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Bio
Dr. Tabatha Parker is a naturopathic doctor and leader in the integrative health community. She is known for her global contribution and commitment to equity. She was the founding co-secretary general of the World Naturopathic Federation and worked with the World Health Organization on the WHO Benchmarks for Training in Naturopathy. Parker has received a variety of awards and honorary degrees, including the 2015 Physician of the Year from the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), an honorary 2nd naturopathic degree from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) and the highest honor in naturopathy, “Magistra Natura” from Spain for her work advancing the naturopathic profession globally. In 2011, Parker was named a Visionary of the Year, alongside other visionaries, by UTNE Reader.
As past Executive Director of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM), a global community of holistic and integrative health professionals, she held key roles for nearly a decade including Executive Director, Director of Education, Associate Fellowship Director, and Director of Global and Member Relations. This work included Parker co-chairing, one of the largest integrative health & medicine conferences, the AIHM People, Planet, Purpose, Global Practitioners United in Health and Healing. She also was a key organizer of the International Congress of Integrative Health & Medicine held in Stuttgart, Germany in 2016, which launched multiple global collaborations and policy work initiatives in TCIM. As an international speaker and educator, Parker is an inspiring keynote at many conferences and has taught in many settings, including National University of Natural Medicine and Bastyr University.
As co-founder of Natural Doctors International (NDI), Parker led the first international naturopathic service-relief organization for naturopathic physicians and other CIH providers, for over a decade. Her clinical work in Nicaragua focused on women’s empowerment and cervical cancer screening. Being fluent in both English and Spanish, she developed the first naturopathic clinic in Nicaragua, as well as, naturopathic global health courses and interprofessional internships. As the medical director of NDI, she operated the international clinic, which saw over 20,000 patients during its operation, hosted over 500 international medical brigade participants and donated nearly ½ million dollars in vitamins, supplements and supplies to communities on the Island of Ometepe in Rivas, Nicaragua. She served as an USA Embassy warden for her region and in that role aided USA expats in crisis situations.
Her work at NDI led to a MOU with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), to aid the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health and the Institute of Natural Medicine and Complementary Therapies (IMNTC) to fully implement the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014 – 2023. In June of 2017, she attended the historic Regional PAHO Meeting of the Americas on Universal Health Care and the Contribution of Traditional and Complementary Medicine where leaders from the Americas and Caribbean region, Australia, Spain and China came together to discuss integrating traditional, complementary and integrative medicine into national health systems and universal healthcare. She serves as the USA liaison on the TCIM Americas Network which formed at that seminal meeting, and was also a collaborator on the PAHO working group for Universal Health in the 21st Century.
Parker co-chaired the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM) Global Health Master’s program, the first global health masters offered at a naturopathic medical school. Parker has been an international faculty member at a variety of higher ed institutions and organizations including Bastyr University, as well as the world-renowned AIHM Fellowship. In 2012, she became the first naturopathic physician to graduate as a Faculty Development Scholar from Dr. Ellen Beck’s University of California San Diego (UCSD) program Addressing the Health Needs of the Underserved.
Currently, Parker is an active member of the TCIH Coalition – which launched the global campaign, the People’s Declaration for Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Healthcare. She served on the steering committee of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health for years. She currently serves in volunteer roles on the Texas Association of Naturopathic Doctors (TXAND) Board of Directors as the Treasurer; on the Executive Committee of the Integrative, Complementary and Traditional Health Practices (ICTHP) Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA); and as a member of the Global health committee of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians.
Parker’s most recent academic co-publication, Traditional, complementary and integrative healthcare: global stakeholder perspective on WHO’s current and future strategy, was published in the British Medical Journal, Global Health edition in early 2023. For a listing of Parker’s full publications, please visit her Google Scholar profile.
In her heart of hearts, Parker is an activist for the integrative health & medicine global health community and believes holistic healthcare is a human right, fighting for full access for all patients to traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine.
