Dr. Elise Benczkowski, ND, Naturopathic Doctor

Elise came to naturopathic medicine through her background and training in fitness and nutrition. She has been passionate about fitness, nutrition and health since a young age, and wanted to share that passion by working as a personal trainer and holistic nutritionist, helping people achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Through this work, she came across many patients diagnosed with cancer and at various stages of their journey. It was these patients who inspired her to become a naturopathic doctor, focused in oncology. She believes strongly in the need to restore and maintain balance during cancer treatment and has witnessed the power of naturopathic medicine in achieving that goal.

Originally from Toronto, Elise studied biology at the University of Toronto, where she earned an Honours Bachelor of Science. She then completed the Registered Holistic Nutritionist (RHN) program at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition where she subsequently worked as faculty before attending. Immediately upon graduation, Elise joined Cancer Treatment Centers of America as a naturopathic oncology resident in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she completed a 2-year, hospital-based residency in integrative naturopathic oncology and then continued on as a staff naturopathic oncologist. She has also worked at a private integrative clinic as a naturopathic doctor in Maryland. She is a Fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology (FABNO), and currently seeing patients full-time at the CCNM Integrative Cancer Center.

Elise recognizes that health is individual and each patient is on their own dynamic health continuum. Her goal is to treat each patient as a whole person and meet them where they are on their continuum. She works to restore health by finding and correcting the cause of disease and utilizes research-based treatments as therapy.

Elise views naturopathic medicine’s role in cancer care as both essential at every stage of treatment as well as complementary to conventional medicine. Patients with cancer require unique support – whether they are undergoing treatment, recovering from treatment or working to prevent recurrence. The principles and practice of naturopathic medicine can be powerful in each of these stages of the journey.