Welcome! Please allow me to introduce myself.
I am Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald, and I have always been curious…
…curious about health, life, nutrition, plants, medicine, truth, the mind-body connection, spirituality, science, energy, and nature.
I suspect you, like my other readers, harbor similar curiosities which is how you found your way here. Welcome!
Many people know me from my work as a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, and Nutritionist at Santa Monica Wellness Center; others may know me from my media appearances on such outlets as Huffington Post, PBS, the Wall Street Journal, ABC, Fox news; and some through my best-selling book: “The Detox Solution.”
I am passionate about speaking and have been a featured speaker at many events as: The MAKERS Conference, Global Citizen Year, UCLA, USC, Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Conference, and I have taught QiGong at many conferences including the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
I started this blog after over 25 years in practice, to spread the word about my discoveries on what it truly takes to heal the whole person from the inside out.
But instead of blabbing for a whole page about my education, success stories, and credentials, I thought it would be more fun to tell you how I got here…
Like I said, I have always been very curious and it started in my childhood…
As a child growing up in the Philadelphia in the 1970s, I was fascinated by belief systems, purpose, and spirituality and I was one of those kids who probably annoyed a few folks by constantly asking “why.” Luckily my parents encouraged and supported me as I explored and questioned almost everything…
That quest for the truth led me to explore nutrition and herbology in my teens. Inspired by “Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book” the “Back to Eden” (an herbal medicine classic originally published in 1939!) I eagerly experimented with whole foods nutrition and herbal medicine to try and cure the pimples and PMS that plagued me as a teen.
Despite concerns over my “strange new diet” from friends and neighbors, my parents supported my new path as I continued eating healthfully and boiling up herbal concoctions in our tiny kitchen. Within a few months following my “new diet” my skin cleared, my PMS was a thing of the past, and I felt incredible.
From that point on, I felt a deep desire study nutrition and natural medicine. It was almost a supernatural calling. But to my dismay the only higher education option available after high school was hospital dietetics. That was in back in the day where there wasn’t a belief in medicine that food could be healing. Think bland diets in hospitals. Jell-o.
Horrified by the thought of suggesting processed food to sick patients or even to anybody for that matter, my curiosity lead me across the country to study Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The teachings of Chinese Medicine resonated with me in the deepest part of my soul, as it takes a very inside-out approach to healing the whole person—body, mind, and spirit– including the deep nutrition and herbal medicine training I had been seeking, and so much more. Helping patients heal through a purely holistic approach fulfilled a part of me that I had not thought possible (and still does to this day).
Soon after graduation and after passing my licensing exams, I opened Santa Monica Wellness Center where I have been practicing and educating since 1995.
My innate curiosities about health, energy, nutrition, mind-body medicine, and science have propelled me to continue my education into the fields of nutrition, homeopathy, natural product formulations, qigong, meditation and mindfulness, and to attain my Doctorate in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Throughout the years, I have never tired of the thrill and honor that comes from helping people realize their best selves.
When I’m not practicing, writing, blogging, researching, taking classes, or speaking, I enjoy volunteering at the Los Angeles Animal Services supporting shelter animals to find loving homes, teaching and practicing Qi Gong, deepening my meditation practice, hiking, running, laughing (love a good comedy!) bicycling–loving the outdoor life, taking care of my own furry friends as well as fostering shelter animals, and spending precious time with family and friends.
What’s with the Caterpillar Logo?
You may have noticed the logo of the caterpillar transforming into a butterfly on the Homepage. That image is symbolic of what it takes to heal and transform from the inside out.
This process of transformation is not always a comfortable or even a pleasant one, but it can be a beautiful experience if we are in a safe and supportive place.
This blog aims to provide that safe space you need to satisfy your curiosity and transform your health, life, and happiness from the inside out.
I am honored to play a small part in that transformation and look forward to supporting you on this journey to inspired health.
-Dr. Patricia