About the gathering
A starting point for the right people to explore what might be possible — and begin identifying where collective energy could lead next.
What is the Healing Frontier?
Western North Carolina has spent decades quietly assembling the ingredients for something bigger: deep botanical knowledge, sparks of opportunity in research and biotech, and a culture that treats nature and science as partners, not opposites.
The Healing Frontier is where that potential gets discussed and tested. This is not a conference where you sit and listen. It is a working day, curated for a select but robust collection of scientists, founders, clinicians, investors, and regional builders who are ready to think big and get specific about what comes next in natural product research, integrative healing, and translational medicine in Western North Carolina.
Over the course of the facilitated day we will help build a shared vision, map out plausible pathways, and figure out where you personally fit into the work, alongside people who are already doing it in labs, clinics, startups, and the field.
Goals of the event
The Healing Frontier Gathering is designed to bring together people who can help shape the future of the region’s natural products and healing ecosystem.
- 1
Build a shared sense of energy and possibility around the region’s potential and how it can connect to the broader natural products industry and ecosystem.
- 2
Create meaningful connections among researchers, entrepreneurs, farmers, practitioners, investors, philanthropists, and community leaders.
- 3
Use the Arboretum’s natural setting to encourage open, creative, and productive conversation.
- 4
Surface promising ideas, collaborations, or opportunities worth exploring further.
- 5
Identify practical next steps that could help strengthen the ecosystem over time.
This gathering is intended as a starting point — not a final strategy session or a request for immediate commitments.
Who will attend?
We are bringing together a representative mix of people from across the healing ecosystem.
In good company
Partners & supporters
Organizations helping bring the region’s scientists, founders, clinicians, and builders together.
Host
The North Carolina Arboretum
Set on 434 acres within the Pisgah National Forest just outside Asheville, the Arboretum is home to the Bent Creek Institute and one of the country's foremost programs in medicinal plant research. It is the natural home for a conversation about the future of nature-derived healing.
Ready to join the conversation?
Bring what you know, roll up your sleeves, and leave with real next steps, real collaborators, and a stake in making this region a proving ground.
Register now