Symposium Speakers

Feris is a clinical herbalist and alternative health practitioner. Their health practices are rooted in the holistic systems of wellness called Rootwork. Feris’s personal philosophy is that holistic care is a model that acknowledges that all aspects of a client’s life have a negative or positive impact on their wellness. Rootwork philosophy is grounded in identifying and working to correct patterns underlying the client's health and wellness.

Jenn Dazey, RH(AHG), is a board certified naturopath. She has been faculty at Bastyr since 2009 and is currently the department chair. Her private practice specializes in botanical formulations for the individual, incorporating fresh plants, seaweeds, mushrooms, and low-dose herbs, as indicated. Dr. Dazey believes that there are many factors that determine optimal wellness; herbs are a gateway to all of them.

Camille Freeman, RH(AHG), LDN, is an herbalist & nutritionist specializing in menstrual health and fertility. She offers continuing education and the Monday Mentoring community of practice for highly trained herbalists and nutritionists. She’s also a professor in the Nutrition & Herbal Medicine department at the Maryland University of Integrative Health. In addition to wrangling two children, Camille enjoys reading, gardening, and tracking down deals at thrift stores and garage sales.

As a child, Charles Garcia was taught the art of curanderismo by his mother, a Curandera and Partera, and now teaches Hispanic herbalism in his home as his grandfather might have. Garcia was born and raised on a walnut/almond ranch in the hot Central Valley of California, where he worked in the fields with his parents and wrote poetry on the side, later moving to the San Francisco Bay Area after college. Informed by traditions from various Native California healers and Chinese immigrants, Garcia founded the California School of Traditional Hispanic Herbalism, where the sick are helped at no cost and all profits go to this effort.

After receiving her BS in Psychology, Olayinka continued her exploration of health by self-studying herbalism. Since 2008, she’s successfully supported her family members of all ages with a variety of issues. In 2022, she received a Certificate in Herbal Studies from Maryland University of Integrative Health. She continues to study many health modalities to understand how they complement one another and contribute to whole health.

Steven Horne is a past President and council member of the AHG. He is also a Certified Comprehensive Iridologist with the International Iridology Practitioner Association (IIPA). He is the co-author of Modern Herbal Dispensatory, a popular book on making herbal preparations, and is also the author of numerous other books on natural wellness, including his latest book, Strategies for Health.

Mon Iker (they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist and clinical herbalist engaging the intersection of social and environmental justice through art and the healing exchange. Their recovery from complex chronic illness and severe toxic exposure, as well as using an eclectic, trauma-informed, and inclusive lens, informs their practice. They are inspired by the remembrance of herbalism as radical resistance, dad jokes, and their curandera great-grandmother.

Christina Lynch is a community herbalist, teacher, and cultivator who delights in reconnecting with the earth, partaking in spiritual practices, and carrying on ancestral traditions. Christina created The Ginger Tea Company, a small business focused on creating herbal products and services, and since transitioned her focus to the establishment of Black Herbalists Alliance. She is a board member of AHG, Florida School of Holistic Living, Red Hills Small Farm Alliance, and Herbalists Without Borders–North Florida chapter. She is a first-generation American of Barbadian descent who desires to share her knowledge of and passion for herbaceous plants with her community through herbal consultations, classes, and tea blends.

Kat Mackinnon, RH(AHG), has been a certified clinical herbalist and nutritionist through the NAIMH since 2011. Kat is the founder and director of Meet the Green, through which she runs a private clinical practice and teaches classes on herbalism and ancestral skills. She is the co-founder of Plant Camp, an online and in- person botanical learning community. She has been primary faculty at the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism in Lafayette, Colorado since 2012, and the Clinic Program Director, where she mentors student clinicians at the public low cost clinic, and is a principal reviewer of student clinician cases.

Erin McKinney, MS, is a skilled professional with over 13 years of specialized experience in the herbal supplement and wellness space. In her current role as the Clinical R&D Manager at Gaia Herbs, Erin is committed to raising the standards of clinical trials across the herbal supplements industry. Prior to managing Gaia Herbs' clinical R&D efforts, Erin was a leader in Quality Control across the company for seven years.

Gina is an herbalist, formulator, and an educator. Through her work with the indomitable and world-renowned mycologist, Paul Stamets, Gina has traveled internationally training practitioners and the public on the health benefits of beneficial mushrooms. She has served as a community herbalist throughout the Southeast, and currently resides in the Southeastern Appalachian Mountains. When not traveling and teaching, she focuses on cultivating herbs and mushrooms on her organic farm.

Dr. Kate (Kate Flanigan Sawyer MD, MPH, PHom), is a student of herbalism and a certified Practical Homeopath, with the goal of establishing a practice dedicated to clinical herbalism, homeopathy and nutrition. She is inspired to teach others to be empowered to care for themselves and their families, with a practical, simple, common-sense approach. She lives in Colorado, and splits her time between Granby and Denver.

Dr. Kourtney Sims, M.D., went to Tulane Medical School and completed her OB/Gyn training at University of Texas Houston and has been in private practice since graduation. She is currently board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is a fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG). She was also the FIRST female physician in Houston outside of the medical center who was certified by the North American Menopause Society. Dr. Sims is a member of the Harris County Medical Society, the Institute for Functional Medicine, the Texas Medical Association, and AHG.

Award-winning community and clinical herbalist since 2001, who divides her time between plants and people, Nicole, (RH)AHG, is a community activist who spent many years running sliding scale herb clinics and developing ethically sourced, custom formulations from her gardens and wild spaces. She works as a herbal educator and founded the Wildflower School in 2003. She is the author of Medicinal Plants of Texas and the book Herbcraft. She is best known for helping to “free” fire cider.

Morgaine is founder of Native Roots School of Ancestral Folk & Herbal Medicine in Taos, NM. She has a private practice doing clinical herbalism and bodywork, is a wildcrafter, gardener, and has a commercial product line. She teaches about reclaiming one’s own ancestral traditions as a displaced person, Jewish folk herbalism, materia medica, herbs for trauma and grief, cancer, cultural appropriation, and plant energetics, and leads herbal field trips, retreats, and wellness immersions.

Dr. Eugene R. Zampieron, ND, RH(AHG), has over 30 years of experience as a licensed naturopathic physician, registered professional medical herbalist, ethnobotanical researcher, botanical formulations inventor, educator, lecturer, spokesman, and radio personality. Dr. Z was on the founding advisory board of the University of Bridgeport College of Naturopathic Medicine (UBCNM) and has taught phyto-pharmacognosy, herbalism, and medical botany, and was steward of the UBCNM beneficial herb garden.