Teachers and Staff

CoreyPine Shane, RH (AHG), Holistic Clinical Herbalist, is the Director of the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine, which he founded in 1999. He is the primary teacher and coordinates the curriculum. He has been helping clients since the early 1990’s by artfully blending Chinese and Western herbal traditions with a focus on local plants. As a seasoned wildcrafter, he has extensive knowledge of local plant identification and medicine making. He is an expert on herbal first aid and an experienced Street Medic and Wilderness First Responder.

He is the author of  “Southeast Medicinal Plants” (Timber Press) and has taught at schools and conferences across the country and in Europe. He has written extensively on herbal medicine and is a professional member of the American Herbalists Guild.

CoreyPine believes that laughter is an essential part of any medicine chest, which is why he is a part of the “Wise Guy” school of healing.

Chelsea is the Administrative Assistant & Social Media Specialist at the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine. She is the first point of contact for applicants, and a huge support to the school in helping things run smoothly.

Chelsea has been living in and exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains for the past 4 years. She is currently attending the Holistic Herbalism Program and has been overwhelmed with excitement as she dives deeper into her herbalism journey. When she isn’t at school, she is tending to her garden, practicing yoga, drinking tea and spending time with her husband and daughter.

As a child growing up in the piney woods of Northeast Texas, Nikimbre’ has always felt a deep connection with plants and nature. Nikimbre’ resides in North Carolina, nestled in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, where she operates a small batch apothecary, and a mobile tea shop. Farming, reading, planting, and archery are a few of her favorite pastimes.

Rebecca has been an herbalist for 20+ years having gained a wealth of knowledge in medicinal herbs and practices. Her work in herbal education as both a teacher and administrator, natural products labs, and various versions of cultivation has taken her along a path of herbal medicine that focused on Nutrition, Biodynamic Agriculture, Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Postpartum Care, Clinical Herbalism, Flower Essences Therapy, Bionetics, community building, program development, mentorship, and most recently distilling.

These days you can find Rebecca wildcrafting and cultivating the plants used in her potions and distillations over at her apothecary, aurum apotheca and teaching for Blue Ridge School.

Fox is a plant-enthusiast with a great love for teaching.

He is a licensed acupuncturist and herbal clinician, incorporating both deep knowledge of Chinese medicine and nine years of Western herbal studies into his practice at Fox Herbs & Acupuncture.
Josh is an experienced guide to our local abundance of plant food and medicine and regularly offers plant walks, workshops, and weekend retreats integrating physical and spiritual healing.

When he’s not working with plants, you might find him dancing, stilt-walking, or singing songs.

Brandon Ruiz is a community herbalist and urban farmer living in Charlotte, NC. He owns Atabey Choreto Medicinals and directs the CLT Herbal Accessibility Project and spends his time working in urban gardens, making medicine and working with his community. Brandon works mainly with plants of the tropics, specifically from the Caribbean and in Boriken (Puerto Rico), his ancestral homeland
Josh is an experienced guide to our local abundance of plant food and medicine and regularly offers plant walks, workshops, and weekend retreats integrating physical and spiritual healing.

When he’s not working with plants, you might find him dancing, stilt-walking, or singing songs.

Kat Shaw is a trained Clinical Herbalist, Street Medic, and Wilderness First Responder whose mission is to provide accessible holistic healthcare in her community.  She has hundreds of hours of clinical experience in places as diverse as Rainbow gatherings, Earthskills gatherings, disaster relief & activist camps, and free herbal clinics. She operates Gather & Give Botanicals, where she offers consultations, classes, and pop-up first aid clinics as well as Asheville Street Feet Project, a free foot clinic serving underserved people in Asheville, NC. She attended the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism, Botanologos School of Herbal Studies, and apprenticed at the Herbalista Free Clinic. She is a practical herbalist who works diligently gathering case studies and experimenting to discover which remedies actually work best in the field.  Her goal is to share this knowledge with others in hopes that we will all do more to take care of each other and the natural world.

Anna Claire is a holistic clinical herbalist and medicine maker living in the mountains of Western North Carolina, by way of the beaches of South Carolina. From an early age, Anna Claire was inspired by and in awe of the natural world. She attended the University of South Carolina, earning a BS in Marine Science, with an emphasis on biology and marine mammals. Her studies next led her to explore graduate coursework in human nutrition, and finally, to the path of the plants.

Anna Claire is a graduate of the Holistic Herbalism and Advanced Clinical Herbalism programs at the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine, and she also completed a 450-hour herbal apprenticeship with CoreyPine Shane, RH (AHG).