Meet Dr. Roni

From nurse to naturopath

Dr. Roni started where many health professionals do: as a nurse in conventional medicine, working in hospitals around the country and later running nursing facilities. She moved to Martha’s Vineyard in 1992 and spent four years at the Martha’s Vineyard Nursing and Rehab Center.

Then her own health gave way. Chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia left her in bed for a long stretch, and visit after visit with doctors brought few answers. She turned to holistic care, and nutrition, detoxification and rest became central to how she rebuilt her health.

That experience changed the direction of her career. She trained as a naturopathic doctor, earned a PhD, and qualified as a colon therapist, an ozone therapist and a hypnotist. Then she began welcoming guests into her home on the Vineyard for detox retreats.

The book

Guests on those early retreats were losing weight as well as feeling better. In 2007 Dr. Roni and James Hester wrote the method down as 21 Pounds in 21 Days: The Martha’s Vineyard Diet Detox, which became a New York Times bestseller. A follow-up, 1 Pound a Day, set out a plan for eating well for life.

The center

In 2010 Dr. Roni opened H.E.A.L.E.D. Therapy on Main Street in Vineyard Haven. It grew to include hyperbaric oxygen, IV therapy, laser lipo and longevity treatments, and was later renamed Vineyard Longevity. Today the clinic, the spa, the HEALED Retreats and the online programs are one practice: Vineyard Longevity Center.

Dr. Roni also works with BioMed Center, which has facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Providence, Rhode Island, for clients who need bioenergetic medicine or care beyond what the island offers.

How she works

Dr. Roni looks at the whole person, at the level of the cell, not a single symptom. She works alongside your own doctors, never asks you to stop a prescribed treatment, and is direct about what she thinks will and will not help.

Read the Martha’s Vineyard Times profile of Dr. Roni (June 2023), or watch her talks on YouTube.