Justin Pollack is a 32 year-old student in his fourth year of the ND program. He received his BA at Evergreen State College, a liberal arts school where he took some pre-med and natural history classes. He shares some perspective on what to expect in an ND program and how to find balance during the hectic years at Bastyr.

What brought you to Bastyr?

I had always wanted to be either a wildlife biologist or work with people – I never really wanted to be an MD doctor, but I wanted to connect people with nature and teach people about nature. That’s what drew me to naturopathy.

What classes have you liked most?

I like Dr. Sheryl Berman’s classes, also Dr. Alan Gaby’s classes, pharmacology with Dr. Jeff Novak, and botanical medicine classes with Dr. Lise Alschuler. Dr. Alan Gaby is great -- I hope we can keep him for awhile. He is the endowed chair of the nutrition department.

Being someone who is a little intimidated by the sciences, I enjoy the classes with a little more balance, more of an energetic perspective and clinical applications because I like working with people. During the first year, maybe 10 percent of coursework is clinically applied classes. In the third and fourth years, it’s about 80-90 percent clinically applied.

Do you feel prepared to join the medical community?

Pretty much. I feel like we get an excellent scientific background. That’s what Bastyr is known for -- the scientific stuff. During my first two years I was studying really hard. I have friends in University of Washington medical school, and they don’t work them as hard as I see a lot of my colleagues working during their first couple of years here, as far as coursework, how many classes we take, and just the load put on us. I think we learn a lot of stuff -- the anatomy, chemistry, physiology. I think we learn it just as well.

Has it been hard to maintain hobbies while attending school?

I have taken time to go out and play – I am an avid whitewater kayaker, and also a telemark skier. There is a lot to do around this area. It was hard to find time my first year, but now I go probably twice a week.

What do you plan to do when you graduate?

When I graduate I will do a residency at the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland for a year and then I want to move to a relatively small town where there are mountains to ski on and rivers to kayak on. I want to set up a family practice as a primary care physician seeing everyone from first-borns to older adults. I want to specialize in botanical medicine and use nutrition, homeopathy, lifestyle counseling and various therapies. My dream is to be practicing most of the year and then for one month of the year lead herb tours in Nepal or the Andes, for Outward Bound or another adventure company. I would like to also do some writing and speaking.

What would be your recommendation for future students?

I would say learn early when to go out and have some fun. Take care of your own wellness during the program because it is really hard and it is easy to get burned out. And don’t lose sight of what you want to be doing when you get out. You can feel like you are inundated with science, but hold on to why you are choosing naturopathy.

What’s a typical Bastyr student like?

I can’t really generalize. Bastyr students are round pegs, infiltrating and changing the current medical model. They are overworked and industrious, they are brilliant and talented and not easily categorized. They are diverse.

Read more student, faculty and alumni interviews in our academic degree programs section.

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