C.M.E.R.
ADVISORY BOARD
Ava Avalos
is a dancer and a doctor of internal medicine. Her interests in non-Western dance healing practices lead her to the study of physiology and finally to medicine after completing her graduate and undergraduate degrees in dance at UCLA.
Dr. Avalos’ experience in movement-based education has allowed her to develop a unique approach to Western allopathic medicine – focusing her expertise with individuals facing terminal diseases. In l999, she was awarded an Arthur Ashe Fellowship by the Harvard AIDS Institute to study HIV/AIDS bioethics at the Center for the Study of Bioethics in Tuskegee, Alabama. Upon completing her internship at L.A. County Hospital and Medical Center, she received an NIH Fogarty Fellowship to participate in on-going HIV/AIDS research with the Botswana-Harvard Partnership in Gabarone, Botswana.
Dr. Avalos’ additional interests include developing
culturally appropriate health care strategies and she has contributed
to the creation of cultural competency trainings for the Keck School of
Medicine at the University of Southern California. During her extensive
travels around the world, Dr. Avalos has participated and taught dance
in China, Mexico, India, the United States and Africa – in a variety
of cultural settings and environments. This experience, more than any
other,
has affirmed Dr. Avalos appreciation of the body as our ultimate commonality
as she has developed compassionate approaches to healing and well being.
