Dr. Kate Pate: Respiratory Neurophysiology, Stress & TBI, Science-Backed Benefits of Breathwork and The Intersection Between Faith & Science

Dr. Kate Pate is a PhD neurophysiologist, coach, entrepreneur, and researcher. Her doctoral research focused on respiratory neurophysiology and understanding the brain-breath-body connection. She explored her fascination around this subject further and through a different lens by later becoming a yoga, meditation, and breathwork instructor. This included obtaining her RYT200, somatic meditation training, and trauma-informed yoga training for the military community. During her postdoctoral fellowship and early faculty days, Kate's research focused on redox biology as it relates to inflammatory disease processes and injuries, including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury. TBI has always been a primary area of interest for her - from a scientific perspective as much as a personal one, having sustained multiple head injuries herself. Kate later became a medical school professor and research director before being pulled into industry where she became a program director for a new combat casualty care military research program. Because she had a brother who was a medic in the Special Operations community at the time, this seemed like a perfect way to apply her research skills in a more meaningful way. Eventually, Kate decided to start her own organization with a close friend and business partner, and she founded Coruna Medical, a military-specific medical company that creates innovative solutions to address the medical problems facing military service members and veterans. By spending so much time working with active duty service members, veterans, and first responders in the medical space, Kate made lots of friends among these communities and soon realized that many within her network were struggling with complex health issues. What began as her best attempt to explain physiology, TBI, stress, toxic exposures, trauma, and mental health soon turned into her passion and then her purpose.  When Kate decided to make helping her friends an official career path, she pursued formal coaching training rooted in a transformational recovery perspective, which included specific training around psychedelic integration and addiction recovery. This was followed by training in functional medicine through The Institute for Functional Medicine, and then further training in psychedelic medicine as a facilitator. She cares deeply about her faith and the spiritual health of others, and to that end she is currently pursuing a graduate degree in theology.  Kate has served on multiple boards, worked with numerous organizations – including the NFL – and has made many podcast appearances over the years. In her spare time, you can find her breathing in the fresh mountain air. Kate's instagram: @doc.pateSupport the show