Basil Health & Wellness

About Me

I named my health coaching practice Basil Health in honor of my dad, Vasilios (or Basil). He was one of the greatest influences in my life, and the reason I first became aware of how deeply our health is shaped by the choices we make every day. When I was in third grade, my dad had a heart attack at just 44 years old. He survived, but his recovery and lifestyle changes forever shifted how we lived as a family. From that young age, I understood that what you eat and how you live can truly be a matter of life or death.

By the time I was a teenager, I had become passionate about where our food comes from. At 15, after reading Peter Singer’s work on factory farming, I decided never to eat meat again. That early awareness of nutrition and food systems set me on a lifelong path of learning and discovery.

I studied biology in college, always drawn to health and nutrition. Unsure of whether I wanted to pursue medicine or graduate school, I worked for several years in Boston as a research technician in a nephrology lab. During that time, I realized how much I loved science — and how much more I wanted to learn. This led me to pursue a Master’s degree in Nutritional Biochemistry, focusing on carotenoids, the brightly colored pigments in fruits and vegetables that act as powerful antioxidants. I later went on to complete my PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry at UConn, where I also developed a second scientific love: immunology.

I continued my training with postdoctoral work at Yale School of Medicine in Immunobiology, focusing on vascular biology and transplantation. For many years I managed a large laboratory and built preclinical models, all while staying deeply curious about the relationship between nutrition, the immune system, and overall health.

During my time at Yale, I reconnected with a woman named Lona, someone who shared an extraordinary bond with me — we were born on the same day, in the same hospital, in the same year. We called each other “bassinet sisters.” Lona had received a kidney transplant and lived with type 2 diabetes. Despite her health challenges, she struggled to make the diet and lifestyle changes that could have supported her recovery. Our conversations opened my eyes to the reality that behavior change is profoundly difficult, even when the stakes are high.

It was because of Lona, and my desire to help people like her, that I pursued training in health coaching. I completed my certification through Duke Integrative Medicine, later deepening my knowledge with nutrition studies at Stanford. Sadly, Lona passed away during the pandemic, and though I couldn’t change her story, she continues to inspire my work every day.

My journey to Basil Health is a labor of love — a blend of science, personal experience, and a deep desire to empower others. I’ve seen how hard it can be to make changes, but also how transformational those changes can be. As a board-certified health and wellness coach, my mission is to guide and support people on their own path to better health, helping them create lasting, meaningful habits that honor both the science of nutrition and the lived experience of being human.