Dr. Jennifer Bahr

Class of 2012

For some alumni, choosing Sonoran was a decision. For others, it was fate.

In the middle of studying for the MCAT, Dr. Jennifer Bahr (Sonoran 2012) providentially stumbled upon an article introducing her to naturopathic medicine. It didn’t take long before she made the switch from the conventional medical route to one that made “much more sense,” Dr. Bahr explained.

“I originally thought I would just cobble together my own integrative approach [as a conventional doctor],” she said. “I figured I would have to travel the world and learn all the different ways of treating people, then create a mish-mash of my own treatments in practice.”

To her surprise, the program Dr. Bahr thought she’d have to create herself already existed. Sonoran and naturopathic medicine became her new destination.

Dr. Bahr soon fell in love with the medicine; however, she approached homeopathy with skepticism. Due to her background in physiology and neurobiology—plus many years of working for the federal government—homeopathy did not immediately click with her structured, evidence-based mind.

Eventually, Dr. Bahr tried homeopathy herself while working through her own mental health challenges. She found it to be “the most powerful medicine [she’d] ever used.”

“I quickly realized I needed to learn how to use [homeopathy] to help my patients,” Dr. Bahr said. “I didn’t feel like the [conventional] treatments provided to people in psychiatry were the right answer … for a lot of people, [the conventional treatments] just make them less scary to the public and cause more diseases, and they don’t actually help with what’s going on internally.”

Dr. Bahr now treats exclusively psychiatric conditions in her practice and focuses on homeopathy as the main treatment form. She’s also working to increase access to naturopathic medicine for psychiatric patients—and patients in general—through her position as the California Naturopathic Doctors Association’s president.

“I’m proud of the work we’re doing to expand access to naturopathic medicine in California, and to improve the practice for naturopathic doctors, through legislative and PR efforts,” Dr. Bahr said. “It’s a work in progress, but I have lofty goals.”

Dr. Bahr is also the founding vice president of the Psychiatric Association of Naturopathic Physicians. The association is a chartered affiliate of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP).

Get in touch with Dr. Jennifer Bahr using our Find an ND page!

To learn how Sonoran can prepare YOU for a rewarding career in medicine, contact admissions@sonoran.edu or call 480.858.9100.