My name is Belinda, but I prefer to go by Lindy. I am entering my third trimester as a Naturopathic Medical student at National University of Health Sciences. I’m originally from Maryland and will always consider it to be my home. 

I live on campus, in the Lincoln building (which is by far the best building to live in case you didn’t know), with my dog Lilly. She is a Jack Russell/Dalmatian mix, and pure-bred crazy. I am enjoying living in Illinois, especially during the summer time. Trips to Lake Michigan, or Morton’s Arboretum are always fun. Even in the snow, I enjoy going to Morton’s…they rent out snow shoes!  I love the sport of triathlon and will totally geek out if anyone wants to talk bikes or racing with me. 

I come from a fairly large family.  I have four brothers, and one sister. We are all very different, but we are a very tight family! To give you an idea of how crazy things get when we are all together, let’s just say one of our annual traditions for Thanksgiving is to have a nerf gun fight at the local elementary school. It is a cross between tag (played with Velcro nerf ammo), and capture the flag. The vests that we use are from a children’s set, so we literally use colored duct tape to attach them to our bodies. We often apply additional duct tape because it makes us look cool…or something like that.

So, how did I end up here? I am what they call a ‘career-changer’. I worked for over 10 years as a political consultant in Washington, DC. I loved what I did and worked for an incredible company. I originally went into politics to make a difference. A few years ago, I realized I wanted to start making a different kind of difference. I wanted to help individuals “create the conditions for health” (any students of Dr. Lou know that phrase very well). I didn’t exactly know what that meant at the time. At first, I thought it meant going into a Physical Therapy program, or a PhD program so I could research the impact of exercise on different diseases and disabilities.

Regardless of where I ended up, I knew I needed to start taking some science courses since all the programs I was considering had massive amounts of pre-requisites. I decided to attend the University of Maryland to get a post-bac degree in Kinesiology. My original degrees were in English and Political Science, and I also had a master’s degree in public administration. I knew that while those degrees had helped me immensely in my career, they would not get me very far in a graduate program in the health field. 

It took me approximately 2 years to complete the requirements for my B.S. in Kinesiology from University of Maryland. Over those two years, I researched many different programs.  When I came across Naturopathic Medicine, I realized instantly that this was the program for me!  Unknowingly, I had always been a firm believer in many of the practices and modalities of this type of medicine, and I realized this is the best way to help people on an individual level, so I could really make a difference.