Investigation · Unlicensed Practice · New York

Bereshit Lifestyle Center: A Death in the Bronx and the Anatomy of a Self-Styled “Naturopath”

A 27-year-old woman died after an anti-aging injection from a man with no U.S. medical or naturopathic license — and a set of credentials that dissolve on inspection.

Case opened July 20, 2026 · Status: developing · Jurisdiction: Bronx, NY / NYPD 47th Precinct area

What Happened

On Sunday, July 19, 2026, at around noon, a 27-year-old woman identified by ABC7 New York as Elizabeth Baron went into medical distress after Rojas Cabrera injected her with an unidentified substance, reportedly marketed as an anti-aging treatment, at the Bereshit Lifestyle Center on Riverdale Avenue in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. She was rushed unconscious and unresponsive to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 1:00 p.m. Police say Rojas Cabrera admitted to administering the injection. The Bereshit Lifestyle Center was closed the following day, and the business did not respond to media requests for comment.

The Credentials — What Holds Up and What Doesn't

Rojas Cabrera's own website describes him as "an M.D., Surgeon, Naturopath, a full member of the Dominican Medical College, Dominican College of Surgeons, and the Superior Council of Natural Medicine in the Dominican Republic," along with membership in the Hispanic Health Professionals Association of New York. He also claims U.S. "board certifications" from the A.A.D.P. in Holistic Health and the A.A.M.A in Alternative Medicine, and states he has performed more than 6,000 surgeries.

"Dominican Medical College" is not a school

This is the credential most likely to mislead an English-speaking reader. The Colegio Médico Dominicano (CMD) — literally "Dominican Medical College" — is not an academic institution. It is the Dominican Republic's statutory professional body for physicians, created by Dominican law (Ley 68-03) to organize, represent, and defend licensed doctors before public and private institutions, similar in function to a state medical board or professional guild. Membership requires proof of an exequátur (the DR's actual practice license) plus verified academic documents. Citing membership in CMD says nothing about where, or whether, Rojas Cabrera actually trained — it borrows the English word "college" to imply an academic credential the organization does not confer.

No New York license of any kind

No New York State records list Rojas Cabrera as a licensed medical doctor. Separately — and this matters for how the case should be framed — New York does not currently license naturopathic doctors at all. The New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians confirms the state has no ND licensing statute; its own members hold licenses in other states that do regulate the profession. A bill to create such licensure (S8714 / A10064, Education Law Article 138) is pending in Albany but has not passed. That means Rojas Cabrera was not simply an "unlicensed naturopath" in the sense of skipping a real license — there is no naturopathic license to hold in New York. He was practicing medicine (injections, claimed surgical history, an "integrative oncology" protocols manual reportedly found in his office) under a self-conferred title, in a state with no regulatory framework for that title at all.

U.S. "board certifications" — credential-mill pattern

The A.A.D.P. and A.A.M.A. certifications he cites are the kind of low-barrier, non-state-recognized "boards" commonly used to manufacture an appearance of oversight. They are not equivalent to state licensure or to accreditation recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. This is a familiar pattern on this site: a credential that sounds official, is real in the narrow sense that the organization exists and issues certificates, and carries no regulatory weight.

Business Profile

Bereshit Lifestyle Center offered a wide menu typical of catch-all "integrative wellness" operations: hydrotherapy, geotherapy, herbal therapy, homeopathy, aromatherapy, respiratory therapy, "Millimeter Wave Therapy," genetic testing, hair mineral analysis, saliva analysis, and urinalysis, alongside lifestyle counseling and video consultations. It also ran a retail supplement storefront under the name Tribestlife (Greenstar). Business data aggregators estimate roughly $295,000 in annual revenue and about three employees at the location — modest numbers for a decade-plus operation.

Advertising and Reach

Marketing appears to have been low-key rather than a large paid-advertising operation:

• A Facebook business page with only 61 likes and 8 check-ins as of this writing.
• A listing in JWiz, a Jewish community business directory, under "Alternative Medicine" — suggesting a community/word-of-mouth referral channel.
• A standard Yelp listing under "Naturopathic/Holistic."
• The clinic's own site, drluisrojas.com, functioning as the primary marketing hub.

One detail from local reporting is worth flagging: a sticker for hfaloan.com — a patient-financing company — was seen on the clinic's front door. Medical-loan financing is a common feature of cosmetic and medspa businesses that sell elective treatments people might not otherwise be able to pay for up front, and it points to a more sales-oriented operation than the "quiet neighborhood wellness center" framing in some coverage.

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