Joanne M. Conaway
LTC USAF Ret.
Bachelor of Science Nursing
Registered Nurse
Certificate of Wellness, with Honors
Doctor of Traditional Naturopathy
Joanne M. Conaway, RN, BSN N.D. has a unique perspective of medicine and healthcare, having started her career as a nurse earning her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in 1976. Her experiences span all medical disciplines, having started in the ER and continuing in Operating Room, Critical Care, Cardiac Care, and Nutritional Support. These experiences afforded her the opportunity to observe the human body from various aspects of health and disease. While doing Nutritional Support, she cared for people who could no longer eat by mouth, receiving all their nutrition intravenously or by tube feeding. Dr. Conaway gained an in-depth understanding of nutrition at the cellular level and the importance of gastrointestinal system function. This understanding and experience sparked her passion for helping people understand the importance of a healthy diet and a healthy gastrointestinal system.
Dr. Conaway is a retired Lieutenant Colonel. She spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and Air Force Reserves, primarily as an Aeromedical Evacuation Nurse in Training/Standardization, while serving as in-flight Medical Crew Director. During her career, she deployed in support of “Operation Just Cause” in Panama and “Operation Desert Storm” in the European Theater in support of a major staging facility.
As an internationally acclaimed speaker and author, some of her most popular lectures are “You Are What You Digest,” “Inches of Deception,” and “Why Is America So Sick? Linking Digestive Health to Immunity and Hormonal Issues.” She has coordinated, developed, and taught nutrition education courses for professional organizations and corporations as well as Continuing Medical Education courses for medical professionals. Her primary focus is the function of the gastrointestinal system, its role in overall health, and how it specifically relates to immunity, autoimmunity, and hormonal issues in both men and women.
With over 40 years in the health care industry, Dr. Conaway has learned that although it often seems the scientific world is making strides toward “cures” in many areas such as cancer and heart disease, there is more to health and wellness. Diseases are not a deficiency of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications. Dr. Conaway is convinced that humans are not created to begin deteriorating at 40 or 50; growing older does not automatically lead to medical problems. She has learned that so much of what adversely impacts our health and wellness is our environment and lifestyle; primarily our food supply. Her opinion is based on her experiences and her understanding of nutritional needs and the lack of healthy nutritionals in our diets.
Dr. Conaway was no longer willing to do the work expected of her in mainstream medicine because of conflicts between the conventional approach of treating symptoms with pharmaceuticals and what she feels is a better approach that is, preventing and healing using all natural means such as nutritional supplements, herbal formulas, and essential oils. She has retired from traditional medicine, consults privately, and for 16-plus years has worked with a nutrition company, currently serving on its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Conaway believes very strongly, as humans we are body, mind, and spirit, and her approach addresses each of these on a path to wellness.
Dr. Conaway currently lives in upstate New York with her husband Rich. She is available for lectures, radio, television interviews, and private consultations, sharing her message of health.