Co-director, Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine

        Victoria Sucher was born and raised in the Edgemont area of Provo, Utah.  She was the oldest of five children, so she was expected to help out with her other brothers and sisters.  When she was old enough she started working for her grandparents at their family restaurant Hawkins Drive Inn in downtown Provo.  While attending Timpview High School, she had several experiences that developed a love of science and a fascination with medicine.

        She went to Central Eastern University in Price on a full ride scholarship.  She only studied for one year living free and making friends.  While deciding which career path to take on the road to medical school, she decided that she wanted to choose a career that would benefit her when she went through medical school.  She chose to study Medical Laboratory Science (MLS), so she transferred up to the University of Utah in hopes of getting excepted into the MLS program in the spring. 

        Unfortunately she would not have all of the pre-requisite courses done in time with the allowed number of credits in a quarter.  So she ended up taking some classes at Utah Valley State College and then hopped the bus to make afternoon classes up at the University of Utah.  She was able to complete all but a few classes and was unable to get into the program that year despite her hard work.

        So she decided to get a full time job working at ARUP laboratories in SLC and took several “play” classes at the Utah to keep full time student status to apply to the program the following spring, which she was accepted into.  She continued to work full time graveyard shifts at ARUP laboratories while completing her course work in the MLS program.  Part way through the program the full course work and working full time was beginning to be too much.  She ended up switched to working as a phlebotomist at the University of Utah Medical Center seven days on then seven days off graveyard shifts.  She found this was much easier to manage with the full class schedule. 

        She graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Medical Laboratory Science from the University of Utah, with all of the pre-medical school requirements.  She was intending to attend the University of Utah medical school to be close to her family.  However the year she was doing her applications she learned about Naturopathic Medicine and was becoming slightly disillusioned with conventional healthcare while working as a phlebotomist. 

        It seemed that patients with chronic conditions would not get any better with the conventional treatments they were receiving, only sicker.  As she learned more about Naturopathic Medicine, she was impressed by the way Naturopathic Doctors took the time to really listen to their patients in order to not only determine the actual cause of the disease, but to also determine the best course of treatment based on the patients ability and needs.  She decided that Naturopathic Medicine fit better with her own philosophy of healing.  She was frustrated with conventional medicine’s seemingly Band-aid approach to chronic diseases to manage symptoms.  She had always known there had to be more.

        She had taken a year after graduation to complete her medical school applications and to play with friends.  She worked as a full time Medical Technologist at Mountain View Hospital in Payson and part time still at the University of Utah.  She decided to apply to Naturopathic Medical School first while completing her applications for conventional medical school.  She was accepted to attend Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. 

        Bastyr University is one of the top Naturopathic Medical School’s in the United States.  So she accepted the invitation to attend and moved to Seattle.  She found a part time job as a Medical Technologist at the University of Washington Medical School to help pay for rent and food.  She did four years of medical training and clinical work with an added emphasis in traditional Chinese Medicine and Physical Medicine.  While at Bastyr, she also took the opportunity to study Cranial Sacral Therapy, Lymphatic Drainage and Visceral Manipulation through the Upledger Institute to further her Physical Medicine training. 

        While at Bastyr she did several odd jobs on top of her part time job and her course load.  She worked as a teaching assistant for several basic science courses for first year students and some of the classes she was able to test out of given her background in laboratory science.  Then after passing the step I board exams the beginning of her junior year of medical school, she worked as a research assistant for several professors working on immune cell cultures to determine effects of certain herbal and supplement extracts on certain cell lines.  She also helped do microbial cultures on various over-the-counter probiotics to see about purity and accuracy.   Her last year at Bastyr she was asked to teach several microbiology courses to undergraduate students in the acupuncture program.

        After completing her clinical board exams she moved back to Provo, Utah to find a Naturopathic residency.  She found several doctors interested and she tried to set something up through Bastyr.  Unfortunately it was not meant to be.  She started to work at ARUP laboratories again while waiting for an opportunity to complete a residency presented itself.  She was about ready to resign herself to go back and complete a residency at one of the Naturopathic medical schools when she met with Pamela Vincent, MD.  Dr. Vincent had a neurology practice that she was trying to make more integrative and asked Victoria if she was interested in joining the practice.  Dr. Vincent expressed an interest to sponsor Victoria’s residency and provide the opportunity to further her medical education.

        Victoria was unsure at first because neurology was not her strongest subject in medical school.  She decided to accept the challenge of learning something new and to start the hard process of setting up a new clinical residency site in Utah through Bastyr.

        Victoria completed her Naturopathic residency with a neurology emphasis with Pamela Vincent, MD at the Integrated Healing Arts-Utah in Provo, Utah.  She then joined Integrated Healing Arts-Utah as a co-director, residency supervisor and integrative medical specialist.  She specializes in hormonal treatments, pain management, addiction management, and neurology.