Dr. Barlow was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario by his parents Tom and Marg and with his brother Darren. He has an athletic background and played on several sports teams in his childhood and high school years. He played football, hockey, baseball, badminton, touch football and golf during high school and was voted Athlete of the Year in 1997 at Barton Secondary School. He also played 3 seasons of varsity football for the University of Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.
Dr. Barlow graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in August of 2001 with an Honours Bachelor of Business Administration and a minor in geography. After graduating from Wilfrid Laurier, Dr. Barlow moved to Invermere, BC to work in the ski industry at Panorama Mountain Village. This is where he met his future wife.
Dr. Barlow became passionate about health, wellness, longevity, and athletic performance while playing varsity football. He wanted to pursue athletic performance without sacrificing long-term health. He realized that this was the area he would like to make his career.
After taking several nutrition courses he eventually found out about naturopathic medicine. He visited several naturopathic doctors to learn more about the profession and was amazed by the services they provided and the results they were getting. He immediately contacted the accredited schools in North America, went back to school to acquire the prerequisite courses, and applied for admissions. Dr. Barlow was accepted by the Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine, his first choice, in the spring of 2005.
