Faculty

Our faculty is comprised of successful homeopaths who are also known for their sensitive, accessible, lively teaching. The majority of our teachers have ten or more years practice experience, and/or national certification in homeopathy. In keeping with our philosophy of diversity within unity, the SSH faculty represents a wide variety of approaches and philosophies of effective homeopathic practice.

The curriculum at the Seattle School of Homeopathy was created by a professional homeopath who is also a professional educator: the sequencing of lessons, handouts, quizzes, readings and discussions is very strategic and effective.

• Almost all of our teaching is case-based.
• Our teachers use videotaped or else live, re-enacted cured cases, to enhance learning.
• Tutorial assistance is available via professionally-guided study groups.

Dr. Herb Joiner Bey is a seasoned clinician, educator, seminar leader, public speaker, medical editor, medical consultant, and author in therapeutic nutrition, Western botanical medicine, and classical homeopathy. Dr. Bey has conducted countless acclaimed seminars and presentations for health professionals, medical students, and the public, across the United States and the United Kingdom, on the philosophy and clinical application of modern natural medicine. He is a regular guest speaker on radio programs nationwide. He has served as adjunct professor in the naturopathic medicine curriculum at Bastyr University for the disciplines of classical homeopathy, geriatrics, and advanced integrative therapeutics. He has also served as a scientific editor of several journals in holistic health. Dr. Bey serves as a consultant and technical researcher for manufacturers of high-quality products in the nutriceutical industry. Dr. Bey brings to his students 30 years of formal education, personal study, and clinical experience in natural and conventional medicine. Dr. Bey received a B.A. degree in Physics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and an N.D. degree (Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine) from Bastyr University in Seattle. He is also a graduate of the Professional Course in Classical Homeopathy, sponsored by the International Foundation for Homeopathy. He can be contacted at his website.

PUBLICATIONS

• Author, The Healing Power of Flax (Freedom Press, 2004)
• Co-author (with Joseph Pizzorno, ND and Michael Murray, ND), Clinician’s Handbook of Natural Medicine (Harcourt, 2002)
• Co-author (with William D. Holloway), Water: The Foundation of Youth, Health, and Beauty (ImpaktHealth, second edition 2004)
• Co-author (with Garry Gordon, MD), The Omega-3 Miracle (Freedom Press, 2004)
• Co-author (with Patrick Donovan, ND), The Face of Consciousness (Lucky Press, 2006)
• Co-author (with Sylvia Kreutle, MA), HealthQuest Database CD-ROM, a compendium of scientific monographs on nutrients, botanical medicines, drug-nutriceutical interactions, and health disorders for professionals (latest update 2004).
• Co-editor, The Advanced Guide to Longevity Medicine, 2001.
• Numerous magazine articles for professionals and the public concerning the latest scientific research in this field.

Doug graduated from Yale University as a Family Nurse Practitioner in 1987, fully committed to the medical model of health and disease. After ten years of practice, he became convinced of the link between mind and body which conventional medicine had not yet grasped.

After witnessing the apparent miracle of homeopathic healing firsthand, he enrolled in Hahnemann College of Homeopathy, and began full-time homeopathic practice in 1998. He has published articles in Homeopathic Links, International Journal of Homeopathy, and other journals; has taught internationally; and maintains busy practices in Portland, Oregon and Walla Walla, Washington.

Doug’s special interests are the treatment of mental illness, the integration of contemporary developments in homeopathic methodology into current practice and teaching, and building bridges between homeopathy and the emerging sciences of consciousness, physics, and biology. Some of his articles are available on his website.

Melanie began studying homeopathy in 1972, when Dr. Bastyr loaned her his copy of the Organon and offered to discuss it when she finished. She never finished. That began a lifelong study in homeopathy. She was mostly self-taught for the next 10 years.

She then graduated from numerous post-graduate courses, including the International Foundation for Homeopathy, the New England School of Homeopathy, Dynamis College, and Luminous School. She was certified by the North American Society of Homeopaths in 1994, then by the Council for Homeopathic Certification.

Melanie has edited homeopathic journals for 12 years, including The American Homeopath and North American edition of Links. Her articles appear in homeopathic journals worldwide. She edited Dynamic Provings, Vol. 1 (Sherr), and Dynamics and Methodology of Provings, Vol. 2. Her provings include Shark, Meteorite, Dragonfly, Algae and Stangeria Cycad.

She lectures internationally, has spoken on homeopathy on television and radio shows, and taught at Andrew Weil’s program at University of Arizona, where she is a guest homeopath on Faculty Rounds. She teaches at Bastyr University, and is on the research board of American Medical College of Homeopathy. She has been a board member of IFH, NASH, and Homeopathic Community Council.  Her post-graduate course, Exploring New Horizons, brought prominent Indian homeopaths (Chatterjee, Anand, Shah) to the United States.

Melanie is listed in Who’s Who in America. She is also an award-winning screenwriter with an agent in Hollywood, and a board member of Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association. Dr. Bastyr treated four generations of her family. After treatment for fertility issues, she is one of the thousands of women about whom Dr. B used to brag, “I got a lot of women pregnant.”

Dr. Ivons is a Registered Nurse and a Naturopathic Physician. She has worked in critical care and emergency nursing, and has taught in nursing programs in both California and Washington State, including nursing and coronary care courses at Everett (WA) Community College and the College of the Redwoods (CA). She has also been adjunct academic faculty at Bastyr University for many years, teaching Physical/Clinical Diagnosis and several homeopathy courses, and has taught Homeopathy for Acute Medical Conditions through Bastyr’s Continuing Ed. program. She was a clinical instructor in homeopathy and in naturopathic medicine at the Bastyr Clinic for many years, and has served as a clinical preceptor for Bastyr ND students for nearly fifteen years.

Dr. Ivons has had a private practice in family medicine, with an emphasis on homeopathy, in Monroe, Washington for 20 years. Her professional ties include former Chairperson of Minor Surgery, and current Chairperson of Homeopathy, for the International Naturopathic Medical Board Tests, NPLEX. She is author of Homeopathy for Nurses (Bandito Press).

When not practicing or teaching homeopathic or naturopathic medicine, Dr. Ivons enjoys tennis, cooking, gardening, or anything involving warm water and colorful fish. At other times, she might be found laying floors, fixing roofs, currying her two white mares, or making cheese or wine at the semi-rural home she has rebuilt by hand.

Krista has been in practice in Seattle, WA since 1989. She began teaching at Bastyr University in 1997 and has taught at various other venues, including lecturing at Homeopathic Academy of Naturopathic Physicians and National Center for Homeopathy conferences, and teaching the International Foundation for Homeopathy professional course. Most recently, she has taught a series of seminars in the Seattle area exploring the teachings of Massimo Mangialavori. She has published a number of articles on remedies such as Physostigma, Pseutotsuga, Mandragora, and Solanum tuberosum aegratans.

Krista has studied with Jeremy Scherr, Louis Klein, Nandita Shah, Jan Scholten, Rajan Sankaran, and Divya Chabra, and others. She has focused her recent studies with Massimo Mangialavori since 1996.

Theo is a 1983 graduate of the University of Southern California School of Medicine. He completed a family practice residency in 1989 and a fellowship in Maternal/Child Health/Obstetrics in 2001. His work experience includes five years working in family practice for the Indian Health Service, and, since 1992, working in family practice with emphasis on alternative therapies and homeopathy in a coastal town in WA. Since 2005, he runs a fulltime practice of homeopathy at the Evergreen Clinic in Edmonds.

Theo's homeopathy training is extensive, and includes completing the prestigious Hahnemann College of Homeopathy program in 1996, where he studied with Nancy Herrick and Roger Morrison. He has also studied in depth with Drs. Rajan Sankaran, Jayesh Shah, and Ramakrishnan.

Theo writes: "Homeopathic treatment is the finest healing system available to us. There are also cases where allopathic tools are necessary, and I use my experience in homeopathy and family practice to guide patients toward their optimal healing program."

Nancy Mercer ND is a graduate of Bastyr University and has been in private practice in Seattle since 1989. In 1999 she joined the faculty of the Bastyr Center for Natural Health as adjunct clinical supervisor in the homeopathy department. Since then she has supervised and collaborated with student clinicians on countless cases. She is almost as passionate about the dynamic process of clinical teaching as she is about homeopathy itself.

Nancy is gratefully inspired by her teachers, especially Louis Klein, Massimo Mangialavori, and Nandita Shaw. In her spare time she likes to garden and loves to dance.

     Julian Jonas CCH, Lic. Ac is graduate of the Meiji College of Oriental Medicine in Osaka, Japan, as well as Cornell University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Asian languages and philosophy. Jonas maintained his own clinic in Japan before spending two years running a village health care project under the auspices of the Department of Indigenous Medicine in Sri Lanka.

After returning to the United States, he began his formal homeopathic studies. A graduate of the New England School of Homeopathy, the North American Homeopathic Master Clinician Course and other clinical training programs, Jonas is certified by the Council for Homeopathic Certification. He has studied extensively with Rajan Sankaran, Jayesh Shah, and their other Mumbai colleagues.

He  has published many articles on natural healthcare and has served as an instructor at the New England School for Acupuncture, the New England School for Homeopathy, the Finger Lakes School for Homeopathy, the Teleosis School of Homeopathy, as well as the North East College of Healing Arts and Science.

At present, Jonas maintains a private homeopathic practice, and is active teaching and writing about natural healthcare. He writes the following about his journey to becoming a homeopath:

Becoming a professional homeopath was less a career choice than a passion that I could not ignore.  After graduating from Cornell University in 1976 with a degree in Asian language and philosophy, and wishing to pursue a career in healthcare, I encountered a slim book entitled "Homeopathy: Medicine of the New Man", by the eminent Greek homeopath George Vithoulkas. 

It was such a striking exposition of this true healing art that I promptly wrote the author to ask permission to study directly with him in Greece. Several months later, the reply came: under Greek medical law, it was only possible to train licensed medical doctors.    

Unaware that a homeopathic renaissance was about to begin in the United States and believing to be without any means to attain training, my path took me to the Far East, where for ten years I became immersed in the study and practice of Oriental Medicine.

But throughout that decade abroad, I never forgot those first impressions of the inherent sense and profundity of homeopathy.  After returning from Asia and establishing a practice in Oriental Medicine, I again felt the irresistible urge to pursue professional homeopathic training.

I have had occasion to learn from some of the world’s leading homeopathic practitioners, especially Rajan Sankaran and his homeopathic colleagues as well as the Institute of Clinical Research in Mumbai and Pune, India.  I continue to place great value on and derive tremendous benefit from the ongoing opportunities to study directly from them.

For some twenty-five years, I have practiced, taught, written and researched many aspects of natural healthcare.  As adjunctive treatment modalities, I find it  valuable to work with nutrition, auricular acupuncture and electro-dermal screening to facilitate the healing process.

Yet there still is nothing as gratifying as seeing the curative action of a well chosen homeopathic remedy, the “simillimum”.   This is what continually renews my enthusiasm: to witness the magic of its gentle invigorating effect, which awakens a person’s self-healing vital energy and restores well-being.

Education has always been Lucy’s passion. She was one of the first 200 female graduates of Dartmouth College (Summa Cum Laude) and a Special Fellow at Cornell University’s Masters in Teaching program. She taught writing to all ages in a variety of arts and college programs before landing a life-changing job teaching English at the unique Alternative Community School in Ithaca NY. At ACS she received training in group-process and leadership, mentored teachers-in-training from Cornell’s MA-T program, and most importantly, learned that if she didn’t keep her teaching vital and present, some 8th grader might set fire to his desk.

Lucy undertook a circuitous route becoming a homeopath, via medical training in Hahnemann (now Drexel) University’s Physician Assistant program (B.S. 1984), then via working in college health, psychogeriatric medicine, and women’s health. Though she was a homeopath even before she knew what one was, she never regretted the ample opportunities P.A. practice gave her to experience directly the strengths-- and the failings-- of the allopathic approach.

Lucy served on the Board of the Council for Homeopathic Certification (CHC) for three years, was on the homeopathy faculty at Bastyr University as a clinical preceptor and academic instructor from 1999-2005; and created and led numerous homeopathic schools, classes and study groups since 1987, including The Finger Lakes (NY) School of Homeopathy (1994-97) and an acute care/ first-responder road show, “Homeopathy for Y2K and Everyday” (1999-2001).

Lucy has been in private practice of classical homeopathy since 1990, and returns gratitude to her homeopathic teachers—in particular, Louis Klein, Rajan Sankaran , Divya Chabra, and Paul Herscu —by carrying their traditions forward in her work. She often can be found swimming, writing, cooking, or camping with her husband in the glorious Pacific NW, and is the mother of two grown children.