The Institute for Natural Medicine (INM) is proud to announce that Sandy Gooch has joined its Honorary Board. A pioneer in bringing natural and health-promoting food to mainstream America, Gooch brings more than four decades of vision, advocacy, and leadership to INM’s mission of bringing whole-person health to the mainstream. She will join other board members including Dr. Len Wisneski, Dr. Jeff Bland, Dr. Mary Hardy and others.
A Pioneer of the Natural Foods Movement
Long before “organic” and “natural” became household words, Gooch was building the infrastructure to make health-promoting food accessible to everyday consumers. As president of Sandy Gooch Enterprises and founder of Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Markets, she built a supermarket chain dedicated to providing the finest natural food and health care products available at the time. Her stores didn’t just sell groceries—they educated a generation of shoppers about the connection between what they eat and how they feel. And she launched an industry.
That vision proved so influential that in 1993, Mrs. Gooch’s was acquired by Whole Foods Market, Inc., a milestone that helped cement natural foods retailing as a mainstream force in the American economy. Gooch’s impact on how Americans shop, cook, and think about food remains foundational to the natural products industry today.
A Legacy of Health Education
Gooch’s commitment to health didn’t end with retail. In 1995, she developed the Healthy School Meals Team Program at Venice High School in Los Angeles, CA, an early effort to bring nutrition education directly into public schools. She went on to serve on the advisory board of Growing Great, a foundation devoted to teaching students how to grow and eat healthy food—work that reflects a career-long belief that health begins with education, especially for young people.
Her advocacy for women’s leadership has been equally longstanding. She is a member of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, an international group that has worked since 2000 to develop and empower women worldwide, and she is also a member of the International Women’s Forum.
Board Service Across Sectors
Gooch’s board leadership spans a remarkable range of organizations connected by a common thread: health, community and innovation. She currently serves on the Board of the Silver Strand Homeowners Association in Marina del Rey, a role she has held since 2012, and on the Board of Berri Organics Electrolyte Beverages. She has also participated on the Board of NOW Art, which showcases projected AI art in cities around the world, and previously served on the Board of Bastyr University, one of the nation’s leading naturopathic medicine institutions—a connection that speaks directly to her alignment with INM’s mission.
Honors and Recognition
Gooch’s contributions have been recognized at the highest levels. In 2023, Sonoran University of Health Sciences honored her with an Honorary PhD in Humanities at its commencement ceremony. Over the years, she has received awards from the City of Beverly Hills, the State of California, President Ronald Reagan, New Hope Natural Products Magazine, Natural Business Journal and Working Women Magazine, along with recognition from the Clinton Administration.
Additional honors include the Hall of Fame Award from John Muir High School in Pasadena, recognition from the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC (University of Southern California), honors from Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel, and acknowledgment from Leading Women of the World and Whole Foods Magazine.
In recognition of her enduring influence, the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Norman and Armena Powell University Library has recently acquired the papers of Gooch and Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Markets. UCLA has noted that this history matters because food touches nearly every area of education across the university’s schools—a testament to how far-reaching her impact has been.
Gooch is also the author of If You Love Me, Don’t Feed Me Junk, a book that has helped generations of parents rethink how they feed their families.
A Natural Fit for INM’s Mission
As Gooch herself says, “ INM offers many health care professionals and the general public awareness and understanding of current scientific information for natural healing and wellness that is presented in an inviting and empowering format. Many people will reap the rewards of this outstanding educational opportunity.”
From my perspective, Gooch’s life work embodies exactly what whole-person health looks like in practice. In fact, she saw, decades before it was fashionable, that food, education and community are inseparable from health. We are honored to welcome her insight and experience to our board.
As INM continues its work bringing whole-person health into the mainstream, Gooch’s decades of pioneering leadership offer both inspiration and hard-won wisdom for the road ahead.
Michelle Simon, PhD, ND, President & CEO, Institute for Natural Medicine
In 1992, the leadership core of naturopathic doctors established the Institute for Natural Medicine (INM) as a not for profit organization dedicated to advancing natural medicine. The purpose of the INM is to increase awareness of, broaden public access to, and encourage research about natural medicine and therapies. Among its milestones the INM counts the launch of the Association of Accredited Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC) as an independent organization, leading California’s efforts to obtain licensure, developing an interactive childhood education program focused on healthy eating and lifestyles called Naturally Well in 2017, and expanding residency access by establishing and funding a residency program in 2018. INM has joined forces with the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP), serving as the charitable arm, to deepen access to naturopathic care, public education and research. Dr. Michelle Simon serves as president and CEO of INM, is a licensed naturopathic physician, clinician, educator and leader in many organizations dedicated to improving the quality and delivery of health care. In addition to holding a naturopathic doctorate from Bastyr University, she also holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Simon has served on the boards for the Integrative Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC), the AANP and the Naturopathic Physicians Research Institute (NPRI). Dr. Simon also served nine years on the Washington State Health Technology Clinical Committee which is part of the Health Technology Assessment program that examines the scientific evidentiary basis for efficacy, safety and cost effectiveness of health care technologies. She was also an invited participant for health care economics at “Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public” at the Institute for Medicine (IOM) in 2009. Dr. Simon was recognized as the 2018 Physician of the Year by the AANP.
Twitter: #inaturemed
Facebook: @INMWeAreNaturalMedicine
