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Foundation Leadership


Officers and Trustees

Advisory Council

2010 Massage Therapy Foundation Committees
 

 
 



  “I feel strongly that the more we understand how and why
   massage works, the better we will be at serving our
   communities.”

   Diana Thompson, LMP
   Massage Therapy Foundation President

   Read an mtj interview with Diana Thompson

 


DIANA L. THOMPSON, LMP - PRESIDENT:
Ms. Thompson is a licensed massage practitioner in the state of Washington. She began her practice in Iowa in 1979, working exclusively with college athletes, and became licensed in Washington in 1984 where she founded Lakeside Massage – The Injury Clinic. Diana has taught at dozens of massage schools throughout the United States, including Bastyr Naturopathic University and Seattle Midwifery School. She has presented at state and national massage, physical therapy, chiropractic and midwifery conventions and seminars, and has been a consultant for several NIH funded research projects, and for regional and national insurance carriers and networks. Her first book was published in 1993 and the third edition, Hands Heal: Communication, Documentation, and Insurance Billing for Manual Therapists was published in 2005.

OFFICERS AND TRUSTEES:

RUTH WERNER - President-Elect: Ruth Werner is a massage therapist and educator with a passionate interest in the role of bodywork for people who struggle with health. Her book, A Massage Therapist’s Guide to Pathology, is in its 4th edition, and is used in massage schools all over the world. She writes columns for Massage Today and Massage and Bodywork magazine, and has traveled extensively teaching continuing education workshops. She has served on committees for the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), the Utah Department of Public Licensing, the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards, and the National Certifying Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Werner was also honored as the AMTA Council of Schools Teacher of the Year in 2005.

TIM HERBERT - Vice President: Mr. Herbert is the Director of Client Relations for Books of Discovery, publishers of Trail Guide to the Body. He has been in sales and marketing management in the profession for 20 years and has been a contributor to several textbooks on the subject of massage therapy equipment. After training in Hakomi Body-Centered Psychotherapy, Tim graduated from the Ashland Massage Institute in 1994. He has been a Foundation trustee since 2001, serving as Vice-President since 2005. Tim and his wife, Marion live with their three children in Eugene, Oregon.

JOHN BALLETTO, LMT: Mr. Balletto is a licensed massage therapist in private practice in Providence, Rhode Island and has served as a Foundation Trustee since 1992. He is nationally certified in therapeutic massage and bodywork and serves as the massage therapist for the Brown University Track and Field/Cross Country Teams. From June-August, 1996, he served as the Massage Therapist for the Swiss Rowing Federation Team that claimed three Gold Medals in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games at Lake Lanier, Georgia. He has served in many volunteer positions within the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) since 1989, including Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee and National Vice President. Additionally, John participates in a subspecialty rotation in Alternative and Complementary Medicine with the Brown University School of Medicine and Rhode Island Hospital. He is co-author of "Teaching Residents About Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States", recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (Volume 13, August 1998). John is a graduate of Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, and resides in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Karen Boulanger, NCTMB, MS, PhD candidate:  Karen resides in San Jose, California has been a nationally certified massage therapist since 1999. Her career has included massage therapy, holistic health, education, and public health research. She is currently the Practice Section editor for the Foundation’s new online journal, the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork. Boulanger has also served as a volunteer on several committees for the Foundation, including the Community Service Grant Proposal Review Committee and the Research Synthesis Workgroup. In addition to her office in Campbell, California, Boulanger provides care to children and pregnant women at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Iowa, studying community and behavioral health.


Claude J. Gagnon, CMT:  Claude resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is a certified massage therapist in the state of Wisconsin. He graduated from massage therapy school in 1990 and has maintained a private practice since.  He was the Chief Executive Officer for a not-for profit massage therapy educational institution for thirteen years and has served in a number of volunteer roles in the massage therapy profession.  Some of these roles include President and Vice President of the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Council of Schools, five years as Chair of the AMTA Strategic Planning Committee, and Vice President of the AMTA Board of Directors.  Currently, Claude serves on the Volunteer Development and Community Service Grant Review committees for the Foundation. Claude enjoys cooking, gardening, biking, and is an avid skydiver and skydiving instructor.

GLENN M. HYMEL, EdD, LMT:  Dr. Hymel is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Loyola University New Orleans. His areas of specialization include educational psychology, research design and statistics, personal adjustment/stress management, and positive psychology. He is a graduate of the Blue Cliff School of Therapeutic Massage in Metairie, Louisiana, and maintains a practice in the Greater New Orleans Area. Glenn is the author of the textbook Research Methods for Massage & Holistic Therapies (Elsevier, 2006) and the tertiary author (along with Sandy Fritz & Leon Chaitow) of Clinical Massage in the Healthcare Setting (Elsevier, 2008). Dr. Hymel is currently serving as the Founding Executive Editor of the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork as well as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies.  
  
Clifford Korn, LMT:  Cliff resides in Windham, New Hampshire and is a full-time practicing massage therapist and owner of Windham Health Center Neuromuscular Therapy LLC. He is nationally certified in therapeutic massage and bodywork and is licensed as a massage therapist by the states of New Hampshire and Florida. Korn is a member of the International Association of Healthcare Practitioners, is a past president of the New Hampshire chapter of the American Massage Therapy Association, is a member and lecturer for the Health Resources Committee of the Greater Salem (NH) Chamber of Commerce, and is a former member of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Board of Massage Therapists. He is a past chairman of the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage & Bodywork, and has served the profession for seven years as editor of Massage Today. He is also an inductee of the 2009 Massage Therapy Hall of Fame. Korn is a former member of the Massage Therapy Foundation’s Advisory Council and also serves as a volunteer on the Foundation’s Development Committee.

GLENATH MOYLE, LMT: Glenath began her career in 1965 as a registered nurse in Auckland, New Zealand.  She spent the next 12 years in New Zealand and Australia as a head nurse and clinical instructor.  After relocating to the United States in 1980, she settled in as a wife and mother to four children.  In 1989, after training at Notre Coeur College in Portland, Oregon she received her license to practice massage therapy.  Since then, she has maintained a private practice in Portland and has become an active member in the massage therapy community. Glenath served for seven years as a board member on the Oregon State Board of Massage Therapists, including two years
as chair.  In 2004 she was elected as a member-at-large to the
 American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Board of Directors.

Leslie Young, PhD: Leslie A. Young, PhD, is Editor in Chief of Massage & Bodywork magazine and Vice President of Communication for Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals. She holds a master's degree and doctorate in organizational communication from the University of Utah. Her interest in the Foundation's mission stems from her respect for scientific inquiry and her determination to help further the profession through academic credibility and public education. She loves to travel, cycle, and teach scuba. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rick Giase, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, and their yellow Lab, Sundance.



ADVISORY COUNCIL

Leon Chaitow, ND, DO: Leon Chaitow is a State Registered osteopath in the United Kingdom, who has also completed postgraduate work in acupuncture, cranial osteopathy and clinical nutrition. Dr. Chaitow was a senior lecturer at The School of Integrated Health, University of Westminster, London from 1992 until 2004, when he was awarded a Fellowship by the University for "services to osteopathy and complementary medicine". He is the author of over 70 books on healthcare and is the editor of The Journal of Bodywork and Movement
                                         Therapies (JBMT).

Aviad Haramati, PhD: Aviad “Adi” Haramati is Professor and in the Departments of Physiology and Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine with research interests in renal and electrolyte physiology.  Dr. Haramati has taught medical and graduate students for over 25 years.  He served on the Physiology Test Development Committee (USMLE Step 1) for the National Board of Medical Examiners, and is currently Chair of the Examination Section for the Certification Board of Nutrition Specialists (CBNS) of the American College of Nutrition.  His CAM-related interests focus on the use of Mind-Body Medicine Skills for stress management and on the integration of CAM in health professions education.  Dr. Haramati is principal investigator of an NIH grant that is supporting a broad educational initiative to incorporate CAM and integrative medicine into the 4-year medical curriculum at Georgetown.  Dr. Haramati is the past Vice-Chair of the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine and a member of the executive committee of the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium.  He chaired the program committee for the 2006 North American Research Conference on Complementary and Integrative Medicine, and is chair of the organizing committee for the 2009 Research Conference.

Janet R. Kahn, PhD, NCTMB: Janet Kahn is both a CAM practitioner and a medical sociologist with years of experience looking at issues of healthcare delivery and systems integration.  She is currently serving as Executive Director of the Integrated Healthcare Policy Consortium, and Director of Research for the Massage Therapy Research Consortium. Dr. Kahn is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Vermont, College of Medicine.  She is co-investigator on three studies currently in the field -- a clinical trial comparing two kinds of massage for people with chronic low back pain being conducted at Group Health Center for Health Studies;   a Phase II SBIR grant to develop and test an educational DVD for cancer patients and their caregivers; and a qualitative study of the effects massage clients notice.  Dr. Kahn is a past president of the American Massage Therapy Association Foundation, was a member of the NIH National Advisory Council on Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Robert K. King: Robert King has authored manuals, books, videos, curricula and dozens of clinical articles in a massage therapy career spanning more than three decades. He is the founder and past president of the Chicago School of Massage Therapy where he is a senior faculty member and maintains a clinical practice. Bob is a national education consultant for Cortiva Education and conducts advanced myofascial trainings throughout the country. He is on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies and in 2004 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Massage
Therapy Foundation for visionary leadership.

 

Whitney Lowe, LMT: Whitney Lowe is a recognized authority on pain and injury treatment with massage therapy. His contributions to the massage field are wide-ranging and include extensive research, professional publications, teaching, clinical work, consulting, and participation in national boards and committees. He is the author of the books, Orthopedic Assessment in Massage Therapy, and Orthopedic Massage: Theory and Technique, which are used in training programs and schools nationally and internationally. In 1994 he founded the Orthopedic Massage Education & Research Institute (OMERI) to provide massage therapists the advanced education they would need for treating orthopedic soft-tissue disorders. He is currently a member of the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies and has been a regular featured author in publications such as Massage Magazine, Massage Today and The Journal of Soft-Tissue Manipulation.

Jan Schwartz: Jan began her career in the education field at Dale Carnegie & Associates where she was a trainer and team leader.  She later attended the Desert Institute of the Healing Arts in Tucson, AZ.  Following her graduation she became the Admissions Director and Dean of Students at the school and eventually she became the school’s first full-time Director of Education.  During her tenure at DIHA she developed programs to mentor faculty and raise the faculty awareness of teaching skills and learning styles.  She was also responsible for curriculum development and revision and a member of the administrative management team. Jan has taught classes in rehabilitation and injury management, business and ethics, and anatomy, and she has presented continuing education training in the area of professional ethics.  

Jan has been at the forefront of industry leadership in the field of massage therapy and more recently in complementary and alternative health care. She has been the chair of several committees, including the Chair of the Eligibility Committee for the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork and she completed a five year term on the Commission on Massage Therapy Accreditation (COMTA), three of those years as the Chair.  She currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care and also participated in the Distance Education Task Force for NCBTMB.  Jan has won numerous awards for her contributions to the field of massage therapy.

 

2010 Massage Therapy Foundation Committees:

Alphabetical listing as of 2/01/2010

Best Practices Committee
John Balletto, LMT, Pawtucket, RI - Co-Chair
Keith Eric Grant, Pleasanton, CA - Co-Chair
Donelda Gowan-Moody, RMT, Saskatoon, SK
Dale Healey, D.C., Bloomington, MN
Diana Kincaid, Seattle, WA
Ravensara Travilian, Seattle, WA

Case Report Contest Review Committee
Ruth Werner, Layton, UT, Chair
Karen Boulanger, NCBTMB, PhD, San Jose, CA
Leon Chaitow, ND DO, London, UK
Michael Hamm, Seattle, WA
Charna Rosenholtz, Boulder, CO

Community Service Proposal Review Committee
Tim Herbert, Eugene, OR - Chair
Claude Gagnon, Milwaukee WI
Maureen Moon, Boulder, CO
Glenath Moyle, Portland, OR
Bonnie Niebauer, Columbus, OH
Lisa Curran Parenteau, Mashpee, MA
Kevin Pierce, Orlando, FL
Leslie Young, Golden, CO

Development Committee
Leslie Young, PhD, Golden, CO - Chair
Melanie Hayden, Calgary, AB - Marketing Co-Chair
Clifford Korn - Windham, NH - Fundraising Co-Chair
MK Brennan, Charlotte, NC
Diana Thompson, LMP, Seattle, WA

Marketing Workgroup
Lisa Curran-Parenteau - Mashpee, MA
Jolie Haun - Tampa, FL
Melanie Hayden - Calgary, AB
Kevin Cunningham - Calgary, AB

Writing Workgroup
Jolie Haun - Tampa, FL
Karen Boulanger - San Jose, CA

Education Committee
Ruth Werner, Layton, UT - Chair
Angela K. Palmier, NCTMB, Smithton, IL
Melissa Wheeler, National Holistic Institute Massage School, Emeryville, CA
Pete Whitridge - Fort Pierce, FL

E-journal Committee
Marcus Banks, New York, NY - Chair
Amanda Baskwill, Scarborough, ON
Karen Boulanger, San Jose, CA
Glenn M. Hymel, Ed.D., LMT, New Orleans, LA
Robin Pollini, PhD, MPH, Solana Beach, CA

Executive Committee
Tim Herbert, Eugene, OR
Diana L. Thompson, LMP, Seattle, WA
Ruth Werner, Layton, UT
Leslie Young, PhD, Golden, CO

Finance Committee
Karen Schiller, Seattle, WA - Chair
Tim Herbert, Eugene, OR
Cliff Korn, Windham, NH
Diana L. Thompson, LMP, Seattle, ME
Ruth Werner, Layton, UT
 

Highlighting Massage Therapy in CIM Research Planning Committee
Diana L. Thompson, LMP, Seattle, WA, Chair
John Balletto, LMT, Pawtucket, RI
Bodhi G. Haraldsson, RMT, Vancouver, BC
Melanie Hayden, Calgary, Alberta
Ruth Werner, Layton, UT
Leslie Young, PhD, Golden, CO

Research Proposal Review Committee
Cynthia Price, PhD, LMP, Seattle, WA, Chair
John Balletto, LMT, Pawtucket, RI
Neal A. Cross, PhD, LMT, Biddeford, ME
Lisa Conboy, MA, MS, ScD
Leila Kozak, PhD, Redmond, WA

Volunteer Development Committee
Tim Herbert, Eugene, OR - Chair
Claude Gagnon, Milwaukee, WI
Sharon Marden Johnson, China, ME

 

 
 
 
 

Massage Therapy Foundation
500 Davis Street, Suite 900. Evanston, IL 60201 - USA
Phone: 847-869-5019 • Fax: 847-864-1178 • Email: info@massagetherapyfoundation.org