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As the second largest minority group in New York City (NYC), the population of Dominican immigrants continues to increase. Their participation in the conventional health care system, however, remains low. Many barriers exist that discourage Dominicans from seeking conventional biomedical treatment and encourage their reliance on traditional healing practices. Dominican traditional medicine has potential to contribute to the urban health care system in NYC, but more research is needed on the safety and toxicity of ethnomedical remedies and practices. Without efforts to recognize immigrant-healing traditions in the urban setting, tensions between the conventional and alternative medical systems will persist. It is important to preserve Dominican medicinal plant knowledge in order to sustain the cultural identity and improve the health of the Dominican community in NYC. This paper will discuss how increasing communication between conventional and traditional systems can promote the health of the Dominican population in NYC and by extension support the theory and practice of alternative therapies.