What’s the difference between an MD and an ND?
Naturopathic doctors (ND) are licensed to practice as primary care physicians, relying more on natural therapies to treat their patients rather than pharmaceuticals and surgery. They attend four year accredited medical schools that are structured similarly to conventional medical schools. The first two years consist of coursework in basic sciences, such as biochemistry, anatomy and physiology. The last two years are spent doing clinical rotations and studying conventional clinical diagnosis and treatment. In addition, NDs are also trained in the natural healing arts, such as clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, spinal manipulation, homeopathy and mind-body medicine. To obtain their license, NDs must pass a series of rigorous basic science and clinical board exams. They typically practice as primary care providers or family medicine doctors.
