Dr. Kirsten West, ND, LAc, FABNO, is part of the integrative oncology team at the Riordan Clinic, which is based in Wichita, Kan. She is a Naturopathic Doctor with a Fellowship on the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians and specializes in integrative oncology. She also holds a Metabolic Approach to Cancer (MATC) certificate from the Metabolic Terrain Institute of Health.
Dr. West is a Colorado native and lives in suburban Denver. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She also holds a master’s degree in Oriental medicine and acupuncture from Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Denver. She earned her doctorate in naturopathic medicine from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences in Tempe, Ariz. She served her residency at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Philadelphia. In 2017, she was named a fellow on the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology.
Dr. West will see Riordan Clinic patients virtually from her home in Colorado. She will collaborate with the clinic’s other integrative oncology providers in Overland Park and Wichita for in-person patient care.
Dr. West has written or presented on various naturopathic and integrative medical topics. Those include “Does Curcumin Reduce Radiation Dermatitis” (Natural Medicine Journal, November 2013), “Should Curcumin Be Used with Chemotherapy” (Natural Medicine Journal, August 2014), “Does Glutamine Reduce Radiation Dermatitis” (Natural Medical Journal, July 2016), “Topical Milk Thistle for Capecitabine-Induced Hand-Food Syndrome” (Natural Medical Journal, June 2018), “Boswellia and Brain Tumors” (Natural Medicine Journal, March 2020) and a January 2021 presentation, “Introduction to Naturopathic Medicine and its Role in Integrative Oncology,” on the University of Colorado medical campus as part of the Strauss-Wisneski lecture series.
Dr. West was inspired to pursue integrative oncology by her mother. Dr. West said a quote from the website cypresspavilion.com summarizes her passion for integrative medicine.
“The concept of integrative care is not to mesh, meld, and cobble together a single approach, it is to use the strengths of multiple approaches collectively to achieve optimum healthcare and preservation goals.” https://cypresspavilion.com/blind-men-and-an-elephant-an-analogy-with-paradigms-of-healthcare/
She also is inspired by a quote by Carl Sagan, an American astronomer and science writer.
“Science’s only sacred truth is that there are no sacred truths. All assumptions must be critically examined. Arguments from “Authority” are worthless. Whatever is inconsistent with the facts, no matter how fond of it we are, must be discarded or revised.”