Meet Barbara Goshorn
Multiple Careers
A native of Long Island, Barbara Goshorn’s career trajectory hasn’t run in a straight line. She began her professional life as a horse trainer, working with equines destined for the show rink. Later, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing at SUNY Brockport, and then attended grad school for nursing.
Mid-life switch
It wasn’t until she was in her mid-40s that Goshorn arrived at NYCC and earned her Master’s degree in Applied Clinical Nutrition. She chose NYCC because she loved nutrition, but didn’t want to be a dietician. NYCC’s scientific- and biochemically-based program appealed to her, teaching her to figure out what was happening inside the body, and to be “more of a detective.”
Wonderful Professors
Goshorn credits the wonderful professors she had at NYCC with providing a rigorous education. As an older student who had last been in a graduate program 15 years earlier, she found much that was different. Her last graduate experience had featured papers written on a typewriter now she found herself in the high-tech world of modern nutritional science. Her professors, she says, gave her the support she needed: “When I wanted to give up, they were always there for me, and I’m forever grateful.”
Challenges met
What has been most challenging for Goshorn in her professional life, she says, has been finding a niche for herself. She decided to specialize in what she liked and knew best: a practice focused on women over the age of 40, looking to use nutrition to lose weight or avoid menopausal weight gain. “I’m proud of helping patients change the trajectory of their health,” she says.
Family Affair
Today, Goshorn runs a multiple-discipline wellness center in Webster, N.Y. But she’s not alone: Her husband, Dr. Charles Goshorn D.C. ’88 is also part of the practice, as are several other NYCC graduates, including Dr. Andrew Lazarro, Dr. Steven Hill, and the Goshorn’s daughter, Allie ’15, an acupuncturist. The couple’s son, Kyle, will also join the practice after he receives his Doctor of Chiropractic degree soon from NYCC.
The future of health
Goshorn hopes to see a more collaborative approach to health care in the future, with traditional health care facilities working in conjunction with wellness centers such as her own. She’s working to make that future a reality: many of her patients are medical doctors, and she works with residents of the University of Rochester School of Medicine as part of their rotation in family medicine. “People want an integrative approach to their health because they now realize how important nutrition, stress reduction, exercise, and sleep are to their health,” she says. “It’s an exciting time to be doing what we love, be accepted as a vital part of health care, and help our patients to thrive—not just survive.”
