Margaret Hammitt-McDonald, PhD, ND, MSOM

Adjunct Faculty
  • Education:
    • National College of Natural Medicine ND, MSOM, 2007
    • City University of New York, PhD, 1997
    • Fordham Graduate School of Education, MAT, 1990

Dr. Margaret Hammitt-McDonald is a 2007 graduate of the ND and MSOM programs at NCNM (now NUNM). Prior to beginning her medical education, she received a Master of Arts in Teaching from Fordham University in New York City; and a PhD in English, with a concentration in old and middle English language and literature, from the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. She taught literature and rhetoric and composition courses at Bronx Community College from 1991 to 2001. In addition to her work as an adjunct faculty member at the NUNM’s College of Classical Chinese Medicine, she has a private practice, Dragonheart Family Healthcare, in Seaside, Oregon.

In accordance with the classical Chinese principle that health relies upon the individual’s ability to respond to circadian and seasonal changes, as a physician, Dr. Hammitt-McDonald focuses on moments of transition. These include concerns about movement through the day (such as insomnia, dysglycemia, and fluctuations in energy levels), month (regulation of the menstrual cycle), season (supporting the immune system at the changes of seasons), and life cycle (concerns about growth and development, menopause/andropause, graceful aging, and chronic disease). As a former literature and writing instructor and a published writer of poetry and science fiction, she feels that exploring a patient’s personal narrative, mythology and symbolism is an essential part of the healing process.

In addition to teaching, writing and practicing naturopathic and classical Chinese medicine, Dr. Hammitt-McDonald enjoys acting, dragonboating, commuting via her recumbent and folding bicycles, hiking, gardening, reading, singing, free-form dancing, doing imitations, costuming, peace, social justice, and environmental activism, and spending time with her spouse and nine feline ascended masters. She speaks Spanish and Bavarian, reads a number of classical and medieval languages, and knows a few words of Klingon and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sylvan Elvish.

Courses

  • CCM418 Foundations of Classical Chinese Medicine