Dr. Alena Papenfuss

Dr. Alena Papenfuss is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor in the state of Arizona. She has a long healthcare career, starting as a Physical Therapist Assistant and later becoming a Physical Therapist. Throughout her career as a PT, she has worked in many different fields of physical therapy, including hospital care (orthopedic, cardiology, transplants, acute rehab, and general medicine), outpatient orthopedics, pediatrics, women’s health, and wound care. She also did traveling therapy across the US, including working with VIP patients at their request. As a traveling physical therapist, she would work at a facility for 3-6 months, then move to another state and another experience. She also taught at the Salt Lake Community College as an adjunct faculty member in the Physical Therapist Assistant Program for over 10 years. Many times during her career, people and patients would ask her about other ways to improve their health, often asking about things that were outside of her “scope of practice,“ meaning, even if she knew the answer, she could not legally respond or provide information to the patient. She would often respond that they needed to talk with their doctor only to hear the patient respond, “But my doctor doesn’t listen to me.“ After years of hearing patient complaints, she began a second career, embarking on studying Naturopathic Medicine. She brings with her a wealth of experience gained while working with many patients with various health concerns. She firmly believes the body can heal itself if given the right raw material.

In her free time, she loves to camp, hike, road bike, and spend time in nature with family and friends. In addition, she will often surprise them with a delicious “made-from-scratch“ dinner and/or dessert.