Featured on Bustle, Cosmopolitan, and Good Morning America, Board Certified Naturopathic Endocrinologist and Latina clinical sexologist Dr. Jolene Brighten is a leader in women’s health and hormone balance, best-selling author of Is This Normal?, speaker, and the founder of Rubus Health.
Dr. Brighten’s newest book Is This Normal? (Published by Simon & Schuster) delivers judgement-free straight talk about your body including sex, hormones, periods and everything else you have wanted to know such about mood swings, low desire, fatigue, sleeplessness, painful periods, “down there” problems are common, but it doesn’t make them normal. Publisher’s Weekly called Is This Normal? “an inclusive and thorough overview of women’s health.”
A fierce patient advocate and completely dedicated to uncovering the root cause of hormonal imbalances, Dr. Brighten empowers women worldwide to take control of their health and their hormones. She is an international speaker, clinical educator, medical advisor within the tech community, and considered a leading authority on women’s health. Dr. Brighten is also part of the MindBodyGreen Collective and a faculty member for the American Academy of Anti Aging Medicine. Her work has been featured in the New York Post, Forbes, Huffington Post, The Guardian, and more.
No stranger to hormone imbalance, period problems, autoimmune disease, or gut issues, Dr. Brighten’s own difficult health journey led her to become a doctor. She spent 10 years on the pill and was so very grateful to see her painful, heavy periods disappear. It also enabled her to become a first-generation college graduate. And while she is incredibly thankful for access to birth control, there was a whole lot she wished her doctor had told her about the side effects and the hormonal fallout that came along with ditching the pill. In her clinical practice, she began observing that the majority of her patients were struggling with the same symptoms coming off of birth control and had symptoms dismissed again and again by the medical community. Dr. Brighten is an advocate for women and is on a mission to tell women that their symptoms are not in their head and you are the only one living in your body, which means you’re the only one that knows what your normal is.
Dr. Brighten serves her patients with not only a doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine from the National University of Natural Medicine, but also degrees in chemistry, nutrition science, and clinical nutrition from California Polytechnic State University. Dr. Brighten is also a member of the Institute for Functional Medicine, the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians, the Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians, and the American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. As a thought leader, she has received and been nominated for numerous awards. In 2019, she was awarded Author of the Year for Beyond the Pill. In 2018, she was nominated for the Rising Tide Award, Innovator Award, and Health Influencer Award. In 2017, she was nominated for the Leading Health Innovator Award, and her blog was recognized as the Best Women’s Health Blog of the year. And in 2014 & 2015, she was named the Best General Practitioner by Oakland Magazine.
Dr. Brighten has been featured in several documentaries including The Human Longevity Project, Broken Brain 2, The Thyroid Secret, Love is Medicine, and Digestion SOS™ Docuseries. As an international speaker, she has shared the stage with Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Anthony Youn, Dr. Vincent Pedre, Dr. Carrie Jones, Dr. Lara Briden, Ricki Lake, Abby Epstein, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, Dave Asprey, Dr. Anthony Youn, Kara Goldin, Robbe Richman. Dr. Brighten has provided integrative residency opportunities within her clinic for licensed providers. She also continues her mentorship supporting clinicians of varying backgrounds in the advancement of women’s medicine, including MD, DO, RD, ND/NMD, DPT, DC, DNP, NP, and other medical professionals.