Pat O'Brien | Natural Medicine

Pat O'Brien is one of the few people in the entire country professionally schooled in both Ayurvedic & Chinese medicine (two entirely different major medical sciences). Pat studied Ayurvedic medicine from the Bayville Ayurveda Holistic Center and the American Institute of Vedic Studies. She studied Chinese medicine (TCM) and Chinese herbology through the Institute for Chinese Herbology and the Connecticut Institute for Herbal Studies. She also studied with world renowned Herman Aihara and was certified professionally in macrobiotics at the Vega Institute in CA. Additionally, she is board certified with the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, and professionally certified with the American Herbalist Guild (which has serious requirements and a peer review process). Pat is very knowledgeable in natural supplements (having worked in the natural supplement industry in 3 different states: CT, Rhode Island, and New York), and is a member of the Northeast Herbal Association. She is professionally trained heavily in nutrition/diet, Western, Chinese, and Indian herbal medicine, natural supplements and vitamins.

Additionally, Pat is a published writer. She has a fantastic book on natural medicine titled: Natural Medicine: What You Need To Know To Make It Work For You, and has several featured articles with Macrobiotics Today magazine. She was also quoted in the August 2007 issue of Fit Yoga magazine in the article "As Good As Gold". (See some of her articles and book on this website.)

Pat has had 2 TV appearances in Cattaragus and Tompkins counties New York, and has given dozens of classes, lectures, workshops on natural health throughout the northeast, as well as book signings. She has also been a guest speaker at several national reputable conferences, including the New England Women's Herbal conference in New Hampshire. In fall of 2008, Pat was a guest on the live radio talk show: blogtalkradio.com out of South Carolina. On a more traditional note, she holds two bachelor's degrees from Alfred University, Alfred NY, was an Executive Director for the American Cancer Society, and worked in the mental health field with emotionally disturbed kids and teens.

Pat is originally from the eastern end of Long Island. She also lived for a short while in Redding, Connecticut, and Newport, Rhode Island. Passionate about athletics, she ran track and cross-country for high school and college. In high school, junior high, and middle school, she was also on the tennis, basketball and swim teams. In her twenties, she ran competively and won several gold, silver and bronze medals in 5k races in the northeast including: Elmira, Rochester, Buffalo, Long Island, Connecticut, and Watkins Glen. Currently, she still runs, but is also into bodybuilding. Passionate about natural medicine, health, science, the ocean, and environmental issues, she started out as a biology, pre-med major in college (taking courses such as human developmental biology), before changing to a philosophy degree. She even took marine biology courses while living on Long Island.

Today, Pat has natural medicine offices in western New York in Andover (near Alfred) & Ithaca (Integrative Medicine Center) where she sees patients by appointment. She loves helping people get completely well, and has been in practice for 13 years. When she has free time, her other favorite activities include: traveling, visiting beaches, attending drug-free bodybuilding competitions and triathlons.