About ➜ About Interior Medicine

About Interior Medicine

Hi! I’m Dr. Meg Christensen. I founded Interior Medicine in 2021. My mission is to help prevent disease by promoting healthier home environments, and do it in the most transparent, well-researched, and balanced way possible.

I am a licensed, board-certified Naturopathic Physician, have been WELL AP credentialed, hold a Healthier Materials and Sustainable Buildings certificate, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics.

You can read a little (or a lot) more about my philosophy and background here, if you’re interested.

My Philosophy

To fulfill my mission, I want Interior Medicine to be a resource for your own home that is as well done as the ones that exist for the commercial world (like the International Well Building Institute, the Parsons Healthy Materials Lab, and the International Living Future Institute, among others.) Like these institutions, I want to avoid stoking up fear, while also acknowledging that we can do a better job with materials. Put another way, I think of healthy homes like healthy diets — choosing a simple, science-backed one that you can stick with long term will improve your health much more than a trendy, fear-based, “hack.” Moreover, a healthy home, like a healthy diet, is just one part of your life — genetics, relationships, exercise habits, purpose, and so many other things— all support your health, too. You can be healthy in an imperfectly healthy home.

The best way I know how to promote this philosophy is by using constant questioning while navigating the world of material health, removing as much of my own bias as I can, and providing nuance and context.

On constant questioning: when a brand advertises their product as “non toxic,” I don’t take their word for it, and instead dig into their claims. When I see popular ideas circulated, I question where the idea came from in the first place (and sometimes find they’re just not true — plants purifying the air, CertiPUR being healthy, or PEVA being toxic, for example.) I also question my own assumptions, to make sure I have evidence to back them up, and that they’re not outdated — aluminum is not considered a cause of Alzheimer’s, as I feared it was in the early 2010s.
On removing bias: I created material scales that keep my reviews and ratings of products consistent, and fully explain the rationale for each scale so you can see exactly how I came up with it. I also choose to label every product I receive affiliate income from, because of course money can bias a review of something, and I think this public disclosure forces me to be more neutral.
On providing nuance and context: grey areas are harder to navigate and are less satisfying than absolutes, but I think it’s very important to bring more of this to the “non-toxic world,” which often encourages extremes — either outright dismissal, or an overwhelming sense of fear that every toxicant is something to be completely avoided. It is too simplistic to say “meh, you’ll be fine!” or “toxins are bad— beware!” The routes of exposure, how the body deals with that exposure, how you incorporate healthy habits in other aspects of your life that may mitigate the risk of the exposure, and your cumulative exposure load, matter. I incorporate nuance and context in my material guides, at the bottom of product pages, and when answering your emails.

About “Non Toxic” and Other Language

A quick note about how I use the terms non-toxic, chemical-free, and toxin:

I understand that there is no agreed-upon definition of the term non-toxic, and that everything, even water, is made of chemicals, so nothing is truly chemical-free. Likewise, I’m aware that toxin refers to a natural substance like a plant poison or venom, whereas toxicant is a more accurate term for the chemicals in products that have a negative health impact. I choose to use these words anyway because they are currently the most culturally agreed-upon, descriptive, and accessible terms that allow people to find the information they are seeking. Some people really care about this terminology, so I’m letting you know!

If someone had described my website to me when I was in college, I would’ve rolled my eyes. Since then, I’ve trained in both the “conventional” medical research world and the “woo woo” natural medicine world. These two ways of understanding health don’t have to be in opposition to each other, and their overlap is, in many ways, the basis for this website. These are the five pivotal experiences that gave rise to Interior Medicine, if you feel like reading.

First, I became very curious about how invisible molecules in anti-depressants could change people’s moods and lives when I worked at a little pharmacy during my high school years, so I read Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert. Before that, I had visited colleges with the intention of majoring in Interior Architecture, but after reading this, I decided to major in Biochemistry and Biophysics instead. Spending four years learning about tiny molecules is likely what makes “toxins” feel more real and relevant to me to this day.

Second, while in my last term of undergrad, I learned in a class called Molecular Medicine that pet birds died when people cooked with non-stick Teflon pans. Teflon is made of PFAS, and when PFAS were released into the air, birds inhaled them and died. It was thought, even back then in 2007 (!), that PFAS may also be carcinogenic to humans (which of course, now we know they are). We also learned about the biochemistry of pesticides and food additives, and this marked the first time I had an interest in organic food and natural cleaning products. Before, I had dismissed them as unnecessary and just “for the hippies,” but learning how synthetic chemicals affected my body on a molecular level changed my mind.

After graduation, I was studying for the MCAT and working as a clinical research coordinator at the hospital. During a conversation with an elderly patient recovering from a stroke in the ICU (he was widowed and mostly ate frozen dinners) the physician I was working with prescribed Plavix, a blood thinning medication. Which is good!! But for weeks afterward, I couldn’t stop thinking about the patient’s loneliness and his microwave meals, both of which are stroke risk factors. I felt a pull to help him, and others like him, in a more holistic way than only prescribing drugs. It made me wonder more about prevention, too, and though I can’t state enough how much I respect MDs and ICUs and the wonderful care they provide, this particular experience is what gave me pause about going to “regular medical school.”

Stalling, I spent a year in an Epidemiology and Biostatistics Master’s program. While I entered it for quarter-life-crisis reasons, my time there ended up being invaluable— I learned how to think about public health, risk, and correlation vs. causation— all of which I use constantly in creating this website. A professor in the program tipped me off to the fact that Naturopathic Doctors were licensed and board-certified primary care physicians, could prescribe a full formulary of medications, and were covered by insurance. I had no idea! The focus on prevention and holistic treatment seemed to align with my ideals, so I applied to NUNM and became a naturopathic doctor.

Finally, full of naiveté after receiving my ND, I was sure I could help prevent chronic disease. I tried mightily, in an ALS clinic, cancer institute, and an integrative gastroenterology clinic. It does turn out, however, that patients really only come to the doctor after they’re sick (haha) and while I may have helped prevent something on some level for some people, COVID is what finally provided the setting for weaving together my background with my holistic prevention goals. 2020’s lockdown gave me time to wonder about my Ghost Ship— the alternative life where I was an Interior Architect instead. I took online classes in Architecture and Interior Design for fun in the evenings, and while choosing materials for one of my projects, I noticed that stain-proof couch upholstery was made with PFAS, just like the Teflon pans of 2007 were. I wondered if I could help prevent disease by choosing a couch made without PFAS for my imaginary design client. The more I learned, the more I was convinced I was on to something. I started Interior Medicine in early 2021 as an evening hobby geared at preventing disease through the environments we spend so much of our time in. Since then, it’s become a (more than) full-time endeavor, thanks to you, and I plan to keep improving and growing it as long as possible.