Dr. JEANA KIMBALL

Dr. Kimball grew up in the state of Oregon. She explored her rural neighborhoods, learning to appreciate the power and beauty of nature. She trusts and uses the healing power of nature to help her patients find balance, get healthier and live life to its fullest. She began work as a dental assistant at age 16. Her parents urged her to learn a trade. At 19, she became one of the youngest persons in the state of Oregon to gain licensure as a dental hygienist. Her experience as a hygienist stimulated her interest in healthcare approaches that focused on systemic issues.

Naturopathic and Midwifery Education

Dr. Kimball earned her Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine (ND) from Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington in 1989. She graduated with honors in counseling. She believes relationships are central to healing processes. Believing that doctors should know how to deliver babies and desiring to learn the skills, she pursued a midwifery degree (LM, Bastyr, 1991). She travelled around the world after graduation from Bastyr, living and doing births in southern Texas, India, Holland and England. She soaked up different cultures while circumnavigating the globe.

First Practice

She returned to Seattle and joined West Seattle Natural Medicine in 1992. She created her first practice through developing a white paper on the systemic factors related to oral health. She used this as a calling card in creating relationships with Seattle dentists who saw how her care complemented theirs. In 1996, Dr. Kimball purchased WSNM. She grew it into a multi-practitioner integrative clinic focused on the primary care practice of naturopathic medicine. During this period, she served as vice-president of her profession’s state association and as co-chair of the insurance committee. She built a robust, insurance-based naturopathic medical practice, which taught her deeply about the strengths and misalignment with patient-centered, relationship-based, health-oriented care in the insurance model. She sold WSNM to a friend and colleague and is happy to see it continue to thrive to this day.

Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico

In 2002, thanks to the ability of her spouse to work via the internet, the sale of West Seattle Natural Medicine Clinic, and to full-fill on a promise to their then 9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, she took a year sabbatical to Costa Rica for two years, then a third year in Granada, Nicaragua. The conditions there inspired her to study public health. She began a program to earn a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She completed a summer fellowship at the University of Washington School of Dentistry as part of her process. She took a position at the University of Washington, Ob/Gyn Department as Research Coordinator and Program Manager for the Ryan Residency in Family Planning from 2008-2012. The family pleasure in experiencing life abroad led their daughter to invite Dr. Kimball and her spouse to consider something another move during Roz’s last years in high school. They lived in Puerto Rico from 2012-2015.

Dr. Kimball returned to Seattle in 2015 with plans to set up a new naturopathic practice. She rented the space for Junction Naturopathic Medicine in February 2016 and has been busy at setting up and growing the practice since.

Personal

Dr. Kimball has a blue belt (6th kyu) in Shotokan karate, and a blue belt (4th kyu) in Shito-ryu karate. She currently enjoys yoga, paddle-boarding, and for relaxation likes to wander, unencumbered by time deadlines. She has son at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA in Industrial Technology/Vehicular Design, and a daughter at Pitzer College in the Claremont Cluster in Pomona, California. She is a close collaborator with the organizing and writing work of her spouse, John Weeks, through which she participates in the national leadership of the movement to better integrate health-focused approaches with the dominant forms of payment and delivery. She is partial to her Costa Rican born English Cocker Spaniel, Esmeralda (Ezzie).

She is a baseball fan and believes that “Nature bats last”, that humans are a part, not masters, of the intricate web of life on the planet. She believes that we all need to learn to live in harmony with nature as perhaps the quickest way to health for all, and for the greater good.