Dr. Zachary O. Kadro, ND, MPH, is a Senior Naturopathic Physician and clinician-researcher specializing in integrative oncology at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. He also maintains a private practice at Emcura Integrative Medicine in Bloomfield Hills, MI, and serves as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.

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A Bridge Builder & Trailblazer

 

Dr. Kadro has spent his career doing something rare: building bridges. He brings the rigor of conventional medical science and the wisdom of naturopathic medicine into the same room — and he does it in places where that conversation has historically been absent. He is one of very few naturopathic physicians in the world to have completed four years of naturopathic medical school, a two-year hospital-based residency, and a three-year NIH-funded postdoctoral research fellowship — a training arc that has equipped him to operate with credibility and fluency in the world of academic medicine.

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At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Dr. Kadro became the first naturopathic physician to hold a full-time clinical practice, where he helped expand access to naturopathic integrative oncology services to patients on Medicaid — breaking down barriers not just between medical traditions, but between specialized care and the patients who need it most. During his residency at the Goshen Center for Cancer Care, he participated regularly in tumor boards alongside surgeons, oncologists, and radiation specialists, witnessing firsthand the profound impact of patient-centered care that thoughtfully combines conventional, integrative, and naturopathic approaches. He regularly presents to healthcare providers and patients at hospitals, cancer centers, medical schools, and conferences — bringing integrative oncology into rooms where it has too often been missing.

 

This bridge-building isn't just professional — it's personal.

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A Family Legacy in Medicine

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Dr. Kadro grew up in a family rooted in medicine, nature, and a deep belief in the healing relationship between patient and provider. His father, Dr. Omar Kadro, spent more than 40 years as a respected colorectal surgeon at Beaumont Hospital, where he also served as Head of Clinical Nutrition — a role that reflects a shared passion for the power of food and nutrition as medicine that father and son carry to this day. His mother, a nurse, was equally formative. Together, his parents were early champions of the integrative medicine program at Beaumont Hospital — one of the longest-running integrative medicine programs in the world — long before integrative care became part of the mainstream conversation.

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But his mother gave him something beyond medicine. She carried a deep love of nature, plants, and holistic healing, and she passed that love on to her son. They gardened together, cultivated plants, and explored the natural world as a way of life. In high school, the two of them even took a yoga and meditation class together — a small moment that planted seeds that would take years to fully bloom. Medicine, in the Kadro household, was never just a profession. It was woven into the way they lived.

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A Calling Shaped by Loss — and by Love

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But it was loss that gave Dr. Kadro's path its deepest meaning. When he was in middle school, he lost his older cousin David to cancer — a young man who was in his third year of medical school, standing on the threshold of a life dedicated to healing. That loss left a mark that never fully faded.

Years later, during his training at Bastyr University, Dr. Kadro was assigned an integrative oncology clinical shift. Standing in that space — at the crossroads of natural medicine and cancer care — something clicked into place. It was a full-circle moment that connected his family legacy, his grief, and his calling into a single, clear sense of purpose.

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And then there was Bastyr itself. When Dr. Kadro discovered naturopathic medicine and its six founding principles, it felt less like a new direction and more like coming home. The philosophy — that the body has an innate capacity to heal, that the physician's role is to treat the whole person, that prevention is the deepest medicine — resonated with everything he had been raised to believe. His education at Bastyr transformed his life, and the school's mission to transform the health and well-being of the human community became his own. Integrative oncology wasn't just an interesting specialty. It was where he was meant to be.

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A Life's Work

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Dr. Kadro loves what he does. He finds profound meaning and purpose in this work, and considers it a true honor to serve people during one of the most challenging seasons of their lives — when the stakes are highest and the need for a compassionate, knowledgeable guide is greatest. After years of traveling the country for education, training, and experience — from Seattle to Indiana to North Carolina to Seattle again — returning home to Michigan is itself a full-circle moment, bringing him back to the community and the institution where his family helped lay the groundwork for integrative medicine decades ago. Every day, in the clinic and in his research, he works toward the same vision his parents modeled and Bastyr articulated: that when we improve our own health, we strengthen the health of the whole human community.

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Education & Training

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A proud Michigan Wolverine, Dr. Kadro earned his Bachelor of General Studies from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor before embarking on a path that would take him across the country and back. He went on to earn his Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr University and his Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health. He completed a two-year CNME-accredited hospital-based residency in naturopathic medicine and integrative oncology at the Goshen Center for Cancer Care, followed by a three-year NIH/NCCIH-funded T32 postdoctoral research fellowship in integrative medicine at UNC Chapel Hill.

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Following his fellowship, he served as a Staff Scientist and Naturopathic Physician at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center — becoming the first ND to hold a full-time clinical role there — and as an Instructor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Washington, contributing to landmark cancer prevention research and delivering integrative oncology care within one of the country's premier cancer centers.

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Research & Clinical Focus

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His research focuses on nutrition, omega-3 fatty acids, dietary supplements, and natural products in cancer care. He has contributed to publications in JAMA, Nutrients, the Journal of Cancer Education, and UpToDate, and has presented his work at national and international conferences including the Society for Integrative Oncology and the American Society for Nutrition.

Clinically, Dr. Kadro works with people at every stage of the cancer journey — from diagnosis through survivorship — helping them safely and confidently integrate evidence-informed natural therapies alongside conventional treatment. He also provides general naturopathic care for chronic conditions including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, anxiety, and gastrointestinal disorders, and supports patients focused on prevention, vitality, and whole-person wellness.

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Leadership, Mentorship & Advocacy

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Dr. Kadro holds leadership roles with the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians and the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. He mentors medical students, residents, and fellows at Corewell Health and OUWB School of Medicine, as well as naturopathic medical students and early-career ND researchers and clinicians navigating their own paths in integrative medicine. He remains deeply committed to expanding the presence and recognition of naturopathic medicine within conventional healthcare systems — and to lifting up the next generation of practitioners who will carry that work forward.

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"Whenever possible, prevention is the best medicine. Learning to use natural approaches to protect your health, slow aging, and improve well-being empowers you to reach your full potential — and when we each do that, we strengthen the health of our whole community."

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