Taking Charge Of Your Health

Larry Kuusisto, D.C., PhD is the Vice President of Education at LifeScience Alley, a major Midwest health industry trade association, and is the Executive Director of their non-profit research affiliate, Alley Institute, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was Vice President of Educational Resources at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, Minnesota until 2002 and was a postdoctoral MnCAM Fellow at the University of Minnesota from 2003-2005. Kuusisto has a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota and a D.C. from Northwestern College of Chiropractic. Prior to his current work in research and education, Dr. Kuusisto practiced chiropractic for twenty years in private practice and at Northwestern College of Chiropractic.

Jane Armstrong, DVM, MS, MBA, Diplomate ACVIM, is currently a professor in the Veterinary Clinical Sciences Department at the University of Minnesota. She has broad clinical and research interests within small animal internal medicine, including gastrointestinal disease, feline medicine, integrative medicine, clinical nutrition and canine genetics. Dr. Armstrong holds board certification in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, is President of ACVIM (Small Animal) and is certified in veterinary acupuncture.

Marilyn Bach RN, MS, CNS, CHTP is a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner and mentor and has studied a variety of energy healing modalities over the last 15 years. Marilyn has lectured on energy based healing practices as an adjunct faculty member in the University of Minnesota's School of Nursing and the Center for Spirituality and Healing. Marilyn is also certified as a Clinical Specialist in Adult Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.

David Berg, MA, MDiv is Chaplain for the Palliative Care Consult Team at Fairview-University Medical Center and Cultural Competency Educator for hospital staff. He teaches a course on "Cultures, Faith Traditions, and Health Care" at the University of Minnesota and is the author of the Berg Cultural/Spiritual Assessment Tool. David has spent significant time in the local Native American and African American communities in Minnesota and has lived and parented in a bi-racial family for many years.

Judith Buchanan, PhD, DMD Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry. Dr. Buchanan found her way into dentistry while doing post-doctoral work in biochemistry. In addition to spending a good deal of her career in dental research, Judith has a long-standing interest in the field of virtual reality and incorporating simulation technology into educational curricula.

Pat Culliton, MA, L.Ac. serves as the Director of Minneapolis-based Hennepin County Medical Center's Alternative Medicine Division, where she is also the Director of Alternative Medicine for the National Institutes of Health Center for Addiction and Alternative Medicine Research. A licensed acupuncturist, she earned her Diplomate in Acupuncture in 1985 from the National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncturists in Washington, D.C. She has special interest in complementary therapies and substance addictions.

Lynelle Graham, DVM is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine. She is certified in Veterinary Acupuncture and in Animal Chiropractic. Her interests include clinical veterinary anesthesiology, specifically pain management, and, integrative veterinary medicine, specifically acupuncture, chiropractic and herbal management of pain and traumatic disease.

Sharon Franquemont Sharon's life has been dedicated to intuition for over 30 years. She is a coach, consultant, teacher, reader, and writer in the field. Her expertise includes teaching graduate students at JFK University, delivering intuition training and coaching for employees of major companies, presenting speeches to USA and international audiences, writing two books, recording several tape sets, and traveling the world to promote intuition's wisdom.

Christopher Hafner, L.Ac. is a TCM practitioner and licensed acupuncturist in Minnesota with over 25 years experience. He is currently a faculty member and clinic supervisor at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington Minnesota where he has taught for the past ten years. He is also a faculty member of the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Roseville, Minnesota, and adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota where he teaches a graduate level course on TCM through the Center for Spirituality and Healing. Chris lectures locally and nationally on the subject of TCM and is currently involved in several research projects investigating the quality of Chinese medicinal herbs, and the integration of TCM and conventional medicine.

Patricia Hart, MD is board certified in Internal Medicine & Nephrology. Her mid-career Bush Medical Fellowship catalyzed a profoundly deeper understanding of complementary healing, with an emphasis on meditation and subtle energy healing. She has a well established meditation practice and a long term relationship with a meditation teacher. Mind body practices are an integral part of her role in teaching medical students and residents, as a hospitalist serving chronic rehabilitation patients, and as a parent of two teenage girls!