Staff

Autumn Summers is a plant geek. Inspired by the plants since childhood she has studied herbalism and ethnobotany for the last 20 years with a kinship for the plants, seaweeds and mushrooms of Northern California. She has guest hosted KPFA’s Herbal Highway, co-organized free community herb festivals and worked at various herbal businesses including Rosemary’s Garden, Simplers Botanical and KW Botanicals....

Our Grandmother’s used their native plants, ate nourishing weeds and mushrooms in the spring and healed their selves with plant medicine when they were sick. Native Plants provided their only medicine. Blythe at Community Herbalist is carrying this knowledge forward. Blythe completed a three year clinical internship program at the Ohlone School for Herbal Studies in Berkeley, California in 2006 , a Ten...

Anna’s interest in plants started as a young sprout growing up in SF near Mt. Davidson.  All that green had to rub off and she found herself drawn into herbal retail at Scarlet Sage for several years and holistic healthcare with a Shiatsu practice. She is a practicing herbalist in San Francisco and attributes her eclectic herbal blend/brew to studies with a variety of herbal teachers in the Bay Area as...

Atava is inspired by the healing traditions of her ancestors and loves turning people on to the amazing and healing world of medicinal plants!  She has been studying and practicing healing arts for over 20 years and has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a graduate degree from Naropa University Oakland .  Atava also is certified in both Acupressure and the hands-on healing art, Jin Shin...

Jim Hall MA CMT comes from a family of spiritual healers and has been intensively involved in various holistic healing modalities since 1979. He holds a master’s degree in Holistic Health Education from John. F. Kennedy University and has studied with healers from a variety of traditions, including Michael Moore, Kashaya Pomo elder Lorin Smith, Karyn Sanders, Chanchal Cabrera, and medical intuitive...

Tony manages the pharmacy & dispensary at Ohlone Center where he teaches botanical medicine making. He is a graduate of the California School of Herbal Studies & apprenticeship programs with Matthew Wood. He has a private herbal practice in San Francisco.

Kara Sigler is a certified Western Clinical Herbalist that has a private practice in San Francisco.  She teaches at Ohlone, leads herb walks, manages an herbal apothecary and volunteers at Charlotte Maxwell Clinic for low income women with cancer. Her website is: www.sfherbalist.com.

Pam is the Ohlone’s Head Instructor and the Center’s Director. Pam has been working with herbs since 1986. She completed her studies at the California School of Herbal Studies in 1989. She has been teaching classes in medicine making, plant identification, wildcrafting, theory and practice of herbalism since 1991.   Pam began the BACHA (Bay Area Clinical Herbalist Association) organization in 1991. ...

Karen is our Medicinal Mushroom Instructor. She has been making botanical medicines full-time for 8 years. Karen is an owner of The Herbal Apothecary, providing custom herbal medicines for health practitioners and others. She is also an organizer of the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium. Her Website is:  www.herbalapothecaryonline.com

Sarah Bearden has been a practicing nutritionist since 1996. She is the Director of Roots To Health, a center specializing in Nutrition Consultation and Nutrition Education.  She received a diploma in Nutritional Medicine in London and practices both in Marin County and England.

Terri has been working with botanical medicines in a variety of capacities for over 20 years. She is an owner and medicine maker for The Herbal Apothecary, a full line herbal pharmacy. She is also an organizer of the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium. Her website is: www.herbalapothecaryonline.com

Cheryl is a Western Clinical Herbalist who provides a multi-faceted approach to holistic medicine combining customized organic herbal formulas with nutritional education and lifestyle guidance. Being a Western Herbalist means her focus is on using native plants to address imbalances, not just the symptoms, and to prevent dis-ease. Cheryl’s goal is to stimulate each individual’s innate healing power...

Eric has practiced medicine as a doctor for over twelve years and is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, as well as an Ohlone graduate. He can be found through his website: www.erickopfmd.com

Gail is a clinical herbalist, medicine maker and teacher with 18 years experience in the clinic and classroom. Her training includes Western Herbalism and physiology, native plant use, Chinese and plant energetic systems. Her business, Commonknowledge Herbs provides pharmacy services for practitioners and produces therapeutic herbal products.

Dorena joins our staff as our physiology teacher.  Dorena multilevel experience comes from her background as a chemist, herbal medicine maker, and practitioner.  Her love of practice led her to UC Davis where she completed her PhD in physiology.  Her website is: www.elderberrycenter.com

Donna Odierna is a heath policy and public health researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. She is a clinical herbalist who has worked in public health venues and private practice; she is also a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild.

Jolie Lonner Egert is an herbalist, field botanist and ecologist. Jolie is a graduate of the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine, Mathew Wood’s advanced apprenticeship, the Dandelion School of Herbal Studies and Humboldt State University where she researched the sustainable harvest of medicinal plants for her Master’s degree. She has worked on four continents with projects pertaining to the sustainable...