Practitioner      Teacher      Author      Consultant      Presenter           

Before becoming a medical doctor, Aviva Romm, a highly respected expert in botanical medicine, childbirth, women’s and pediatric children’s health, practiced as a homebirth midwife and herbalist for over 20 years, becoming one of the first certified professional midwives (CPM) in the US and writing her now classic books The Natural Pregnancy Book and Naturally Healthy Babies and Children. Her other books include Natural Health After Birth, Vaccinations: A Thoughtful Parent’s Guide, ADHD Alternatives (with her husband Tracy Romm, EdD), A Pocket Guide to Midwifery, and the textbook Botanical Medicine for Women’s Health (Elsevier). Her numerous books are regarded as standards for women’s and children’s health.

Aviva’s most recent book, Botanical Medicine for Women's Health won the American Botanical Council's James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award for 2010. She was also a recipient of the American Herbal Products Association's Herbal Insight Award for serving as an expert on pregnancy, lactation, and pediatrics for the revised edition of the Botanical Safety Handbook.

A graduate of Yale School of Medicine where she received the Internal Medicine Award for “outstanding academic achievement and community service,” Aviva completed her intern year in Internal Medicine at Yale where she was instrumental in creating the school’s first integrative medicine curriculum. Her numerous distinctions include serving as the President of the American Herbalists Guild for over a decade, serving as the Medical Director for American Herbal Pharmacopoeia (AHP), being on the advisory board for Yale Integrative Medicine, creating curricula on integrative internal medicine and pediatrics for residency programs at the Yale School of Medicine, acting as an expert on botanical medicine for pregnancy, lactation, and pediatrics for the Botanical Safety Handbook, serving on the advisory board for the American Botanical Council, and teaching as an adjunct faculty for the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. She has been active in establishing standards for botanical medicine practice and education in the United States, and is a much sought after teacher, having taught at numerous national herbal, midwifery, and medical conferences and in private seminars, as well as being a guest on nationally syndicated radio programs. She is currently completing her residency in Family Medicine in the Cambridge Health Alliance and at Tufts University in Boston, MA. Aviva is the Director of Herbal Medicine for Women, a distance learning program, and Pediatrics for Parents, an innovative and intensive seminar empowering parents to take more responsibility for their children’s health, naturally. Additionally, she has written numerous articles, has published in medical journals, has contributed to several major integrative medicine textbooks, and is on numerous advisory boards.

Aviva combines her skills as a physician, midwife, and herbalist to offer comprehensive, insightful clinical care, education, writing, and consulting on general health, pregnancy and birth, women’s health, women’s and pediatric botanical medicine, health and ecology, and natural living. Aviva is also the mother of four spectacular, grown-up children.

Aviva's goal is to foster the growth of a health-based, trans-disciplinary health care model while promoting greater access to health care. Her primary commitment is to practicing and teaching clinical medicine, promoting an ecological basis for health, and continuing to care for mothers, children, and families. Her areas of research include, botanical medicine with a focus on the needs of women and children, improving maternity care models, mind-body medicine, and the impact of environment on health. She is a gardener, artist, and visionary physician.