Training

Dr. Naylor earned her bachelors of science degree in Biology at San Diego State University. She then graduated with honors from Western University of Health Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific. During medical school, she trained with leaders in the field of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment and Craniosacral Therapy, also known as Osteopathy in the Cranial Field. She then completed residency at Northridge Family Medicine Residency, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. She is certified in Functional Medicine by the Institute for Functional Medicine and has also trained with Dr. Kalish of the Kalish Institute of Functional Medicine. Dr. Naylor continually stays up to date on current evidence-based, integrative therapies.

Passion

Dr. Naylor is passionate about partnering with her patients to identify the root causes of symptoms and restore health. She treats the whole person – promoting balance in one’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual being, as well as their environment and community. She is especially passionate about helping women optimize their health throughout preconception, pregnancy, and motherhood.

Professional Journey

Dr. Naylor was inspired to pursue training in Functional Medicine while she was in Family Medicine residency. She became disenchanted with conventional medicine while watching her chronically ill patients return again and again to the hospital, being put on more medications, and never getting actual improvement in their health. She watched their quality of life plummet as they aged prematurely. Knowing that nutrition and lifestyle modifications could reverse (or completely prevent) these chronic diseases, she was appalled that none of her colleagues were talking to their patients about this. After residency, she worked for several years in primary care in Laguna Beach, CA while she completed Functional Medicine training. She loved her patients and her ability to offer some alternative therapies within the insurance model but she wore herself thin trying to give her patients better care within the 15-minute visits. She knew she wasn’t best serving herself or her patients within this model, so she left primary care to practice Functional Medicine full time in January 2020.

Personal Journey

Dr. Naylor also experienced disappointment with conventional medicine on a personal level. During residency, she stopped taking hormonal birth control in an effort to start a family and was at a loss when her period didn’t return after several months. The specialists she saw didn’t have any answers and could only offer more pharmaceuticals. She was completely dissatisfied and wanted to know what was wrong with her body and heal it at the source. Her journey led her to explore alternative medicine modalities to help heal her body, mind, and soul. As she learned more and more about Functional Medicine, she was able to get to the root causes of her amenorrhea. She discovered she had Hypothalamic Amenorrhea and her body was in survival mode after years of birth control pills, massive stress, vigorous exercise, restrictive “healthy” eating, and lack of sufficient rest, which led to suboptimal thyroid function, nutrient imbalances, and autoimmunity. Reproductive specialists didn’t hold hope that she could begin cycling again and suggested IVF, but after almost three years she recovered her cycle and a few months later naturally conceived her beautiful son. She is now incredibly grateful for her fertility journey as this experience made her a better doctor, wife, and mother and revealed her calling to help empower women to experience true healing.