Credentials

Most Naturopathic doctors provide care through office-based, private practice and are licensed as primary health care providers in Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and U.S. Territories Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands, as well as in five Canadian provinces.  Efforts to gain licensure in Massachusetts and elsewhere are currently under way.  Twenty-five states and provinces, in the United States and Canada, have professional associations for naturopathic medicine.  Naturopathic training requires a minimum of seven years post college, the taking of boards and licensure examinations, and focuses on the basic and clinical sciences needed by the primary care physician.  A licensed naturopathic physician (N.D.) attends a four-year graduate level naturopathic medical school and is educated in all of the same basic sciences as an M.D. but also studies holistic and nontoxic approaches to therapy with a strong emphasis on disease prevention and optimizing wellness. In addition to a standard medical curriculum, the naturopathic physician is required to complete four years of training in clinical nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, botanical medicine, psychology, and counseling (to encourage people to make lifestyle changes in support of their personal health). A naturopathic physician takes rigorous professional board exams so that he or she may be licensed by a state or jurisdiction as a primary care general practice physician.  The Council on Naturopathic Medical Education’s (CNME) mission is quality assurance: serving the public by accrediting naturopathic medical education programs that voluntarily seek recognition that they meet or exceed CNME’s standards. Students and graduates of programs accredited or preaccredited (candidacy) by CNME are eligible to apply for the naturopathic licensing examinations administered by the North American Board of Naturopathic Examiners (NABNE), and are generally eligible for state and provincial licensure in the U.S. and Canada.  Founded in 1978, CNME is accepted as the programmatic accrediting agency for naturopathic medical education by the four-year naturopathic colleges and programs in the United States and Canada, by the American and Canadian national naturopathic professional associations, and by NABNE. CNME advocates for high standards in naturopathic education, and its grant of accreditation to a program indicates prospective students and the public may have confidence in the educational quality of the program. The U.S. Secretary of Education recognizes CNME as the national accrediting agency for programs leading to the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine (N.D. or N.M.D.) or Doctor of Naturopathy (N.D.) degree.  Naturopathic is eligible, or soon to be eligible, for reimbursement by most major insurance companies in those states that license naturopathy. Dr. Giordano has taken all board examinations offered and is licensed in the State of Washington as an N.D.  Massachusetts does not have a  naturopathic license at this time.  He is also a member of both our national organization, the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), and our local organization, the Massachusetts Society of Naturopathic Doctors  (MSND).  Many of us may not be aware of it, but there were over 30,000 naturopaths throughout this country in the late 1920s ~ treating effectively, and naturally.