who I am.
Hi, I'm Lauren. Im a family nurse practitioner, an advanced practice holistic nurse and a Registered Herbalist. Im also a mom, a stepmom, an educator, writer and community activist in Central New York. You can find more information about my projects and work by navigating around the site. Keep reading to learn about me as a practitioner, and to find out if working together might be the right next step in your health journey.
where I came from.
I started my journey with herbal medicine in 2008 in Olympia, WA. It didn't take long to fall completely in love with the plants and when I came home to NY in 2009, I started what would become a five year long apprenticeship with my mentor Lisa Fazio of The Root Circle in Newport, NY. There I learned how to use herbs the folk-medicine way - by working with them in the garden, making formulas and doing a lot of listening. While I went on to complete other more formal educational programs, the bulk of my training as an herbalist has been in learning the Old Ways of the Wise Woman tradition from generations of women that came before me.
My journey through the medicine world started in 2015, when after graduating nursing school I joined the cardiopulmonary ICU team at SUNY Upstate Medical in Syracuse, NY. After graduating with my MSN from SUNY Upstate, I spent time as a nurse practitioner first in endocrinology, then briefly at Planned Parenthood before settling into primary care in 2020 at University Internists East in Fayetteville, NY, a part of the Internal Medicine division at SUNY. It was there that my experience of combining the worlds of herbalism and conventional medicine began, and there that I was first called upon to educate young doctors, medical students and faculty on how to bring botanical therapies into their daily clinical practice. That work was truly a blessing, and transformed my work into what it has become today.
how I practice.
My role in the health of my patients and clients is to fill gaps. In doing something a colleague called supportive medicine, I serve as an ally for folks who have medical needs that are not being met elsewhere. This work includes tough-to-diagnose and/or treat conditions, nutrition, gender-affirming hormone care, pregnancy release, integrative & herbal medicine, and generally working up concerns that are not being managed, validated or investigated elsewhere in a serious and safe manner. Some of my most common areas of practice include (but are not limited to):
genetic connective tissue disorders (such as Ehlers-Danlos)
Lyme disease and co-infections
patterns of endocrine, immune and GI dysfunction
vascular compression syndromes
infectious diseases including long COVID, Epstein-Barr and mycoplasma
While I am no longer accepting new patients for primary care, I am still taking new patients for supportive medicine consults at University Internists. Anyone is able to send a referral my way for a specific issue in their health they would like to discuss. Starting in January 2026, this consult-based work will be split between two offices - find me at the newly opening Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Clinic at SUNY Upstate, where all needs are welcome and availability is not limited to Lyme, or at Circles of Sage, my private practice opening in Homer, NY in the New Year.
For more information on Circles of Sage including insurance questions and how to make an appointment, click here.
Interested in an Upstate appointment? Find referral information below: