Our Alumni: Brieanna Cross, Founder

Brieanna Cross // Founder

In 1999 I announced in one of my classes that Students for Integrative Medicine was having its first meeting on the grass outside after class. Little did the audience know that there was really no such club, only the seed of a dream. I was in my second year and I had tried many pre-med clubs without finding one that felt like home. Knowing that there must be others out there that shared my interests in integrative medicine, I decided to start a new club. Luckily, enough people came to the meeting that day to get the ball rolling. Over the next few years we began building a foundation and now it warms my heart to see that the club has evolved into an established group. Keep passing on the torch, new and aspiring healers are walking all around you.

Currently I am in Osteopathic medical school at Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, CA. I am the Integrative Medicine Club President this year but I will soon be moving on to work in hospitals for my third year rotations. I am also involved in a Bay Area wide group, Student Starfish, that is an online community grassroots movement to connect students that are studying health, healing and medicine. Check it out: www.starfishpartners.com, under the "provider services" tab.

I love studying Osteopathic medicine because I learn the science of medicine and the art of hands-on healing. Osteopathy teaches me to look at the patient as an integrated whole, to take into account one's life context. We are taught that the body is a unity of body, mind and spirit. As an Osteopathic physician I will seek to strengthen the health and vitality of my patients, as well as treat their disease. Through Osteopathic manipulation I can learn how to change the structure of the body to facilitate physiological function. I love Osteopathy because it teaches me to listen to my patients through my fingertips. If you have any questions about Osteopathy, Touro University, massage, or just need someone to talk to who managed to find her path among the many options in integrative medicine, please feel free to write me at: brieannacross@gmail.com.

Follow your heart and it will lead you to become the healer that you truly are.
Enjoy the journey.

Blessings
Brieanna Cross