2016 International Massage Therapy Research Conference Panelists

Friday, May 13, 2016

Approaching Pain with Manual Therapy
Cynthia Price, Wayne Jonas, Diana Thompson, Jason Erickson

Cynthia Price, PhD, MA, LMP
Cynthia Price is a Research Assoc. Professor at the University of Washington School of Nursing. Cynthia’s research and clinical expertise is focused on Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT), combining manual and mind-body approaches to teach interoceptive awareness (i.e. awareness of inner body sensations). Her research program is focused on teaching interoceptive awareness through MABT to improve self-care and emotion regulation. The majority of her work focuses on community-based research for individuals who are disconnected from their bodies due to substance use, trauma or pain. The Director of the Center for Mindful Body Awareness, Cynthia is also involved in dissemination efforts to teach MABT to health care practitioners, and develop programs to integrate MABT into health care services, particularly for the under-served.

Wayne B. Jonas, MD
Wayne B. Jonas is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Samueli Institute, a non-profit medical research organization supporting the scientific investigation of healing processes and their application in health and disease. He is a widely published scientific investigator, a practicing family physician, Professor of Family Medicine at Georgetown University, and Professor of Family Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Additionally, Dr. Jonas is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Medical Corps of the United States Army. Dr. Jonas was the Director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health from 1995-1998, and prior to that served as the Director of the Medical Research Fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Jonas earned his medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC and has held leadership positions with a number of organizations and councils such as the World Health Organization, the National Institute of Health, and the White House Commission for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. He currently serves on the editorial boards of eight peer-reviewed journals and on the advisory or scientific boards of six national and international organizations, including the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and Planetree International.

Diana Thompson, LMT
Diana, a licensed massage therapist for over 30 years, has a private practice in Seattle, WA treating acute and chronic pain disorders, specializing in post-operative care. She authored Hands Heal: Communication, Documentation and Insurance Billing for Manual Therapists fourth edition, and wrote a regular column in Massage and Bodywork Magazine, titled “Somatic Research” from 2010 – 2013. Her new book, Integrative Pain Management: Massage, Movement, and Mindfulness Based Approaches, is due out in 2016. Diana lectures at massage, acupuncture, midwifery, chiropractic, physician and physical therapy conferences internationally and is a consultant for massage therapy research with The Research Institute at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. She is a past president of the Massage Therapy Foundation, and the proud recipient of four National awards in 2013, including Massage Therapist of the Year, One Concept, and Humanitarian of the Year, Performance Health.

Jason Erickson
Jason Erickson is the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Minnesota Chapter President and serves as Master of Ceremonies for the San Diego Pain Summit. He has earned certifications in orthopedic massage, Active Isolated Stretching, pre/post-natal massage, personal training, corrective exercise, fascia work, Circular Strength Training, and other disciplines. A former marketing professional and combat athlete, Jason lived with debilitating chronic pain for over a year. His journey back to pain-free health inspired him to become a trainer, a therapist, and an educator. Jason co-owns Keep In Touch Massage of Eagan, MN, works part time at Burn Personal Training in Bloomington, MN, and works with elite athletes at Grandma’s Marathon, the Half Marathon National Championships, and other events. He works primarily with people in pain and with athletes at all levels. Jason started teaching CE classes for massage therapists in 2008. He can be reached at JasonEseminars@gmail.com

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Integrating Massage in Civilian and Military Hospital Settings
Brent Jackson, Brett Bauer, Allison R. Mitchinson, Chester “Trip” Buckenmaier III, MD

Brent Jackson, BS, LMT
Brent Jackson is a licensed massage therapist and the academic program manager for massage therapy at Central Carolina Technical College. Mr. Jackson designed and implemented the first hospital-based, clinical practicum for massage therapy education for the state of South Carolina incorporating multiple acute-care facilities and additional long-term care facilities for inpatient and outpatient populations. He is an award recipient for the 2015 Miller Communications Excellence in Education Award and 2016 South Carolina Technical Education Association Teacher of the Year Award. His education includes Bachelor of Science Degree in Workforce Education and Development from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale; Massage Therapy Certificate from South Carolina Massage & Esthetics Institute and a graduate of the Nuclear Propulsion Program from the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command, Charleston, SC. He is currently pursuing his Master of Education Degree. He is a current member on the National Teacher Training Curriculum Development Committee with AFMTE and a member of the Massage Therapy Foundation Education Committee.

Brett A. Bauer, MD
Dr. Bauer is board-certified in Internal Medicine, a Professor of Medicine and has been on staff at Mayo Clinic for 23 years. His main research interest has been the scientific evaluation of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies that patients and consumers are using with increasing frequency. He has authored several book chapters and over 100 papers on this topic, and is the Medical Editor of the Mayo Clinic Book of Alternative Medicine. He is a member of numerous scientific review panels and is currently collaborating on over 20 studies being conducted at Mayo Clinic evaluating CAM therapies ranging from acupuncture to valerian. He is the Medical Director of Rejuvenate, the first spa at Mayo Clinic. He is also the Medical Director of the Well Living Lab, a collaboration between Delos and Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation, which is exploring the impact of the indoor environment on wellness. His work is at the forefront of the emerging field of Integrative Medicine which combines the best of conventional medicine with the best of evidence-based complementary therapies.

Allison Mitchinson, MPH
Allison Mitchinson is a massage therapist and researcher. Currently, she is employed as a Massage Therapy Program Specialist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ms. Mitchinson has thirty years’ experience doing epidemiologic and health services research. She was a co-investigator and the project manager on a large randomized controlled trial looking at the effect of massage on postoperative pain. In 2008 she developed a massage program at the Ann Arbor VA hospital and has given more than 4600 massages to veterans. In 2014 she co-authored a report describing the implementation of massage into a VA palliative care service entitled, “Integrating massage therapy within the palliative care of veterans with advanced illnesses: An outcome study”. Recently she has been working on an NCCIH funded project with a group of researchers in Ann Arbor and at the Penney George Institute comparing massage within the VA to a civilian hospital. She also served as the clinical lead on a VA Massage and Touch Therapies project focused on developing a toolkit and training videos on massage and touch therapies. Allison also trains hospital volunteers in hand/foot massage as part of the Ann Arbor VA tough therapies program.

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Massage Research and Education
Bodhi Haraldsson, Niki Munk, Martha Brown Menard, Jo Smith

Niki Munk, PhD, LMT
Niki Munk is an Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Indiana University, a Kentucky licensed massage therapist, and mother of two young daughter/scientists. Prior to beginning her doctoral pursuits in gerontology 10 years ago, Dr. Munk worked as Program Director and a lead instructor for the Lexington Healing Arts Academy in Lexington, Kentucky. Discouraged by accessibility barriers to massage therapy faced by much of the population, she chose research and academia as a means to help bridge the accessibility gap reasoning that stronger evidence for the field will lead to increased routine 3rd party coverage for massage treatment. Dr. Munk’s research explores real-world massage therapy for chronic low back pain, trigger point self-care, massage for amputation related sequelae, and the reporting and impact of massage related case reports among other projects. For the panel discussion, Dr. Munk will consider alternate approaches to the massage practitioner as student paradigm particularly in relation to research.

Martha Brown Menard PhD, LMT
Martha Brown Menard is the executive director of the Crocker Institute, a benefit corporation providing research and evaluation services to nonprofit organizations, businesses, and educational institutions. In addition to her consulting work, she develops and manages CaseRe3, an open access repository of case reports in integrative health care, and teaches courses on case report writing and critical evaluation of health care research. Dr. Menard is the author of Making Sense of Research, a textbook on research literacy. She is a member of the American Evaluation Association, the Canadian Interdisciplinary Network for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research (IN-CAM), the American Educational Research Association, and serves on the steering committee for the Pain Action Alliance to Implement A National Strategy (PAINS). Dr Menard is a past member of the Massage Therapy Foundation Board of Trustees and former chair of the Foundation’s research grant proposal review committee. The 2015 recipient of the AMTA Dianne Polseno Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Menard has been a licensed massage therapist for over 30 years, providing symptom management for clients in a variety of clinical areas including hospice, oncology, pain management, and trauma recovery, as well as massage therapy to promote wellness and personal growth. Her areas of research interest include palliative care, PTSD, massage education, and interprofessional education and practice. She is an editor for the journal Global Advances in Health and Medicine.

Jo Smith, PhD
Dr. Jo Smith is a leading massage therapy educator and researcher at the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT), in Invercargill, New Zealand. Jo has been involved in the New Zealand massage therapy industry since 1997, as a practitioner of massage therapy and physical therapy, and as a massage therapy educator. More recently she has been spearheading research in this field, publishing in New Zealand and internationally. She is currently the President of Massage New Zealand. Dr. Smith holds a M.Ed. (Hons) in adult education and developed and implemented the first Bachelors program for massage therapy in the Southern Hemisphere. Her PhD research, completed in 2010, focused on the massage culture of care and practice patterns of massage therapy within New Zealand. In addition, she has carried out research into massage therapy outcomes, massage therapy professionalization and educational issues pertinent to massage therapy. Dr. Smith currently teaches on the Bachelor of Therapeutic and Sports Massage (BTSM) program at SIT, teaching primarily in the areas of clinical reasoning, clinical practice, and research. She is recognized as an innovative teacher who instills high standards and a love of research in her students. Dr. Smith also co-leads the New Zealand Massage Therapy Research Center and is focused on developing a culture of massage therapy research, within the BTSM, New Zealand, and globally.