About Luann Drolc Fortune, LMT, PhD

I am on  faculty at the College of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences at Saybrook University (see http://www.saybrook.edu/mbm), where I also serve as Coordinator of the Mindful Leadership in Healthcare specialization.  I teach courses on research methods and integrative health care systems and processes and oversee the research of our graduate students in mind-body practices and topics related to integrative wellness.

My own research focuses on the holistic aspects of body-based modalities and alternative wellness practices, as well as somatic awareness and embodiment techniques for scholarship, research, and practice.  My scholarship passion is the nature of embodied, interdisciplinary learning and somatic experience.  My writings and publications span multiple disciplines, and promote translational value in scholarship and practice.  Post-doc, I was a Fellow at the Institute of Social Innovation, Fielding Graduate University (see http://www.fielding.edu/whyfielding/ci/isi.aspx).

Practice:  For the past 20 years, I have worked as a massage therapist in my private practice. I also teach massage and relaxation techniques in professional and community settings. I am trained in a full spectrum of bodywork modalities, and have a specialty in pari-natal work (which includes the clinical and home grown practices of infant massage).

Doctoral work:  I completed my doctorate in Human Development at Fielding University. My dissertation examined the work of massage therapists from a holistic viewpoint.   I came to that work with a professional and personal imperative to pursue multidisciplinary investigation of massage therapy as it relates to developmental process, both for the receiver and the giver.  I would be honored if my epitaph includes words such as “she clarified the mechanisms explaining where goes the body, then goes the mind and the spirit.”

Earlier context:  In my earlier professional life, I worked in the travel industry and actually came to DC to join a niche consulting firm catering to that business group.  I am proud to bring my skills from the business world and private sector to the pursuit and development of individual wellness and programs that support it.  My current home is in SW Florida where I serve my community by environmental volunteerism and community education, advocating for improving the lives of women through Zonta, dancing at my church, and when I am not traveling, working from a perch overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.  I previously lived in Washington, DC, the Bay Area, and grew up in Chicago.