About Dr. Spector

Dr. Ilene M. Spector is an osteopathic physician in private practice since 1990. She specializes in Osteopathic Manual Medicine, with an emphasis on Osteopathic Cranial Manipulative Medicine (OCMM), also known as Cranial Osteopathy. She treats people of all ages, from newborns to people in their older years, and for a variety of medical complaints.

Dr. Spector says: “I have pursued several fields of study over the years that not only acknowledge the natural, vital, and responsive aspects of health, disease and life in the human being, but also offer specific ways to interact with these qualities and mechanisms to restore health and vitality. After learning about several forms of natural health care, I chose to pursue an in-depth osteopathic medical education, to give me a solid foundation of medical knowledge and be able to integrate understanding from many other sources. My background enables me to meet each person as an individual, each with a unique life and history, to understand their story from several points of view, and often to be able to help people who are still frustrated and suffering after unsuccessfully trying many forms of healthcare. I consider my work a privilege. Traditional Osteopathy, Osteopathic Manual Medicine, enables me to interact with a person’s living anatomy and improve their physiologic function, offering a great option to people, often relieving their suffering and giving them a renewed sense of well-being.”

Dr. Spector has been practicing osteopathic medicine since 1989 and natural health care since 1974.

She has been awarded Proficiency Recognition in 2000 by the Osteopathic Cranial Academy (OCA), a prominent international organization for Osteopathic Medicine in the Cranial Field. She is an active senior faculty member of the OCA, teaching cranial osteopathy to physicians, medical students, and dentists nationwide since 1991. She has taught osteopathic and classical homeopathic medicine to physicians in Dr. Andrew Weil’s Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. She has served on the Arizona Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners (a state licensing board for MD’s and DO’s practicing integrative medicine) as president and vice president for 7 years. She served as vice-president of the Osteopathic Cranial Academy and as an active member of their Board of Directors for many years, as well as past chair of several of their committees, and co-chair of their 2009 Annual Conference “Osteopathy and Embryology: Developmental Patterns and the Template of Health.”  She presented during the OCA’s 2018 Annual Conference Osteopathic Cranial Academy's Annual 2018 Conference “Discovering the Heart”: ‘The Heart’s Living Form and Function in Osteopathic Practice’, and ‘Love, Kindness and Presence with the Suffering Patient.’

Dr. Spector is a faculty member of the US-based ROA faculty (ROA = "Rule of the Artery and Vein"), joining international osteopaths in teaching advanced osteopathic knowledge and application for treating the vascular system.

She received the OCA award for Exceptional Service in 2012. In 2014, Dr. Spector was named Fellow of the Osteopathic Cranial Academy (FCA), an honor awarded “in recognition of outstanding ability, knowledge, experience, skill and achievements in Osteopathy in the Cranial Field.” In 2023 she was chosen to present the OCA Sutherland Memorial Lecture during the OCA Annual Conference, an annual honor bestowed to a leader in the field to deliver a seminal talk reflecting on learnings in the field of Cranial Osteopathy.

As an osteopathic physician, she is fully trained and licensed to practice medicine. Dr. Spector does not practice as a primary care physician but specializes in the treatment of many types of medical problems with osteopathic manual medicine, with an emphasis on cranial osteopathy. However, Dr. Spector also brings her extensive background in conventional and natural medicine into her medical recommendations for each individual patient. Her areas of special training, osteopathic and classical homeopathic medicine, are traditional, time-honored forms of medicine designed to restore inherent vitality and health.

Because medical situations can often become confusing, Dr. Spector frequently helps patients understand their medical situation, needs and options for evaluation and treatment. She serves as a link into both conventional medical options and alternative/complimentary forms of medical care, to help each patient decide what is the best approach for them.

Dr. Spector has a BA in Psychology, and worked in that field until she discovered homeopathic medicine in 1974. Receiving homeopathic medical treatment herself, she was cured of an ongoing medical condition that had not responded to several conventional medical treatments. This sparked an interest in homeopathy and realizing it could be a successful option for others who were non-responsive to conventional medical care, she embarked on a detailed study of classical homeopathy in 1974. She also trained in several types of hands-on therapies. But after years of practicing classical homeopathy and manual therapies, she realized the limits of her medical and healthcare knowledge, especially in dealing with complicated patients, most of whom had physicians but would come to her for care. She decided to pursue osteopathic medical school to gain a firm foundation in medical knowledge and to learn osteopathic manual medicine, which she now considers the premiere form of manual medicine.

Since completion of her DO degree from the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific, Pomona California in 1989, she has been grateful to offer patients osteopathic medical care. She no longer practices classical homeopathic medicine in the treatment of chronic cases, as she did for many years before and after becoming a DO, but that knowledge base continues to serve her both in understanding and interpreting patients’ medical histories and processes. She graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy in 1999.

She has trained extensively in Osteopathic Cranial Manipulative Medicine (OCMM) (also known as Cranial Osteopathy) and has been honored to teach this to others through the Osteopathic Cranial Academy since 1991. Some of her beloved teachers who have influenced her practice and given her years of priceless training include Robert Fulford DO, FCA https://cranialacademy.org/videos/robert-fulford/ and his use of the Percussor and other methods in osteopathic care; Viola Frymann DO, FCA and her specialty of treating children; Eliott Blackman DO, FCA, a treasured osteopathic physician with his understanding and application of embryological principles in osteopathic treatment; James Jealous DO and his teachings in Traditional Studies/Biodynamics of Osteopathy in the Cranial Field; and the Rule of the Artery and Vein teachings (ROA), focusing on the vasculature in osteopathic diagnosis and treatment.

In 1997, while living in Tucson AZ, Dr. Spector was asked by Dr. Andrew Weil, a Harvard trained MD, to join his faculty and teach osteopathic and classical homeopathic medicine to physicians in the Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. This was the first program to train conventional physicians in integrative and alternative medicine. Dr. Spector taught in that program from its beginning in 1997 until 2004 when she moved from Tucson, Arizona to Crested Butte, Colorado, where she lived for over 20 years. She then relocated to Paonia, Colorado in late 2024.

She is happy to live in beautiful Colorado, surrounded by miles of natural beauty in all seasons. Her medical practice is a constant source of wonder and fulfillment, giving her the opportunity to meet many incredible people as patients, and to witness some profound improvements in their health and lives from osteopathic care.