2025/2026 Board of Directors Student Representative Election

We are extremely excited to introduce our Candidates for the Student Representative position on the WANP Board of Directors for the 2025/2026 term. This year, we have two (2) students running for our single Student Representative position. The Student Representative is elected to a one-year term, which will beginSeptember 1, 2025, and end August 31, 2026. The elected Student Representative serves as a full voting member of the WANP Board of Directors and is the primary liaison between our organization and the current student body.

Our organizational bylaws allow for all current Student Members of the WANP to have a say in identifying their Representative on our Board of Directors through participating in a designated election for the Student Rep position. All current student members who are eligible to vote will receive their ballots via email on Monday, June 23, 2025. **Note: We will use the email address under which your membership is active, so please log into our website and take note of the email address we have on file for your login (or go to "My Account -> Account Details" and note the email address there). If you have not received a ballot and believe you should have, please ensure your student membership is current, that you are looking in the email inbox associated with your membership, and that our message is not in your spam folder, and - if all is as it should be - contact us at info@wanp.org.** Per WANP bylaws, the election will be open for 3 weeks. Ballots received after Monday, July 14, 2025, will not be counted.

If you are not a current student member of the WANP, you can join today and participate in this election to ensure you have a voice in the next Board of Directors. We will send your ballot as soon as you join.

Without further ado, here are the Candidates for your next Student Representative to the Board of Directors of the WANP (presented in order received):

Danielle Crabtree | Bastyr University - Kenmore

ND expected 2026

Originally from the East Coast, Danielle spent most of her childhood in South Florida. She is married with two children—an 8-year-old son and a 3-year-old daughter. She has been a practicing occupational therapist for 17 years and has served in the U.S. Army for 11 years. In 2018, she relocated to Washington State for her final active-duty military assignment. Danielle remains an active Army reservist in a Combat Stress and Operational Control unit focused on the behavioral health needs of our active reservists. Danielle’s experience in military medicine motivated her to want to provide more options for improved health care that focuses on the root cause of illness. Prior to becoming active duty in the military, she was fortunate to experience integrative healthcare first-hand. Once her active duty commitment was met, Danielle began the naturopathic medicine program at Bastyr University to expand her ability to help more people. Danielle is about to begin her final year at Bastyr University (Washington) with a clinical interest in Pediatrics and Functional Medicine. She is working as student liaison between Madigan Army Medical Center and Bastyr University to improve student learning opportunities with military medical providers. Danielle’s dream is to provide care to the whole family, while also building an awareness and understanding of Naturopathic medicine to the Black, Indigenous and People Of Color and Military communities. Outside of work and school, she enjoys gardening, cooking, hands-on projects, and spending quality time with her family.

Danielle has been a student member of the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians (WANP) since at least 2023, and she currently volunteers on the Legislative Affairs Committee. A highly engaged student, Danielle also has active student membership in the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), the Endocrine Association of Naturopathic Physicians (EndoANP), the Institute for Natural Medicine (INM), the Naturopathic Association of Primary Care Physicians (NAPCP), the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians (OncANP), and the Pediatric Association of Naturopathic Physicians (PedANP).

Danielle has experience in financial management, fundraising, legislative/political advocacy, and member recruitment. She is interested in serving on the Continuing Education Committee, the Governance Committee, and/or the Membership Committee. She identifies herself as eager to contribute wherever the Board sees the greatest need and open to supporting any specific issues or projects that align with its priorities. Danielle is particularly interested in helping to build new relationships and increase awareness of the WANP among local health organizations and other supportive healthcare entities. She writes: "Strengthening these connections can enhance collaboration, expand our reach, and elevate the visibility and impact of naturopathic medicine in our communities."

In her own words: "My military experience has equipped me with strong leadership skills and the ability to manage clinics and large teams effectively to accomplish complex missions. Through my service, I gained extensive experience in strategic planning, operations coordination, and resource management—skills that are directly transferable to board-level responsibilities. In addition, my role in planning and organizing continuing education for the clinic I led provided me with valuable experience in event coordination and professional development initiatives. I believe this combination of operational leadership, strategic insight, and team-focused planning uniquely positions me to contribute meaningfully to the board’s vision and goals."

area, and while there learned about what it means to build welcoming communities through grassroots mobilization of local resources and neighbors. While working this position, she also took on a role as a social therapy assistant at a residential community for adults with developmental challenges, where she learned how much supporting an individual to find purpose and passion can provide dignity and freedom. Just before starting at Bastyr, she worked as a behavioral health counselor for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This was one of the most challenging and strengthening positions in all the knowledge she took in and all that she gave.

Elise has been a student member of the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians for the past year. She has volunteered on the Legislative Affairs Committee during that time. She is also a student member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), the Gastroenterology Association of Naturopathic Physicians (GastroANP), and the Naturopathic Medical Student Association (NMSA), where she has led the professional development committee for the past two years.

Elise is running for a 2nd term on the WANP's Board of Directors, where she has been the student representative for the past year. During that time she has supported students in attending WANP events, provided resources, and worked to engage students in advocacy efforts.

Elise has experience in diversity, equity, inclusion, antiracism (DEIA), fundraising, governance, grassroots engagement, legislative/political advocacy, and marketing. She would also bring the following skills to the WANP: extensive experience working with nonprofit organizations, experience building and managing websites and social media content, donor relations, consultant communications, and grant research. She would like to continue her work with the Legislative Affairs Committee and is interested in also joining the Membership Committee. In particular, she would like to actively contribute to planning WANP's next Advocacy Day.

In her own words: "I’m independently driven but love working in a collaborative team environment. I am extremely dedicated and hard working and put my all into everything I work towards. My hope is to continue providing a space for communication between the students and those who tirelessly work to spearhead and advocate for our profession. I am driven by my desire to expand our scope and bring focus and awareness to our profession. I would like to find ways to integrate the messaging about the critical need for expansion and awareness of our medicine to students at Bastyr, as it’s difficult to encourage students to recognize how important this work is while they are busy trying to complete the program. I would love to continue working to connect students with WANP related opportunities and resources. I think connecting students to an organization like the WANP is crucial because it highlights how advocacy is and should be a part of this profession, no matter what someone chooses to do after graduation."