HBB Research Committee

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Hi and welcome to the section of the website devoted to letting you know more about the members of the Healing Beyond Borders Research committee, our backgrounds, and areas of expertise. We are hoping this information will better help serve your needs regarding Healing Touch Research. You can learn more about our team by clicking on the links below. We each are dedicated to moving Healing Touch and biofield research forward to make it more accepted in mainstream health care. We look forward to sharing our passion and knowledge of Healing Touch research with you.

We also like talking about Healing Touch research with others. Our committee is available to support you in your Healing Touch research by answering general questions. For more involved projects, guidance can be given at no charge if you are a member of Healing Beyond Borders. If you’re not a member of Healing Beyond Borders, consultations are offered as a fee-for-service with available committee members.

If you have any questions, please let me or other committee members know. We look forward to working with you. Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Suzanne M. Hess PhD, CHTP, HT Instructor-in-Training
Healing Touch Research Committee Director and Chair

Healing Beyond Borders Research Committee Members
Sophie Allen	Mary Ann Friesen	Der-Fa Lu	Lucrezia Mangione
RN, BSN, BA, CPN, CHTP	PhD, RN, CPHQ, HTP-A	PhD, RN, CHTP/I	MA, LCPC, NCC, BC-TMH, DCEP, CMT, CHTP/I
Boulder, CO	Falls Church, VA	Eau Claire, WI	Oxford, CT

Suzanne M. Hess PhD, CHTP, HT Instructor-In-Training
Healing Touch Research Committee Director and Chair

Dr. Suzanne “Sue” M. Hess is a Grants Coordinator and Assistant Professor at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY. She facilitates high quality grant application submissions by Roswell Park physicians and scientists.

Sue became a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner (CHTP) in 2005 and is currently a Healing Touch (HT) Instructor in Training bringing 18+ years of teaching experience to it. Since 2013, Sue has served on the Healing Touch Research Committee and currently chairs the committee as Research Director. Sue is also a member of the American Holistic Nurses Association, the Society of Integrative Oncology, and the Consciousness Health Initiative.

Sue is a former cancer researcher and Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University (WFU) School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC. Her previous research and publications have focused on yeast rRNA processing, platinum-based chemotherapy, and radiation sensitizing agents, as well as studies in therapeutic grade essential oils as cytotoxic agents, and energy-based modalities as complementary approaches to cancer therapy.

Sue holds a PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, PA and did postdoctoral fellowships at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sue was on the editorial board for the Journal of Cancer Integrative Medicine from 2003-2005. In NC, Sue helped write grants on HT/Reiki research, taught complementary alternative medicine (CAM) continuing medical education programs for the WFU/Northwest Area Health Education Center, ran a monthly HT program for cancer patients and survivors at Cancer Services, Inc. in Winston-Salem, and was an active member of the HT of the Carolinas community led by Deborah Larrimore, which included volunteering with HT at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital.

Sue brought Healing Touch to the northeast at Roswell Park in 2012-2013 with Dr. Lynda Beaupin, a pediatric oncologist, by offering a pilot Pediatric Outpatient program teaching and voice guiding kids and their caregivers useful HT techniques.  Sue founded and facilitated a twice-a-month Healing Touch group for cancer patients, caregivers, survivors, and individuals experiencing grief through her Roswell Park/Wilson Support Center Healing Touch offering at Hospice in Buffalo, NY from September 2014 - April 2019. Simultaneously, Sue founded the Healing Touch Program in the Survivorship and Supportive Care Clinic at Roswell which ran from March 2017 – September 2018. 

Sue’s expertise is as a translational researcher, grant coordinator, writer - editor, cancer researcher, and holistic program developer. Sue often speaks on energy medicine and complementary therapies to the Western New York Community, as well as at local and national meetings. She continues to network with allopathic physicians and researchers to generate opportunities for Healing Touch research.

Sue enjoys being out in nature, and is a gardener, artist, jewelry maker, and musician.

Sue is available to provide expertise as a former translational and cancer researcher, someone familiar with the grant process, someone who is knowledgeable regarding biofield therapy literature, and as someone involved in developing HT programs.

Sophie Allen is a Clinical Nurse IV in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Sophie continues her work as a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner seeing clients, and volunteering as a mentor for current students. Sophie is developing a Pediatric Integrative Medicine (PIM) program for Children’s Hospital Colorado to bring Healing Touch and other modalities to the pediatric population that she works with. In 2021, she begins her journey towards becoming a Healing Touch Instructor-in-Training.

Sophie’s past collaborations include Healing Touch consulting for the INOVA Hospital System in northern Virginia, as well as presentations at the Healing Beyond Borders Conference (2018, 2020), the University of Colorado Medical School (2020), Children's Hospital Colorado (2018-present), and to EMS staff (including Firefighters, Police, and EMTs, 2010).

Sophie graduated from the University of Vermont in 2010 with a BA degree in European Studies and began her Healing Touch coursework in 2007 as an elective class in the College of Nursing. Her background working as an EMT, practicing backcountry medicine, and nine years studying Healing Touch led her to pursue a second degree in Nursing in 2016.

In her free time Sophie enjoys skiing, backpacking, and cooking. 

Sophie Allen is available to provide consultation for nurses and non-nurses interested on presenting Healing Touch to formal and informal groups, and those looking for a mentor.

Mary Ann Friesen PhD, RN, CPHQ, HTP-A
Healing Touch Research Committee Member

Dr. Mary Ann Friesen is the Nursing Research Coordinator and Evidence Based Practice for Inova and chair of the Inova Health System Nursing Research and Evidence Based Council. In this role, she mentors the nursing research leaders at five hospitals, coordinates nursing research studies across the system, plans educational programs, promotes nursing scholarship, and precepts graduate students. Dr. Friesen has system oversight for the Nursing Evidence Based Practice Fellows Program. Her publications include articles in Explore, Holistic Nursing Practice, Nursing Management, Journal of Nursing Care Quality, JONA and Birth. Her clinical experience includes critical care, cardiac, home health, and geriatric nursing.

Dr. Friesen is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ) and her professional roles have included nursing education, patient education, performance improvement, and consulting. Dr. Friesen has completed Level 4 training in Healing Touch. She is a member of the Healing Beyond Borders Research Committee and promotes and actively supports research on Healing Touch. She has been principal investigator for three studies on Healing Touch at Inova. She serves on the Inova Institutional Review Board. Her professional affiliations include, the American Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tau, and the American Holistic Nurses Association.  

Dr. Friesen earned an Associate Degree in Nursing, from Pace University, NY, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Cameron University, OK, a Master’s in Nursing from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a Doctorate in Nursing from George Mason University, VA.

Dr. Friesen is not currently available for consultation.

Der-Fa Lu PhD, RN, CHTP/I
Healing Touch Research Committee Member

Dr. Der-Fa Lu is a Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, College of Nursing and Health Sciences. She teaches nursing students how to care for older adults with integrative modalities. She does evidence-based research with energy modalities for symptom management in memory deficit, cancer, and pain. She grew up in Taiwan and incorporates Eastern healing beliefs and principles in her practice. She provides Healing Touch treatments to nursing faculty/staff, students, and community cancer patients. She loves gardening and cooking with friends and family.

Dr. Der-Fa Lu is available to provide consultation for all aspects of Healing Touch research projects.

Lucrezia Mangione MA, LCPC, NCC, BC-TMH, DCEP, CMT, CHTP/I
Healing Touch Research Committee Member

Lucrezia Mangione is in private practice where her work focuses on complementary and integrative mind-body therapies that enhance mental health wellness and reduce stress. She collaboratively works with adults who seek support for stress management, life transitions, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and sensory processing sensitivity.

As a Certified Healing Touch Instructor, for over 15 years, she teaches Healing Touch classes in hospitals and the communities in Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. She worked as an integrative health consultant for Inova Healthcare System in Northern Virginia (2012-2019) where she trained over 10% of their nursing population in Healing Touch and was the content expert on Healing Touch studies there.

Lucrezia Mangione is a Board-Certified Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, Board-Certified Telemental Health Provider, a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner-Instructor, and Energy Psychology Practitioner in private practice. She is a charter member of Healing Beyond Borders and has been on the Healing Touch Research Committee since 2015. She is also a neurofeedback brain trainer, an approved clinical supervisor for graduate clinical professional counselors, a content expert for studies on applying Healing Touch to different patient-client populations, and she mentors Healing Touch students working towards certification.

She earned her BA in Liberal Arts at Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY and her MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Union Institute and University in Brattleboro, VT. Her professional affiliations include Connecticut Counseling Association, Association for Energy Psychology, and Healing Beyond Borders.

In her free time, she enjoys playtime with her family and being moved by music, hiking, growing garlic, and meditation.

Lucrezia Mangione is available to provide consultation in defining the use-application of Healing Touch with different patient populations, integrating complementary and integrative healthcare modalities into clinical settings, cultivating research teams that are interdisciplinary-interprofessional, developing holistic programs and mentoring Healing Touch students.