Dr. Ferris attended Davidson College in North Carolina where she obtained a BA in Cultural Anthropology and a minor in art history. Her sister struggled with mental illness and eating disorders, and frustration with the conventional model being unable to help her led Dr. Ferris to explore a broader approach to health care. After travelling extensively and witnessing different cultures and ways of thinking, Dr. Ferris realized naturopathic medicine was her calling. She completed her pre-medical training at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and came back to the United States to attend medical school.

Dr. Ferris received her medical education from the National College of Natural Medicine (now NUNM) in Portland, Oregon where she trained as a general practitioner and tailored her studies to focus on women’s health. She completed a 3 year Women’s Health clinical internship, followed by a residency in general practice with a focus on Women’s Health and hormone imbalance.

Her love of teaching began in her residency where she taught numerous clinical education classes while mentoring students, and Dr. Ferris has continued to teach other medical professionals in the US and around the globe, and at numerous functional medicine conferences including the Laboratory, Endocrine and Neurotransmitter Symposium, the Institute of Women’s Health and Integrative Medicine, and the annual conference for the American Academy of Naturopathic Physicians. Her speaking has included international conferences such as the Congresso de Pratica Orto Molecular in Sao Paolo, Brazil.