about dr. orna
Dr. Orna Izakson is a writer, herbalist, and licensed naturopathic physician practicing in Alaska and Oregon.
Her love of wild places brought her to plants and their medicine, which she now works to share with patients, practitioners and the public.
Dr. Orna sees patients through her clinic and offers an array of options to help people learn how to take control of their health.
In 2013 she launched the Traditional Roots Institute at National University of Natural Medicine, working to bring the people’s medicine back to the people. Over more than six years as its lead physician, her work trained hundreds of providers and prospective patients in the practical and profound uses of herbal medicine.
Dr. Orna has completed advanced training in functional psychiatry and sleep medicine, and does regular talks on these subjects. She is on the faculty of PsychiatryRedefined, a leading source for functional-psychiatry training.
An avid photographer since childhood, Dr. Orna can often be found sprawled by the side of the road with her camera lens set uncomfortably close to some pretty flower. (See her images on Instagram.)
Before starting her medical career, Dr. Orna was an award-winning journalist whose work appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times, Multinational Monitor, E/The Environmental Magazine, Willamette Week and High Country News. She has published chapters in Feeling the Heat: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Climate Change” (Routledge, 2004) and “Green Living: The E Magazine Handbook for Living Lightly on the Earth” (Plume, 2005). She is currently at work on three books about natural health.
Dr. Orna is ordained high clergy through Mystic Arts Gathering and Information Circle. She happily officiates weddings and provides other clergy services.
Education:
N.D., National College of Naturopathic Medicine
Trainee in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, Stanford University Sleep Health and Insomnia Program
Certificate, Climate-Aware Therapy, Climate Psychology Alliance-NA
Certificate in Mold Literacy, through Dr. Jill Crista
Graduate, Alaskan Essences practitioner training
Graduate, New England School of Homeopathy
Graduate, Columbines School of Botanical Studies 2-year apprenticeship program
Graduate, Portland Permaculture Institute design certification program
Graduate, Blue Iris School of Herbal Studies professional program
M.A. in Journalism, University of Missouri Graduate School of Journalism
B.A. in Film Studies, Wesleyan University