Episode 134 | Jun 12, 2025

Why Genetics Are The Future of Personalized Wellness, With Heather Morgan

What if you could tailor your wellness approach to match your DNA? In this episode of Health Coach Talk, Dr. Sandi sits down with Heather Morgan, CEO of NBX Wellness, to explore the rapidly growing field of genetics-based personalized wellness—and the critical role health coaches play in bringing it to life. With a background in both health coaching and nutraceuticals, Heather offers a unique perspective on how genomics and epigenetics are transforming functional health.

“When you add in personalized genetics and epigenetics, it’s a game changer. Health coaches are the best way to make this information actionable—we just want to empower them with the tools to help clients succeed.”

Heather Morgan

Heather shares how NBX Wellness grew from Neurobiologics—a genetic testing and supplement company—into a comprehensive wellness solutions platform that empowers health professionals, especially health coaches, with the tools and training to integrate precision wellness into their practices. Her company now offers nutrigenomics testing designed specifically for health coaches, educational certifications, and a turnkey platform that puts clients in control of their genetic data while coaches guide personalized lifestyle plans based on those insights.

Throughout the episode, Dr. Sandi and Heather discuss how health coaches can use nutrigenomics and epigenetics to help clients make smarter, more targeted decisions about diet, lifestyle, and supplementation. They address common concerns about complexity—offering reassurance that genetics education can be accessible, empowering, and deeply practical. With courses that walk coaches through each step, including how to interpret common SNPs (genetic variants) and relate them to wellness strategies, NBX is making the science of genetics actionable and understandable.

For health coaches, this is a glimpse into the future of functional wellness. Personalized guidance based on genetic information not only helps clients feel more empowered, but also eliminates guesswork around lifestyle changes and supplements—making progress more achievable and sustainable. Heather’s approach emphasizes the coach-client relationship as the key to transforming data into action, and her message is clear: this is just the beginning of a new era in healthcare, where coaches will play a central role in prevention and precision care.

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Transcript

Dr. Sandi: People are familiar with genetic testing, but what they may not be familiar with is companies that focus on genetics-based health plans. This is what I talk about with my guest, Heather Morgan. Let me tell you about Heather. She is the CEO of NBX Wellness. This is a precision wellness company that offers health coaches genetics training and education, as well as done-for-you precision wellness platforms that allow coaches to work within their scope of practice while guiding clients through genetics-based health plans. I know you will enjoy the conversation I had with Heather. She’s a big advocate for health coaches.

Welcome to the podcast, Heather.

Heather: Hi, Sandi. Thank you so much for having me.

Dr. Sandi: Well, it’s a pleasure to talk with you. Heather and I go way back. You launched a company which we’re going to talk all about, and that is NBX Wellness. So, can you talk about what that is, what do you do, and specifically Neurobiologix? Can you tell everyone what that’s about?

Heather: Yes. Thank you so much for asking. So, NBX Wellness, we’re really a wellness solutions company rooted in genomics. And we were born, if you will, from Neurobiologix. So, Neurobiologix was our original name, our original company that included genetic testing and supplements. And our supplement brand, Neurobiologix, still exists. And then NBX Wellness is more of an all-encompassing, I guess, if you will, education. We basically align to help health professionals to bring personalized wellness to their care models. And so that is what we do through NBX Wellness. So, we do this through the blueprint of genetics, but we deliver genetics testing, genetically tuned nutraceuticals, education, certifications, those types of things.

Dr. Sandi: So, it’s comprehensive. And how’d you get started in this? What was your original background that interested you in this field?

Heather: Yes, thank you. So, I have been in the nutraceutical space for quite a while, but I started out as a health coach myself. I don’t know if you knew that, Sandi.

Dr. Sandi: I don’t think we ever talked about that.

Heather: Yes, I don’t think we have. So, in my first career, I was actually a teacher. And then I got my master’s in rehabilitation, counseling, and marriage, family, and child, and then worked as a counselor and a teacher, and then moved into becoming a health coach. And I had a lot of success as a health coach in my earlier years. That’s actually where I met our mutual colleague, JJ Virgin. And that’s where she brought me along in my career path, introduced me to a nutraceutical company, which is where I worked for many years, really helping professionals to grow their businesses with science-based nutraceuticals and different business models to help them be successful.

Dr. Sandi: I never knew that you were a health coach. It sounds like our paths were quite similar. I started out as a teacher years and years ago in the ’70s, and then went into the mental health field, and then founded a school to train health coaches. So, you have a model where NBX is partnering with health coaches. And can you describe what that’s all about?

Heather: Yes, thank you. So, I think you and I are aligned and have very similar views on the power of the potential for health coaches, right, in the health and wellness field. So, with what we’re doing at NBX Wellness, we recognize that. Because we do support health professionals in bringing precision wellness into their models, we really saw the value and the ability to help health coaches to bring nutrigenomics into their care model, and to use that as a foundation principle in their coaching.

So, we know that health coaching is about personalization and really giving the clients a personalized wellness journey. And that’s what we do as well. So, again, I think the two companies just align really well in that we have the tests. So, we are genetics experts, we have genetic testing, and we actually developed a nutrigenomics test specifically for health coaches. So, we actually created a test that has 66 SNPs, so single nucleotide polymorphisms, and that’s just an easy word for looking at genetic variants. And these are the genetic variants that are more commonly used by health coaches, so related to nutrients, diet, lifestyle, detoxification, management, those types of things.

And so really what SNPs are and really what genetics testing is just information. So, nutrigenomics tests are not diagnostic tests. They are simply a way of looking at information regarding an individual that helps guide a care plan. And so for health coaches, this is perfect because that’s what coaches are doing. They’re digging in with someone and just guiding and supporting them through their health journey. And so this brings more information to that relationship so that the coach can then work with their client on these diet and lifestyle areas to help really pinpoint a little bit more on the personalization side to understand what might be impacting their health and how they can then help guide them forward in their journey using this information.

Dr. Sandi: So, if I have this correct, let’s say there’s a client. And as a health coach, you can educate your client that this test is available. That client goes out, gets the test, gets the results back, and they may choose then to share those results with their health coach. The health coach will go over those results, and there are interpretations and recommendations for that nutrigenomic test. And so by doing that, it’s not the health coach who is ordering the test, they are not interpreting the test, but they are going over results where the client really has that it’s their responsibility. And they may ask questions of the coach if there’s language or if there’s things that they don’t understand. The coach will work on those things together. They’ll partner to make that test then become an actionable lifestyle change, which may or may not involve supplements.

Heather: That’s exactly right. And we wanted to create this for health coaches so that it would be designed to work within the scope of how a health coach works. To your point, the health coach has the ability to share a link or let the client know where to purchase the test. We set that up for the health coach, right? So, we have a precision platform that we set up for the health coach. And that allows the coach to have a link to give to a client to say, if you would like to get your genetics test done, you can go here and purchase your test. So, the client goes and purchases their test, and then they receive… Our warehouse actually ships the test to the client directly. The client does an easy cheek swab, sends it into the lab, and then the lab sends the results back through to the platform, which goes directly to the client, not to the coach. And so the coach doesn’t have any visibility into this. This is all the client driving their own experience. And as we know, many people get their genetics testing done. Many people have already had them done. Many people are more curious to look at certain aspects of their health and understand this aspect.

So, when the results come back, it goes directly to the client. The client from there is able to open it up and review it and be walked through their results. And then through that, they’re able to read just a little bit more about it. If they so choose and they decide that they want to purchase the genetic guided supplements that were designed to match through the genetic variations, then they can do so. It’s completely up to the client. The client can then so choose to push a button and share their results with the coach. And at that point, the coach has the results to be able to walk through and utilize those to inform their health journey with the clients.

One of the interesting things is that genomics and nutrigenomics is a relatively, I would say… I don’t want to call it a new field, but it is a field that’s really emerging right now because we understand the power of looking at someone’s genetics to help them guide their healthcare plan. So, because of that, we’re helping to educate and helping to train the coaches. So, we do have a genetics coaching certification program. And that’s really interesting because we are specifically for coaches walking them through the various areas of genetics that are being tested, these SNPs, and educating them on them, so they really can understand what does this mean. What does it mean when this particular variant shows up? And how can that be applied to a lifestyle program? How can this be applied then when looking at diet, lifestyle, supplementation? That way, the coach is really informed to be able to help their client to understand the results better and how this may be impacting them.

And we also have an epigenetics program. So, our genetics course is launching here in the next couple of months. And then after that, we’ll be launching the epigenetics course. And epigenetics is just, if you look at the genes, if you will, and the genetics, that’s telling you it is what it is. Your genes are your genes. This is simply information about you. We all have different variants. We all have different variants that show up. But then how are those genes actually impacting the customer? How are they actually expressing within them at a particular time? So, that’s epigenetics, and that’s a really exciting part of genomics and one that I think is taking on just a lot of traction now as well. So, we’re also going to be offering the epigenetics education as well for health coaches so that they can get educated on it and then be able to utilize the epigenetics testing as well.

Dr. Sandi: That’s awesome. So, we can look at the epigenetics part as the coach territory because it could be a lifestyle change. For example, let’s say somebody has MTHFR variant and that might mean that’s a mess in terms of some things they need to do, in particular supplements they need to take or not take. And so this would be something you are providing that education and then the coach can go on and educate the client. So, this is a real exciting area for health coaches to get into. And I think that many health coaches are scared or they feel like they don’t know anything about genetics and maybe they’ve had an experience before where they took a course, heard a lecture and it’s like, “I’ve listened to some of these podcasts even talking about it and I’m so lost. All this terminology related to genetics and I don’t understand much of it.” So, I’m assuming that this course is going to be at a level that will be easy to understand so that those coaches can go and impart that information to clients so that they will understand it in an easy way.

Heather: You are 100% spot on. And I’m not sure how many of your coaches did see the webinar that we did with FMCA previously, and that was a very basic sort of foundational webinar that just started to introduce the terms, DNA, what is the various terms that you would find. And I think that was a good example of a launch pad for this course, right? So, it really does start off with just the most foundational aspects, the definitions, and then it starts to really show you… It takes you all the way through understanding the SNPs, understanding the test, and then the various aspects. So, it starts to look at inflammation and detoxification and various areas that really become applicable to how people are feeling and how it’s impacting their health and wellness.

So, I think what’s exciting about the course is it is very foundational and it’s core. However, it’s very actionable. So, we really designed this with health coaches in mind, understanding that they are the front line with clients that are out there. And I can just tell you, right, many people know that they need to eat better. Many people know that they’re not getting the right sleep or the right exercise. Many people know that their brain fog or whatever it is they’re experiencing is probably because their health is off in one way or another. And in many cases, people even know from a simplest point that they shouldn’t be maybe eating fried foods every day, but they’re still doing it. But when you bring a health coach in… And this is what is so powerful and why we stand behind health coaches. When you bring a health coach in and you create that dynamic, that relationship, the dynamic, people are then far more empowered to go and achieve their goals and results and to make those changes than they would be when they were on their own.

And so we thought about that as we’re actually building out these courses. We thought about making them actionable and helping to achieve the results that clients are looking to achieve in their lives because the information that’s within these tests is actually, it’s very powerful. This evidence-based concept hasn’t been used a whole lot in medicine at all but within coaching hasn’t been used either. But when you start to have this information and you actually understand what it means and you’re able to put it into action into a typical coaching plan, that’s where it really is just quite impactful.

We’ve seen it within our company with professionals of all kinds, and it is really night and day, taking an evidence-based core foundational approach versus guessing and/or taking a lot of key elements that we know help people to be healthy and successful. But when you add in their own personalized genetics and epigenetics, it is a game changer. It’s such a game changer. And so we believe that health coaches is the best way for us to utilize this information. And we know the power of a health coach-client relationship. And so we just want to be able to empower the health coaches, provide the tools, provide everything they need to be able to do this and to go out and have great success with their clients.

Dr. Sandi: Well, you’ve been such a wonderful supporter of health coaches. And this is really the future of healthcare. It is personalized. It is a model that supports self-efficacy of that individual. They are in charge, and they can make these changes, but they also can feel empowered to get this type of testing done. So, this movement is exploding, and it has to do with an awakening. People want prevention as opposed to just a pill for every ill waiting till they get sick, which the modern medical system is only focused on, not prevention. And so we’re seeing more and more of this model, and it really is the ideal because it can be confusing. You just go and get these tests, and then so frequently you get the results. And even if the recommendations are there, you need support. You need validation of what to do, and you may have questions that need answering. And so when you have that health coach, they’re going to be your partner in this process. So, it’s a combination. It’s not an either/or. It’s a combination of getting the data, which you’re providing, getting recommendations but also then having a health coach to bounce ideas off of and share. There might be obstacles to those recommendations, or you may not think it fits, or it fits, but perhaps you’re overwhelmed and you don’t know where to start. So, coaches can be really key to the success of this movement to get this test. And these are kinds of tests that I never would have imagined that they would be available like this as you are developing.

Heather: You’re absolutely right. And also too, I think that it also helps to redefine the whole concept of supplementation because I think we know that many people are out there using supplements, and it is an area that hasn’t always been rooted as evidence-based. And so I think this allows people to be a little just more careful and targeted about how they’re using supplementation. And it also helps to save the client’s money, right? So, it’s not just guessing, but it is saying you have this genetic mutation on the methylation side. So, these are the types of B vitamins you should be taking. And then you add in the epigenetics piece as well. So, I think that it really also helps take the guesswork out of supplementation, and it also helps just to make it easier on the coaches and the clients really.

Dr. Sandi: To be clear then, the coaches aren’t recommending supplements. They are providing education and the recommendations are coming from your company.

Heather: That is exactly right. So, there is in no way that the recommendations come through directly to the client. The client reads them and makes any supplement choices that they want to on their own. So, the coach isn’t involved in that.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah. Yeah. And that’s great. And I remember when we’ve talked about this way back, and that was the model, and you were so receptive to that. I think you really get it in terms of the role of the head coach.

Heather: Absolutely. Yeah, and it makes complete sense to us. And you’ve been very helpful in helping to educate us and guide us as well to help the coaches be most successful within the scope of their roles. So, I think that all around, the idea is to support the coaches so that the coaches can bring the best care to the customers as possible.

Dr. Sandi: And at the end of the day, that care really leads to self-efficacy. I hear those words over and over again. There was another study I just came across. These were in older adults in Hong Kong, and those who worked with… It was a randomized controlled trial. And those who worked with a health coach, these were people with chronic diseases and they developed more self-efficacy at the end of the trial compared to the control group that made no changes at all. In fact, they got worse and then they showed blood pressure changes. So, coaches can be instrumental and it’s that self-efficacy. That means that individual who’s your client, they’re going to look at it, they’re going to get this testing, they’re going to take those results seriously and they’re going to say, “Hey, I can do this. I can get healthier. I can take charge of my health.” And that’s the main role of the health coach which makes it so, so impactful and powerful.

Heather: That is so true. Well said. Yes, I couldn’t agree more.

Dr. Sandi: So, Heather, where can people find you? Where can they find this course, your company?

Heather: Yes, so we’re nbxwellness.com and so anybody can go there to find us and Neurobiologix. So, Neurobiologix is our consumer brand, so they can find us there as well. And if anybody wants to reach out to me, they’re welcome to at hmorgan@neurobiologix.com. And yeah, we have a full team here ready to support any of the coaches. And I will just say we have gotten some questions about coaches asking if they can take our course if they are still students. And right now, we just have it available to health coaches. So, I just wanted to also clarify that as a question we’ve been getting.

Dr. Sandi: Yeah, that makes sense. This is for people who already have the base of coaching, and they understand that and have that certificate. Makes sense. Well, that’s something to look forward to when you already are a health coach. And it just shows the growth of health coaching and growing opportunities for health coaches to be of service to people. And they are so sorely needed right now more than ever.

Heather: They really are. What you’re doing is so great, Sandi. I’ve told many people. So, I’ve shared your book with so many people.

Dr. Sandi: Thank you.

Heather: It is so fantastic. I love the name. I think I’ve told you that. “Your Health Coach Will See You Now” is so brilliant. And I also listened to your audiobook. I think I mentioned this to you, but when I go out and do my walks every day in the hills here in Sonoma, I always listen to books. And more recently, I listened to your book and it just so resonates. And I really wish that consumers would listen to or read your book. It is so right on as far as healthcare, where healthcare should be going and could be going. And I think now more than ever, the place for coaches to really stand in their place right there in front line in primary care, supporting those efforts is just so true, so exciting. And we support you 100%. We’re really excited to see where the profession is going thanks to you and others of your colleagues who are pioneering and leading the way for health coaches and really raising the bar on the standards for health coaches. It’s a time where I really think people should be taking a look at how this fits into the medical model.

Dr. Sandi: Well, thank you. That certainly means a lot. And this company is exciting. And I’m excited to bring this to our audiences. And NBX Wellness is the place, Neurobiologix as well. And it has been so wonderful to talk with you. We’ve spent time in person and Zoom, and it’s just a pleasure to know you. Thank you so

Heather: Thank you. Thank you, Sandi. Appreciate your support and your kindness. We’re so glad to be here supporting the coaches. And again, just thank you for your time and thanks for having me.

Dr. Sandi: Oh, thank you. It’s been a pleasure.