Jacqueline Thomas, ND is a licensed naturopathic physician who graduated from Bastyr University in 1995. After finishing her doctorate in naturopathic medicine, she completed advanced training for detoxification, allergy management, and physical medicine at the Center for Optimal Health in Bellevue, WA. She later accepted a clinical residency in primary care and preventive medicine with Dr. Robin Moore in Olympia, WA. During this period her article, Infertility Due to Luteal Phase Defects: Options in Diagnosis, and Treatment With Bio-identical Progesterone, was published in the Journal of Naturopathic Medicine.
Dr. Thomas is an active member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), the national organization that supports the naturopathic profession. She is also active in the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians, the professional organization for the state of Washington.
Dr. Thomas' involvement with the medical field began at age sixteen, when she started working in local hospitals. She pursued pre-medical studies at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree. Following this, she joined the staff of the Houston Methodist Hospital and became involved in their monoclonal antibody research and organ transplant programs.
During this period, Dr. Thomas' desire to make a contribution on a global level, combined with her dedication to education and improving standards of living in the third world, coalesced into a life-altering decision. She embarked on a two-year tour of duty in Sierra Leone, West Africa with the Peace Corps, where she taught math and science. During her work there, she established an outpost in a village that had very limited contact with the Western world. Her relationships with the local people greatly expanded her understanding of international and cultural issues, as well as fueled her interest in studying alternative forms of healing. It was with great concern and sadness that she watched the unfolding of the civil war in Sierra Leone, fed by the greed that surrounded the so-called "blood diamond" trade.
These experiences solidified the link Dr. Thomas saw between education and empowerment on the one hand, and ignorance and oppression on the other. In healthcare as in life, she observed that empowering people to make informed choices requires taking the time to help them understand all the available options. Building on this foundation, Dr. Thomas' vision of medicine combines the requirement to be appropriately scientific with the need to be compassionately pragmatic. As an educator, she rigorously reviews the medical literature so that she is able to keep her patients abreast of current developments. As a community advocate, she has given numerous public lectures on various health topics. As a primary care physician, her approach focuses on creating a healing partnership with her patients so that the quality of their lives can be restored and augmented. Her treatments are tailored to the physical and psychoemotional needs of each person individually, relying on strategies that deal with the root cause of any given health problem.
Together with her husband, Dr. Gary Piscopo, Dr. Thomas founded the Alpine Valley Natural Health Clinic in 1996, which has grown into one of the most successful naturopathic clinics in Central Washington. It later evolved into the Alpine Valley Wellness Center, where she is the clinical director.
Dr. Thomas is easily the most hard-working and busiest person at the center. She does the work of a doctor, bookkeeper, practice manager, nurse, lab manager, and entrepreneur, all with dedication and good humor. Despite this, she maintains her work with global issues to the present day. She continues to foster the spirit of international cooperation through her involvement with various national and international charity organizations.