Meet Practitioner Renee

I've spent my life in healthcare — and my own health journey is what taught me to look at the whole person.

I've worked in healthcare since the 1980s, with more than 39 years of healthcare and phlebotomy experience. Along the way my work has included EKG, anatomy and physiology, cardiovascular education, clinical procedures, teaching, and a range of other healthcare services. That foundation shaped how I listen and how I think about the body.

I'm also a phlebotomy instructor and the owner of the Phlebotomy Training Center of Ohio, where I still teach students about blood collection, anatomy, physiology, and cardiovascular concepts. Teaching keeps me curious, and it keeps me grounded in the science.

The season that changed my view

I am a Stage 4 breast cancer survivor. My journey included major surgery and lymph node dissection, and it changed the way I looked at health, nutrition, food, and wellness in a way that nothing else ever had.

During my own recovery I started changing the way I ate and paying much closer attention to nutrition — before I had ever even heard the term "functional medicine." I simply knew that what I put into my body mattered, and that how I lived mattered too.

Later, as I kept learning about nutrition, wellness, and the connection between the different systems of the body, I discovered functional medicine. When I finally learned what it was, so many of the pieces I had already been putting together for myself finally had a name.

Functional medicine didn't replace my healthcare experience. It became another important piece of the puzzle — one more way to understand what the body is trying to tell us.

Faith along the way

My survival still feels miraculous to me. I give God the credit for carrying me through my journey, and my faith continues to be a quiet, steady part of how I live and how I care for others.

I never want to suggest that food, functional medicine, or holistic medicine cured my cancer. What I can share honestly is that nutrition and functional wellness became important parts of how I support my ongoing health — alongside my medical care, not instead of it.

Why I do this work

My goal is to bring it all together — my healthcare background, my nutrition knowledge, my functional wellness training, and my own life experience — to help people better understand their health and feel less alone in it.

My journey isn't finished; I'm still walking it every day. If you're ready to begin your own wellness journey, or to strengthen the one you've already started, I would be honored to walk part of it with you.