Dr. Arti Prasad is the founding Section Chief of Integrative Medicine at the
University of New Mexico's Health Science Center (UNM HSC). This section was
created fairly recently to develop a comprehensive primary health care system
based on an integrative approach that combines allopathic medical care with
Complementary and Alternative medicine (CAM) using the best current evidence. In
a very short time, under her able leadership, UNM SOM is now a member of the
national Consortium of the Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine (CAHCIM).
Dr. Shelley is a board-certified family physician and a founding member of the Section of Integrative Medicine. Before and during medical school at the University of North Carolina, he apprenticed with natural healers in New York City, rural North Carolina, and Zimbabwe, Africa. He completed his residency in Family and Community Medicine in 2001 at the University of New Mexico. His clinical interests are mind-body therapies for mood disorders and chronic pain, and myofascial trigger point release. Dr. Shelley teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and precepts medical students and residents in integrative medicine. He is co-investigator of a research project on the use of integrative medicine among New Mexico’s primary care population (funded by NCCAM).
Dr. Smith-Fassler has worked in the western medical field as an RN for the last 20 years specializing in trauma-neuro intensive care and administrative nursing. The last 10 years of her career have been devoted to education in the eastern tradition of medicine. She graduated from the International Institute of Chinese Medicine in 2000. Dr. Smith-Fassler is nationally board certified in acupuncture and Chinese herbology and New Mexico state board licensed to practice as a Doctor of Oriental medicine. Her specialties include the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, pain syndromes, and women's health. Dr. Smith-Fassler's special interest has been the integration of eastern and western medicine to better benefit patient care and to promote overall patient satisfaction.
Dr. James Lehman is a 1972 graduate of Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a board certified Chiropractic Orthopedist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal diseases. Dr. Lehman recently joined the UNM Medical School as a member of the guest faculty.
Andrea Bliss is a physician assistant at the University of New Mexico where she is an adult primary care provider in the Department of Internal Medicine. She also has been trained to evaluate and treat myofascial pain using non-pharmacologic methods, which spawned her interest in developing skills as an integrative practitioner.
Prior to becoming a physician assistant, Ms. Bliss obtained a Masters Degree in Counseling and used her skills as an experiential therapist for individuals and groups. Her specialty was in developing personal self-esteem and team building by using Ropes Courses, wilderness experiences, outdoor education, and rock-climbing. She continues to use her therapeutic skills as a counselor in her primary care clinic.
Ms. Bliss is a volunteer faculty member in the Department of Family and Community Medicine where she precepts physician assistant students and teaches the clinical skills course in the School of Medicine.
Stan Handmaker
MD, Professor of Pediatrics
Course facilitator, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Phase III elective)
Course co-facilitator, Perspectives in Integrative Medicine (Phase I, II, III
selective)
Course co-facilitator, Stress reduction in medical students
Canadian composer/performer Patricia Ann Repar has collaborated with artists in contemporary theatre, dance, sculpture, and video and her ethnomusicological interests have been pursued through travel and research abroad: Ecuador; Northern, Eastern and Western Europe; Cuba; the Middle East; Central and South-East Asia. Repar’s pieces have thus come to reflect not only an interest in multimedia but in multiculturalism. Searching for new timbres she employs a wide array of musical instruments including her own designs, as well as various electronic technologies. Her compositions reflect contemporary theory on and clinical experience with sound and healing; explorations in sound, gesture, and image; experiments in performance and technology; and research on the relationship between creativity and collaboration. Repar has been featured as a guest composer, performer, and educator throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Great Britain, South America, Eastern Europe, and Australia. As an Assistant Professor in the departments of Music and Internal Medicine (section of Integrative Medicine) at the University of New Mexico, Dr. Repar teaches composition, computer applications in music, and arts-in-medicine. She founded and currently directs Arts-in-Medicine at UNM, a nationally recognized program of clinical practice, research, and education. Sometimes referred to as a ‘living installation’ the program includes musicians, dancers, writers, visual artists and body workers who engage patients, their families, and medical professionals throughout UNM Hospitals in artistic and creative encounters. Combining her study of music composition and creative process with research in palliative care, bioethics, sound and healing, and the medical humanities, Repar has been facilitating creative encounters in mental health, palliative care, chronic and acute care facilities for the past twelve years. For further information please see http://artsinmedicine.unm.edu
Dr. Jeffrey Schnapp is a board certified Doctor of Chiropractic specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal diseases. Dr. Schanpp is a preceptor for senior medical students who rotate through the CFL.
