped thousands of patients to heal from chronic illness. I trained at the internationally renowned Osher Center, am certified by the Association for the Advancement of Restorative Medicine and through Chris Kresser's ADAPT Institute for Functional Medicine, and am a member of the American Herbalist Guild. In addition to my extensive herbal and functional medicine training, I have spent years in apprenticeship with herbalists and well known Functional Medicine gurus, as well as having worked as a Primary Care Provider in busy urban clinics, including One Medical, an innovative primary care group. I was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina and am a fluent, native Spanish speaker. I am proud to hail from Rhode Island, the Biggest Little State in the Union. I completed my undergraduate studies at Oberlin College, and hold a Masters Degree in Public Health from Boston University with a focus on environmental health. I have built composting toilets with indigenous communities in Latin America, worked to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child in Mali, volunteered in Haiti after the earthquake, at the herbal clinic at Standing Rock, am certified as a birth doula with Doulas of North America, and was a hospice nurse at the Zen Hospice in San Francisco. I am passionate about supporting you in healing your gut, thyroid, adrenals, depression, Anxiety Disorders and fatigue. I've been where you stand: frustrated, isolated, and feeling held back by your body and mind. I found a cure for my aching belly with whole nourishing foods, carefully chosen botanicals and supplements, and important emotional work and behavioral change - by learning to accept and love myself just as I am, and to live one day at a time. I would be honored to help you on your healing journey, to support you in getting to the root causes of the imbalances in your life, so you can transform your wellness, and get your life back.
