Heather Zwickey, PhD

Dean of Research, National College of Natural Medicine
Director of the Helfgott Research Institute
Professor
Location: Helfgott Research Institute, 2220 SW 1st Ave.
Phone: 503.552.1742

Dr. Heather Zwickey, director of the Helfgott Research Institute, dean of research and professor of immunology, brings a fresh inspiration to research at NCNM. Her training at the world renowned National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver prepared her to complete a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University. Dr. Zwickey hopes to prove natural therapies’ benefit to immunological responses. Her research experience examining the effects of botanicals, probiotics, energy medicine, and diet on immunological parameters in humans is pivotal to achieving this task. Dr. Zwickey also explores the mechanisms involved in infectious disease, cancer, autoimmune disease, psychoneuroimmunology, and immunological tolerance.

Since joining NCNM, Dr. Zwickey has received enthusiastic responses and support from students and NCNM administration for her many accomplishments. She has received several awards–including a research award, and a lifetime achievement award–from NCNM students and faculty. In addition, she is an inveterate fundraiser for NCNM research, including raising more than $1,000,000 in donations to launch the Helfgott Research Institute.

Dr. Zwickey initiated the Student Research Program at NCNM and serves as a mentor for student research projects. She enjoys mentoring post-doctoral fellows and junior investigators. In line with mentoring the next generation of integrative medicine researchers, Dr. Zwickey serves as the principal investigator of an NIH grant that increases research and evidence-based medicine in the curriculum at NCNM. Her long-term personal goal is to establish NCNM as one of the leading integrative medicine research institutions in the U.S.

Click here to view Dr. Heather Zwickey's Curriculum Vitae.

Projects:
Dietary Supplements and Estrogen Metabolism in Healthy Premenopausal Women
Relaxation-Visualization Therapy for Fatigue and Skin Toxicity
Ashwaganda Effects on Stress, Inflammation and Immune Cell Activation
Personality and Health
A Prospective Comparative Investigation of Immunologic Response to Negative Cognition in Persons with Chronic Pain
Anti-Inflammatory Diet Study
Psoriasis and wheat allergies A study of anti-gliadin antibodies
Development of a Natural Spermicide

Projects under way:

Anti-inflammatory diet or Mediterranean diet: which is better for patients with psoriasis?
Effects of the Ayurvedic herb, Ashwagandha, on Immune Cells and Cytokines
How does constitutional Hydrotherapy affect Immunological Parameters and Pain?

Selected Publications:

The Vanguard Faculty program: research training for complementary and alternative medicine faculty.

Pilot study of inflammatory responses following a negative imaginal focus in persons with chronic pain: analysis by sex/gender.

An alternative treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia II, III.

The effect of Echinacea purpurea, Astragalus membranaceus and Glycyrrhiza glabra on CD25 expression in humans: a pilot study.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis heat-shock protein 70 impairs maturation of dendritic cells from bone marrow precursors, induces interleukin-10 production and inhibits T-cell proliferation in vitro.