Pronouns: She/Her

Loren’s passion for medicine developed when she was a young girl. During childhood her brother was often very sick. Her curiosity and interest in understanding health and medicine grew from this experience. She became the little girl who sat in the doctor’s office asking WHY certain procedures were being performed, WHAT information that was going to give, and HOW was that information going to be used. Encouraging those she works with to ask questions while helping them to learn and understand about their own health is very important. The Naturopathic principle Docere, doctor as teacher is her foundation for providing care. The path to becoming a doctor led her to Binghamton University in New York where she graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology and a Bachelor’s of Science with honors in Psychobiology. After graduating from Binghamton, she followed her heart to the Pacific Northwest.

Living in the Wenatchee National Forest, she studied wildlife for the forest service and worked as a phlebotomist at a local hospital for three years.Realizing the importance of how we enter this world and her desire to help make it a safe and sacred experience, she began studying midwifery at Bastyr University. She continued her midwifery training in the beautiful country of Vanuatu in the South Pacific. Loren has been catching babies in Seattle and surrounding areas ever since. Loren graduated from Bastyr University in 2004 with a Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine and Certificate of Naturopathic Midwifery. In addition to these programs at Bastyr, she participated in an integrated medicine program in India and received additional training in reiki, homeopathy, UNDA, craniosacral therapy, visceral manipulation, IV therapy and NAET allergy treatment.

Loren completed a two year residency at Emerald City Naturopathic Clinic under the mentorship of Dr Molly (Linton) Niedermeyer. She was instrumental in the creation of a low income clinic within Emerald City Naturopathic Clinic to provide services and medicines to families in need. Loren joined Eastside Birth Center in 2006, supporting natural birth at home and the birth center. Loren continued to work as a Family Practice Associate with Dr. Molly Niedermeyer until October 2012 when she opened her own practice Fern Valley Natural Health.

Fern Valley Natural Health was created to continue to serve the families that she had participated in their midwifery care and an opportunity for other families in the community to have access to Naturopathic Medicine. Loren’s interest in becoming both a naturopath and midwife is to provide continuity of care for women and their families, care that begins preconceptionally and continues beyond pregnancy and throughout life’s transitions for mother, baby, and family. Loren enjoys being able to provide care for the entire family. Loren is adjunct faculty for Bastyr University's midwifery program where she has developed curriculum and is co-teaching a Masters level track, Botanical Medicine for Midwifery Care. Loren is an adjunct faculty at Bastyr University where she has taught Pediatrics, Normal Maternity, Advanced Normal Maternity, Prenatal Complications and guest lectured in several other courses. Loren has been a speaker at conferences sponsored by the Midwives Association of Washington State, Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians and Boucher Institute for Naturopathic Medicine. She has contributed clinical insight and case studies to the Foundations of Naturopathic Medicine Textbook Project.​

Dr. Riccio is currently not accepting new patients.