Tag: Health

with Jenna Perkins, RN, WHNP-BC

Please join us for a discussion as we explore the ways that a cancer diagnosis can affect your sex life. You can expect to learn about tools that can help prevent and treat common conditions that contribute to discomfort with intercourse. We will discuss both medication and lifestyle management options. Come prepared with questions you and your partner have but haven’t had the opportunity to discuss with your healthcare providers. Patients and partners are welcome to attend!

About Jenna Perkins

Jenna Perkins, RN, WHNP-BC, is a board certified WomenGÇÖs Health and Gender Related Nurse Practitioner. Originally from Detroit, MI, Jenna completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She worked on a number of research studies as an undergraduate and became a clinical trials research nurse after graduating. In this role she worked on infectious disease protocols including Gene Therapy trials investigating the cure for HIV. She went on to complete her Masters in WomenGÇÖs Health and Gender Related Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania Jenna joined the MFA as the Pelvic Floor Nurse Practitioner. She manages all areas of female urology. Among these are frequent UTIs, Overactive Bladder, Incontinence, Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Pelvic Pain, and Female Sexual dysfunction. She provides non-surgical treatment for these conditions and offers alternatives to medication management where available. Jenna also provides teaching for clinic patients helping patients to learn things such as self-catheterization and correct kegel exercise. Jenna is an active member of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America (SMSNA) and Nurse Practitioners in WomenGÇÖs Health (NPWH).

with Jonathan Gilbert, L.Ac.

Regardless of how strong we are able to be, a cancer diagnosis creates a fundamental shift in our lives. Be it a patient, a caregiver or a colleague; the stress of this change can be difficult.

Jonathan Gilbert will be looking at this stress through the lens of ancient Chinese medical philosophy, examining strategies that enable us to cope more fully with this change.

About Jonathan Gilbert, L.Ac.

Mr. Gilbert’s journey into Asian philosophy began with martial arts at the age of 9. By 13 he began training in movement and meditation at the Kitaido School of Movement in England, under the guidance of Head Instructor Ken Waight. From the ages of 16-18 Jonathan also studied Shiatsu massage, a Japanese form of healing, and earned his diploma from the British School of Oriental Therapy and Movement in 1988.

In 1991, Jonathan Gilbert enrolled at the London Academy of Oriental Medicine London (LAOM), England, one of the foremost schools of Oriental Medicine in Europe. Graduating from the Vietnamese school in 1995, Mr. Gilbert pursued a masters study in “Stems and Branches Theory” with world-renowned Professor Truong Thin, the Director of Traditional Medicine for South Vietnam. Jonathan lived in Vietnam while completing his post-graduate training at The Traditional Medical Institute (TMI), a 500-bed state teaching hospital Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam. At TMI, Jonathan worked in collaboration with Western-trained medical doctors, observing the blending of Oriental Medicine with Western medicine.

Jonathan’s first private practice as an Oriental Medicine physician began in London in 1996. In 1998, he moved to the United States and eventually set up practices in Towson, MD, and Arlington, VA. Board-certified in the U.S. in both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM), Mr. Gilbert has served as the Senior Consultant of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

Jonathan’s passion for creating an integrated medical clinic came to fruition in 2005, with the opening of The Gilbert Clinic in the Bethesda area, near Washington, D.C. The clinic blended Western Medicine with TCM and psychotherapy by using traditional Asian medical principles. For 5 years this model proved incredibly powerful in the treatment of chronic illness.

Since 2011, The Gilbert Clinic’s focus has been dedicated to providing excellent traditional Vietnamese / Chinese herbology and acupuncture, Jonathan’s Gilbert’s expertise and passion.

 

with Kiersten Gallagher, RYT-200

Enjoy a greater sense of wellbeing and enhanced energy in our gentle yoga classes.  Learn various yoga postures, techniques in progressive relaxation, breathing practices, and meditation to help reduce stress, as well as balance mind, body, and spirit.  Our classes are specifically designed for adults facing stress, cancer, or other illness and are open to anyone interested in attending. All levels are welcome.

In addition, our yoga classes are listed with the National MS Society and we welcome patients and caregivers of those with multiple sclerosis to our gentle yoga classes.

Kiersten’s Gentle Morning Yoga Classes meet Weekly on Thursdays from 10:15am – 11:30am.

Our programs are also open to the community, and tailored to meet the needs of people affected by cancer. Classes and workshops are free or low cost on a pay-as-you-can basis, ensuring that our programs are accessible to everyone.

Suggested Donation for 1 Class: $10

Suggested Donation for 1 Month of Classes: $25

About Kiersten Gallagher

Kiersten Gallagher, RYT 200 and Certified Herbalist has studied yoga for over 25 years. Over the last decade, Kiersten has developed yoga programs and has provided a place for healing in the cancer community, in underprivileged neighborhoods, for special needs children, for teens and adults with drug addiction and for those struggling with body image.Kiersten invites you on a journey of healing to help guide you to a place where yoga will make a real difference in your life.  Kiersten’s goal for you is that you feel better when you leave class- mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually, than you may have felt when you stepped through the door to begin your practice.

With Yael Flusberg, C-IAYT, E-RYT500, RMT, MS

Enjoy a greater sense of wellbeing and enhanced energy in our gentle yoga classes.  Learn various yoga postures, techniques in progressive relaxation, breathing practices, and meditation to help reduce stress, as well as balance mind, body, and spirit.  Our classes are specifically designed for adults facing stress, cancer, or other illness and are open to anyone interested in attending. All levels are welcome.

In addition, our yoga classes are listed with the National MS Society and we welcome patients and caregivers of those with multiple sclerosis to our gentle yoga classes.

Yael’s Gentle Yoga Class Meets Weekly on Tuesdays from 6:00pm – 7:15pm.

Our programs are also open to the community, and tailored to meet the needs of people affected by cancer. Classes and workshops are free or low cost on a pay-as-you-can basis, ensuring that our programs are accessible to everyone.

Suggested Donation for 1 Class: $10

Suggested Donation for 1 Month of Classes: $25

About Yael Flusberg

Yael Flusberg Gentle Yoga Instructor Smith Center
Yael Flusberg first came to yoga hoping she could get rid of stuff, namely the ways life’s stresses and traumas had become painfully embodied. Fifteen years and thousands of layers of release later, yoga continues to teach her how to make strategic, creative, and life-nourishing choices. Trained as an integrative yoga therapist, Yael’s classes blend active with receptive states of being, and are both insightful and lighthearted. Off the mat, she is a coach, writer and energy therapist. Since 2005, Yael has taught yoga classes at area hospitals, libraries, workplaces, schools, and yoga studios. As an integrative yoga therapist (E-RYT500) she facilitates both group and individual yoga therapy sessions, working with people dealing with a variety of conditions including cancer, digestive disorders, diabetes, eating disorders, fibromyalgia, hypertension, mental health challenges (including depression, anxiety, grief and trauma), rheumatoid arthritis, scoliosis, and sports injuries. She currently teaches a weekly therapeutic class for people living with cancer and their caregivers on GW’s campus. More info: www.yaelflusberg.com

 

with Dr. Mikhail Kogan, MD, Deidre Orceyre, ND MSOM Lac, and Paula Querido Kahn

Cannabis is becoming more widely available as a medicine in the United States as well as throughout the world. Although its medicinal use dates back thousands of years, health care providers trained in modern times during cannabis prohibition and stigmatization have very little knowledge regarding the pharmacology, benefits and risks, and dosing recommendations. Oncology patients are increasingly relying on on-line testimonials or advice from cannabis dispensaries to determine if cannabis may be useful for them. Recent surveys have shown that at least 50% of oncologists would like to have their patients try medical cannabis, but few actively prescribe – mostly due to lack of education on the topic.

This session will outline the basics of the system of cannabinoid receptors and endocannabinoids, review clinical situations where cannabis may be a useful intervention and discuss and demonstrate some of the currently available delivery systems.

The topic is extremely important because of the global increase in the use of medical cannabis. It is being increasingly requested by a variety of different oncology patients. Medical cannabis is in the news on a daily basis and physicians are confronted with a paucity of knowledge and evidence to employ in discussion with their patients, In addition, many may face an ethical dilemma about making a recommendation to use cannabis to their patients in view of its overall illegal status globally. There is also a taboo associated with its consumption which prohibits many patients from discussing it with their physicians. The knowledge gap in this area for both physicians and patients is significant.

Objectives

Objective 1: Enumerate the clinical situations which have the best evidence to support the use of medicinal cannabis as it relates to oncology patients.

Objective 2: Discuss the effects obtained from different strains and modes of delivery of medicinal cannabis

Objective 3: Understand basics of the process of obtaining medical cannabis in the Washington DC and surrounding area.

Enrollment space is limited and we expect this workshop to fill quickly,  so register early to guarantee your place! To RSVP, please click the link at the top of this page, call 202.483.8600 or email programs@smithcenter.org.

About Mikhail (Misha) Kogan, MD, ABIOM, RCST

Dr Kogan is a leader in the newly-established field of Integrative Geriatrics.  He is the chief editor of the first definitive textbook of the field entitled “Integrative Geriatric Medicine”, published by Oxford University Press as part of Andrew Weil Integrative Medicine Library series and is frequent speaker at a variety of international conferences on the topics of Integrative Medicine and Geriatrics, healthy aging, and geriatrics, as well as neurodegenerative diseases, and use of medical cannabis.  Additionally, he has published in both Integrative and Geriatric topics in leading US-based journals.

Dr. Kogan currently serves as medical director of the GW Center for Integrative Medicine and associate director of the Geriatrics Fellowship Program.  He is the founder and director of the George Washington University Integrative Geriatrics Fellowship Track and the director of the Integrative Medicine Track program at the George Washington University School of Medicine, as well as serving as part-time faculty member of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, and the GW Center for Aging, Health and Humanities.

In addition to his academic roles at George Washington University Dr. Kogan serves on a number of national boards and organizations including: the American Board of Integrative Medicine within the American Board of Physician Subspecialists (ABPS), ProCure Art, PlantMed, and others.  Dr Kogan is also the founder and the chair of the board of AIM Health Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that provides integrative medicine services to low-income and terminally ill patients regardless of their ability to pay.

In 2017, after a decade of applying integrative approaches to patients with Alzheimer’s disease and optimizing comprehensive metabolic approach, Dr. Kogan founded the MK Cognition Institute (MKCI), dedicated to helping patients with Alzheimer’s disease identify and correct underlying metabolic driverswork, which is primarily based on Dr. Dale Bredesen’s research and newly created ReCode protocol.

For Dr. Mikhail Kogan, the practice of medicine, much like the rest of his life, has been a journey spanning many miles and many cultures, with valuable new learning and different perspectives accruing from each stage along the way. Those many experiences – here and abroad, in the classroom and the clinic, professionally and personally – have  given Dr. Kogan the skills, , openness, and inquisitiveness that set him apart, and distinguish him as a committed and caring practitioner within integrative medicine.

Born in Moscow, in the former Soviet Union, Dr. Kogan emigrated with his family  in his teens, first to Israel,and then to the United States, where he obtained his medical degree from the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He followed a Primary Care and Social Medicine Track residency in Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, and a fellowship in Geriatric Medicine at the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., which led to a position as an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care.

In addition to his training in conventional Western medicine, Dr. Kogan has actively pursued a number of other healing arts and practices that have shaped his understanding of and approach to patient care. He is a graduate of a two-year training course in craniosacral therapy–a subtle osteopathic modality that has a wide range of effectiveness for different conditions such as headaches, back pains, and fatigue. He has also completed a four-year program at the Suluk Academy, a teaching center based on the principles and traditions of Sufism, where he learned how to incorporate meditation, mindfulness, and different spiritual practices into his daily life and his work with the patients. Among his many other areas of study are courses in Nutrition, therapeutic use of vitamins, Functional Medicine, botanicals, and other alternative modalities.

Weaving those tools into the fabric of his medical practice has enabled Dr. Kogan to provide innovative and effective treatments to his patients with minimal use of invasive procedures or heavy reliance on medications and to understand the importance of self-exploration, awareness and positive lifestyle changes as essential milestones on his patients’ journeys towards better health.

Dr. Kogan practices Geriatric and Integrative Medicine in a variety of settings:  at the George Washington Hospital, at the GW Center for Integrative medicine and the MKCI, as well as serving patients in home visits

Outside of the clinic Dr. Kogan, together with his wife Angela, stays busy raising young sons Peter and Sebastian. True to his calling as an integrative practitioner, his leisure time is replete with healthy lifestyle activities that nourish both body and spirit : he enjoys vigorous exercise, frequent nature walks with his family (and dog), mind body practices such as weekly Sufi Meditation classes, beekeeping and gardening.

About Deirdre Orceyre, ND, MSOM, LAc

Dr. Deirdre Orceyre is a clinically trained, board certified, licensed naturopathic physician and acupuncturist specializing in Integrative Naturopathic Oncology. Dr. Orceyre serves as Naturopathic Medical Director for the GW Center for Integrative Medicine in Washington DC. In addition to her private clinical practice, Dr. Orceyre offers naturopathic consultations and acupuncture to breast cancer patients at the GW Comprehensive Breast Care Center, is adjunct faculty at Georgetown University and is a contributing author of multiple peer-reviewed integrative oncology publications and presentations. She is an active member of the Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians (OncANP).

Dr. Orceyre uses diet and lifestyle interventions, herbal medicine, acupuncture, nutritional supplements and homeopathic medicine to help cancer patients minimize side effects of conventional treatments and return to optimal health after treatment. Her goal is to help each individual patient find balance and support – physically, emotionally and spiritually – as they navigate through the cancer diagnosis, treatment, healing process and beyond.

About Paula Querido Kahn

Paula Querido Kahn is Director of Community Engagement at Takoma Wellness Center. She is a licensed occupational therapist and a founding family member of TWC. Paula began her career as a therapeutic recreation specialist with a focus in gerontology. Following employment in adult day health, subacute rehabilitation, and in-patient psychiatry, Paula pursued a master’s degree in occupational therapy at Tufts University. As an occupational therapist, Paula served older adults in rehabilitation and long-term care before joining the family at TWC in January 2014.