My Story
Dr. Abrar Al-Shaer, PhD, RD, LDN, WIMI-CP
Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Specialized in Women's Health
“My goal is to help every woman find her path of natural self-healing by tapping into the wonderful wisdom her body holds.”
Since I was a young girl I was fascinated with natural remedies and food as medicine. I would buy every botanical medicine book I could get my hands on and felt a deep connection to the foods and plants around me as powerful gifts of healing. That connection further grew when I found out from my grandmother that her grandma was the herbalist of her village. Hearing stories about how she would empower women from almost a century ago to have their own autonomy over their health was both inspiring and humbling. I felt that this was truly my calling.
Fast forward 7 years later, after numerous trainings in herbal & botanical medicine I decided to take the big leap of getting my doctorate degree. This granted me a strong foundation in medical nutrition therapy that would go hand-in-hand with my herbal & botanical medicine training. I was a PhD student by day and a dietetic intern by night. After 8 years of schooling, 1000+ hours of clinical experience, and thousands more as a nutrition researcher, it was a relief to finally finish. As a scientist I became highly specialized in nutritional biochemistry & immunology, where I led and published numerous clinical studies. In addition, as a clinical dietitian I honed my specialty in the area of women’s health working with women at a high risk OBGYN clinic. I gained a very deep understanding of the art and science of nutrition that I integrate into my patient care.
After completing such intense training, my personal health took a turn for the worse. Although I knew of the issues facing our medical system and how the system largely fails at treating a woman for WHO she is instead of WHAT symptoms she has, it was still very disappointing to experience this first-hand. I was diagnosed with chronic idiopathic urticaria that has an ‘unknown’ cause and no clear treatment trajectory. But I knew that wasn’t the entire story. I embarked on my own self healing journey, applying all the principles I learned for myself, and was able to nurture my body back to a calm and healthful state once again. My goal is to help every woman find her path of natural self-healing by tapping into the wonderful wisdom her body holds.
Education & Licensure
Degrees & Clinical Teaching:
Clinical Faculty Instructor for “Case-Based Approaches in Integrative Nutrition Therapy”
Stony Brook School of Medicine, Department of Family & Preventative Medicine
Ph.D. Nutrition, Registered Dietitian Program
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
B.S. Bioinformatics & Genomics
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Integrative & Functional Medicine Trainings:
Women’s Integrative Medicine Institute Certified Practitioner (WIMI-CP)
New Medicine for Women Institute
Women’s Health Herbal Medicine Training Program
Herbal Medicine for Women – Dr. Aviva Romm, MD
Advanced Case Study Applications: Clinical Herbal Medicine in Primary Care
Medicine Lodge: A Natural Medicine Academy, New Mexico – Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, MD
The Art & Science of Herbal Medicine Prescribing
Medicine Lodge: A Natural Medicine Academy, New Mexico – Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, MD
Nutrigenetics + Nutrigenomics Counseling
University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute
Licensure & Registration:
- Doctor of Philosophy in Nutrition (PhD)
- Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RD/RDN)
- Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist (LD/LDN)
Languages:
- English & Arabic
Scientific Publications
- Abrar Al-Shaer et al. Enriched Marine Oil Supplement Increases Specific Plasma Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediators in Adults with Obesity. Journal of Nutrition.
- Abrar Al-Shaer et al. Resolvin E1-ChemR23 Axis Regulates the Hepatic Metabolic and Inflammatory Transcriptional Landscape in Obesity at the Whole Genome and Exon Level. Frontiers in Nutritional Immunology.
- Abrar Al-Shaer et al. Polyunsaturated fatty acids, specialized pro-resolving mediators, and targeting inflammation resolution in the age of precision nutrition. BBA – Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids.
- Abrar Al-Shaer et al. Modeling human heterogeneity of obesity with diversity outbred mice reveals a fat mass-dependent therapeutic window for resolvin E1. FASEB Journal.
- M Crouch, Abrar Al-Shaer, et al. Hormonal Dysregulation and Unbalanced Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediator Biosynthesis Contribute toward Impaired B Cell Outcomes in Obesity. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.
- A Pal, Abrar Al-Shaer, et al. Resolvin E1 derived from eicosapentaenoic acid prevents hyperinsulinemia and hyperglycemia in a host genetic manner. FASEB Journal.
- W Green, Abrar Al-Shaer, et al. Metabolic and functional impairment of CD8 + T cells from the lungs of influenza-infected obese mice. Journal of Leukocyte Biology.