Ourania Stephanopoulos-Chichura, MD

Ourania T. Stephanopoulos-Chichura, MD, or Dr. Nia, as patients fondly refer to her, is a native of Ohio and a third generation healer in her family. Her great-grandmother, Baba Devitini, was the local village healer and midwife in Greece where Dr. Nia’s family originated.

Dr. Nia attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and studied microbiology and chemistry. While there she discovered her love of biochemistry and its application to health. She graduated Suma Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in biology and microbiology along with a minor in chemistry. She chose to attend medical school at KU Medical Center in Kansas City and in Wichita.

Dr. Nia’s father taught her at a young age to always ask “why?” and this has served her well through medical school and beyond. She had a desire to find root causes to medical problems by asking “why?” She chose to complete a post-sophomore pathology fellowship while in medical school. She studied cancer and medical laboratory techniques extensively. It was asking the simple question “why?” that eventually led Dr. Nia to Integrative Medicine. While in medical school Dr. Nia was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Society as well as into the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

After Medical School, she joined the Residency program in Internal Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, serving patients at the University of Kansas Hospital as well as veterans at the VA Medical Centers in both Kansas City and Leavenworth. During Residency she was given the Mark Beck Award for Humanism in Medicine and the Medical Student Assembly Professionalism in Residency Award.

After Residency she completed a Fellowship at KU Integrative Medicine under the guidance of Dr. Jeanne Drisko. Dr. Nia then joined the staff at KU Integrative Medicine. Dr. Nia is Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Integrative Medicine.

Dr. Nia’s journey in Integrative Medicine began at the Riordan Clinic! While she was a medical student on rotations in Wichita, a friend suggested she visit the Riordan Clinic to find root causes to diseases. What she found was an approach to the patient as a whole person. This included evaluating for root causes, nutritional deficiencies, and toxicity. Dr. Nia feels that her journey in Integrative Medicine has come full circle with her joining the staff at the Riordan Clinic.

Dr. Nia is often asked, “What is Integrative Medicine?” She describes Integrative Medicine as medicine that strives for the healing of the whole person (mind, body and soul) through changing of mind and lifestyle, correcting deficiencies, eliminating toxicities from the body, and doing what is needed to aid on the path to wholeness. It is proactive medicine in which patients are viewed as co-learners, and their education is as important as what they put into their bodies. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship and utilizes both conventional and integrative therapies.

Dr. Nia is a member of the International Society for Orthomolecular Medicine, the Society for Integrative Oncology and the Alliance for Natural Health. She enjoys spending quality time with her family, reading, singing, working out, cooking, teaching and being a lifelong learner. She comes from a big Greek family which taught her to give love to everyone and to treat everyone as family. Dr. Nia enjoys time with her patients and feels that her mission is to serve her family and patients through Integrative Medicine. Her vision is to create a space through the Riordan Clinic where all are welcome and can come for healing of mind, body and soul.