More than twenty-five years ago, when I was studying to become a professor and researcher at Penn State's multidisciplinary Department of Human Development & Family Studies, little did I know that my career path would lead me to my own applied private practice, after having been a professor at Wheelock College.
When I was a little girl in Greece dreaming of becoming a gynecologist or pediatrician, I could not have predicted that my study of human development and relationship science would allow me to incorporate psychology, medicine, nutrition, and neuroscience in support of both mothers and children and anyone else wanting to optimize their mental and overall health. My understanding of the importance of connection and relationships grew partly from my own upbringing in a close-knit immigrant family but also from the seed that was planted by my first undergraduate child development professor at Tufts University who got me excited about the brain.
Having studied under mentors in the fields of linguistics, sibling and family relationships, behavioral genetics, theory of mind, and parental ethnotheories, I would later weave these threads into my life's work, placing the importance of perspective-taking at its center. My love of nutrient-dense cooking also took root in my childhood, as I apprenticed in our family kitchen helping my mom cook our Greek meals. The integration of the principles of food as medicine and mind-body wellness would first hold personal significance as I had to rely on them to nurse myself back to whole health after surgery, and then professional significance as I studied and understood the exciting, cutting-edge research connecting the microbiome, stress/trauma, diet, and health.
It has become my life's purpose and mission to educate you about the connection between gut, mind, and body and to teach you how to achieve mental wellness and whole health through nutrient-dense cooking, strengthening relationships, and responding to stress. Contact me if you're curious about how we can work together.