After nearly three decades, ND assistant professor reflects on teaching career and advice to future graduates.

Dr. Bracey Dangerfield, a long-serving faculty member at the National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM), is set to retire at the end of June after nearly three decades of teaching.  

Dangerfield first joined NUNM in 1997 as a part-time biochemistry instructor. Over the years, he taught a range of basic sciences coursework in the College of Naturopathic Medicine, including classes in immunology, medical literature review, and case-based clinical correlates.  

He is also credited with developing a biochemistry tutorial course that integrated concepts in pathology, physiology, and chemistry—a course which later evolved into a core component of the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine program’s curriculum. 

While Dangerfield came to find a home at NUNM, he said the road there wasn’t part of any deliberate plan. In his early years of teaching, he still weighed whether to pursue a path in research or remain in the classroom.

Ultimately, he chose the latter. “I guess teaching was always in me, even if I didn’t realize it,” Dangerfield said.  

At NUNM, Dangerfield saw his role as more of a guide than an instructor. He often opened the first day of class with a quote from Muriel Rukeyser: “The universe is made of stories, not atoms.”  

While it may seem counterintuitive for a chemistry professor to approach the subject this way, he said he saw things differently. 

“You don’t just repeat something from a text—you give life to it, and you give it form,” he said. “When you do that, you can capture your student.” 

Early Influences of Autonomy 

Dangerfield’s early fascination with chemistry began in high school, when a teacher gave him the freedom to pursue his own ideas. “That was the first time I really learned chemistry,” he said.  

After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Beloit College in 1970, he advanced his research interests through graduate studies in organic chemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

He also worked in a laboratory to help synthesize analogs of a novel compound.  

“That was another sign that maybe teaching was the direction I should pursue. I wasn’t fully there yet, but I was starting to get it.”

_{^{— Dr. Bracey Dangerfield}}

Although he had yet to envision a future for himself in the lab, he followed the advice of his research mentor to move forward in academia. In 1992, he earned his doctorate in physiology at Maharishi International University.

There, a professor, impressed by his work as a teaching assistant, posed an unexpected question: “Have you ever thought about teaching?”  

“There were three of us chosen as TAs, and the others were well-known in the department—and absolutely brilliant,” he said. “I remember thinking, ‘Why me?’” 

He was soon tutoring African American and Latino students in organic chemistry, as well as leading labs, writing quizzes, and managing coursework on his own with an instructor he described as “hands-off”. With each session, he began to develop a sense of ownership over the role.  

“That was another sign that maybe teaching was the direction I should pursue,” he said. “I wasn’t fully there yet, but I was starting to get it.” 

This growing sense of autonomy would go on to define how he approached teaching throughout his career. 

• 

• 

• 

Shift to Natural Medicine

Dangerfield’s journey to NUNM wasn’t guided by professional ambitions or a set plan, but rather by a personal connection.  

When he learned a friend was expecting her first child and moving to Portland, Oregon, he began traveling regularly to see them. On his final visit, a transformational moment happened while sitting with her daughter in a bay window as she colored in a book. 

“She turned and looked at me and said, ‘I wish you lived here,’” he recalled. “That’s all it took.” 

He returned home to St. Louis, quit his job, and prepared to move to Oregon. His friend’s mother, a naturopath, soon found him a part-time teaching opportunity at NUNM.  

While he was unfamiliar with naturopathic medicine and NUNM, he did have experience with holistic practices and mind-body approaches from his time at Maharishi University. “She intuited that it would be a good fit—and she was right,” he said.  

“This is a place of the heart—that’s why I’m here. If you’re here long enough, you can feel that embrace.”

At NUNM, he merged conventional science with naturopathic principles while also teaching part-time in Washington at Evergreen State College, a college known for its experimental, student-designed approach to education. 

He recalls one Evergreen class project, which he designed with fellow faculty, that guided students on a meditative walk through a local park—an exercise inspired by Indigenous spiritual practices.

While he said his interactions with students at NUNM were quite different, that was part of the appeal.  

“This campus already has a spiritual background,” he said. “It’s already here—in Qigong, in yoga, and in the way people talk to each other, so that part of me didn’t need to push it.” 

Throughout the years, he said he was often asked why he chose to stay at NUNM, and each time he offered the same response: “This is a place of the heart—that’s why I’m here.”  

“If you’re here long enough, you can feel that embrace,” he said.  

Reflecting on the Future

Dangerfield believes instructors should teach with both sincerity and confidence—establishing trust in the material while acknowledging that gaps are inevitable. Over the years, he has used storytelling as a tool to help students develop their own understanding of a subject. 

“Everyone’s going to take that knowledge and fill in the gaps themselves,” he said. “That’s part of it.” 

With retirement approaching at the end of NUNM’s spring quarter, Dangerfield said he has no concrete plans. However, he contemplates a move to the East Coast to be near his friend and her daughter—the same child who once inspired his move to Portland—who is now an adult and well into her career. 

He is also not one to dwell on legacy or accolades, despite being the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at NUNM’s 2025 Making a Difference Ball in March. 

“It doesn’t carry a lot of meaning to me, to have a symbol from the outside,” he said. “Everything is already packaged inside of what the experience has been.” 

What Dangerfield leaves behind at the university is for others to decide, though he does have a few insights about the future of naturopathic medicine and the impact NUNM graduates can have throughout their careers. 

“What this profession needs is a champion—someone who puts themselves forward and promotes it from within whatever arena they’re in,” he said.  

If there’s one final lesson Dangerfield hopes to leave with his students, it’s that “everyone is a teacher, whether they know it or not.” 

Written by Ashley Villarreal, Marketing Content Specialist