About Tyler
Specialties
Digestive wellness
Food allergies & intolerance
Healthy cooking / meal planning
Diet and Detoxification
Elimination diets
My Story
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As an undergraduate student in the biological sciences, Tyler initially pursued the stereotypical track of one day becoming a doctor. However, he was uncertain if he wanted to become a medical or osteopathic doctor. He had always been interested in nutrition and its implications in health and disease. His passion encompassed educating the public on the importance of food as medicine and inspiring people to embrace healthier lifestyles. It was apparent to him that he wanted to take on a more integrative and preventative approach to health care.
After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in June of 2015, Tyler found himself with an overwhelming number of avenues to explore. He had worked incredibly hard during his undergraduate career, but his path still seemed uncertain. While training for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials the following summer, Tyler dabbled with the idea of pursuing a career in research. Tyler worked part-time at the Neuroscience Research Institute at UCSB under the guidance of Dr. Pete Coffey, an internationally recognized retinal biologist, who extended to him an invitation to join his laboratory for the study of age-related macular degeneration. Tyler split his time working downtown as a Clinical Research Assistant at William Sansum Diabetes Center, where he assisted with the conduction of clinical research trials that were primarily focused on the development and feasibility of an Artificial Pancreas System for the treatment of Type 1 diabetics. It was this clinical exposure that ultimately catalyzed Tyler’s decision to pursue a career in clinical care.
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When faced with the decision to choose a career path in medicine, Tyler was very discouraged by the Westernized approach to medicine. This conventional and more predominant model of medicine, especially in the United States, holds ideals that are primarily based on the assumption that disease is a identifiable entity that can be eliminated through treatment and use of pharmaceutical drugs to suppress and mask symptoms of disease. How, he thought, could I make an authentic career out of medicine when our current health care system pays little attention to food and nutrition in the treatment and prevention of disease? It wasn’t until he worked with a naturopathic doctor as a teaching assistant for a “Nutrition” course at UCSB that he discovered what being a naturopathic physician entailed.
It was during his time as a teaching assistant that he knew he had found his life calling: as a doctor who takes an integrative, holistic, and preventative approach to medicine by exploring the natural therapeutic benefits of nature. One of the principles of naturopathic medicine that resonated with him the most was the concept of “doctor as teacher” or “Docere” in Latin. Tyler had always been a firm believer in educating others about their health. He believes that practitioners have the unique opportunity to be a teacher and a mentor that encourages others to take self-responsibility for their health and empower their patients and the general public with the knowledge necessary for living a healthy, happy, and sustainable lifestyle.
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Tyler believes that we, as a society, are starting to move toward a more preventative and natural approach to medicine. While not as popular and well accepted as allopathic medicine, he believes that naturopathic and functional medicines are the way of the future. With the rise in chronic disease and the increased patient frustration from minimal treatment options, now, more than ever, people are starting to get second opinions from alterative medicine practitioners. When making his choice to pursue a degree in medicine, he wanted to choose something that he wholeheartedly believed in and was equally new and exciting.
Tyler's passion for helping and educating others, along with his background as an elite athlete, has inspired him to pursue a career as a naturopathic and functional medicine practitioner with an emphasis in sports medicine and holistic nutrition. With the field of sports medicine evolving rapidly, the demand for and expertise of naturopathic physicians continues to climb. Additionally, their unique role as licensed physicians makes them an even larger asset to any team of high performance specialists and healthcare providers.
Ultimately, Tyler's career goals would be to open his own private Integrative Wellness Center, where he plans to bring on the best practitioners in integrative medicine for personalized wellness, anti-aging, weight loss, sports medicine and rehabilitation, holistic nutrition, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, and so much more. Tyler's passion for culinary medicine and nutrition inspires him to one day open his own restaurant so he can spread his knowledge that food is medicine and that we can use it to nourish our bodies and cure and prevent disease.
