Our Teachers

Lee Lipsenthal, MD – Lead Teacher and Trainer
Finding Balance was co-founded by Lee Lipsenthal, M.D., a recognized leader, teacher and pioneer in the field of provider wellness. He is the author of Finding Balance in a Medical Life and the Finding Balance curricular materials. Lee is internationally known for his research work with Dr. Dean Ornish in preventive cardiology. He is also well known in the field of Integrative Medicine and served as the President of the American Board of Holistic Medicine. Dr. Lipsenthal is a member of the American Medical Association "Physician Wellness Committee" and has authored many professional and popular publications on healthcare provider wellness medicine. He is a frequent invited workshop presenter and speaker at healthcare conferences and media engagements, both in the U.S. and overseas. He speaks to over 5,000 physicians annually in keynote addresses, workshops and other formats.

Karen Lawson, MD
Karen Lawson is Director of Integrative Clinical Services and teaching faculty at the Center for Spirituality and Healing at University of Minnesota. Karen completed her medical training at the University of Michigan and her residency training in Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She is board-certified in both Family Medicine and Holistic Medicine.

Karen is a published author and researcher, does consulting work for healthcare institutions, and speaks nationally to diverse audiences on the power and potential of integrated and holistic health care practices and life balance for medical trainees. Karen has been teaching the Finding Balance curriculum to residents, students and fellows at the University of Minnesota since 2003. The departments involved have been family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Cardio-thoracic Surgery, OB-GYN, Urology and Anesthesiology.

Nita Gage, MA
Nita Gage has worked in hospitals, clinics and health care corporations. She has over 25 years experience and training in health care, behavioral health, and spiritual healing, and served as the executive director of multiple health care non-profit organizations. She has worked extensively in residential and inpatient settings with addiction, mental illness, and with people in states of extreme spiritual emergency.

Nita currently lives and works in Maui as well as travels to facilitate transformational workshops. She brings a well developed ability to hold loving sacred space for the healer within each person to emerge for positive change and psycho-spiritual transformation. She has co-authored a book on adolescents in recovery and is currently working on a book about women's transformational passages in midlife, titled Women in Storage™.

Nita has been teaching the "Heal the Healer" Program and other workshops with Lee since 1999.