Cass Nelson-Dooley, M.S., owner and CEO of Health First Consulting, LLC, discusses her work and research into the microbiome and beyond. Nelson-Dooley has conducted extensive research into the pharmacology of medicinal plants at the University of Georgia and AptoTec, Inc, and she was an innovator at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory as well as Genova Diagnostics. Nelson-Dooley is passionate about human health, passionate about improving it through a comprehensive approach that addresses the many and various underlying causes of disease. She is a student of ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology, and natural product chemistry and has experience in integrative and functional medicine, and the integrative medicine laboratory industry, as well as nutraceutical research and development, osteoporosis, and obesity. Nelson-Dooley discusses her background and her desire to learn all she could about medicinal plants. Natural medicine, as she explains, has long been something she and her family were interested in. She discusses her work and time in Panama, studying indigenous people and the plants that they used for common illnesses. Nelson-Dooley’s book, Heal Your Oral Microbiome: Balance and Repair your Mouth Microbes to Improve Gut Health, Reduce Inflammation and Fight Disease, is a good read for anyone who wants to seriously work on improving their health. Nelson-Dooley explains how plants need vitamins and minerals, and she discusses the many similarities of living organisms. She outlines the nutrients that plants have within them that we as humans could harness and take advantage of. Continuing, she explains some of the problems that occur with modern drugs on the market. Nelson-Dooley discusses her evolutionary perspective on why certain plants do what they do, and how they continually work to advance their lineage. She cites the example of the fruit tree, and how it is perfectly designed to promote its survival, as fruits are eaten and then the fruit seed is carried and deposited through feces, which creates a perfect environment for the growth of a new tree. Continuing, Nelson-Dooley discusses her book and microbiome testing, including her work in diagnostic testing. She talks about the gut microbiome in detail and explains her research into the oral microbiome. She explains the similarities between the two. And she talks about the many functions of the microbiome, from making vitamins to calming inflammation.