Dr. Jacci Newel earned her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry at La Sierra University, where she first became interested in medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. During her undergraduate years she worked in a pharmacology lab focused on extracting icariin from the medicinal plant, horny goat weed. She utilized organic chemical synthetic techniques to alter the compound to make new phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors for blood pressure regulation. She went on to complete medical school and a post-sophomore fellowship in pathology at Loma Linda University, where she excelled in and taught pharmacology and toxicology. Her residency training in neuropathology, forensic pathology, and toxicology in Colorado led her to the study of the brain. She is well-versed in the dopamine reward and habit pathways, prefrontal cortex executive control of cognition and decision-making, hippocampal memory pathways, higher order pain processing, ion channels, the endocannabinoid and endogenous opioid systems, and the durovascular-trigeminal pathway of migraine. She worked on projects in drug development and testing in addiction, learning and memory, synaptic plasticity, pain, and migraine as an associate researcher and senior electrophysiologist at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she earned a Master of Science in Cognition and Neuroscience.
Though finished with the practice of medicine and laboratory research, she has not lost her zeal for pharmacology and medicinal chemistry and is thrilled to put her expertise to use as the medical and pharmacological reviewer for KratomIQ!
Dr. Newel is half-scientist/physician and half writer/artist, so has found a balance through writing, content creation, teaching, and medical consulting. She has founded her own freelance medical writing and consulting company, Renegade Medical Services where she creates content for large pharmaceutical companies and small patient advocacy and doctor’s offices alike. She offers expert medical advice, education, and assistance navigating the health care system for a select number of clients with a focus on preventative health and natural wellness. She recommends Kratom over opioids in patients with chronic pain.
In her spare time, she teaches forensics and STEM topics to high school students, indulges in myriad art projects, reads voraciously, gardens, creates culinary art in the kitchen, feeds her dogs entire wheels of cheese, always celebrates “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” and embarks on ridiculous outdoor adventures with her fiancé.
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