License MFC 39222
Alisa began her career in the partial hospitalization system where she developed techniques to help with the effects of stress on mental illness and substance abuse. In her private practice she taught workshops on stress management such as “Sex, Chocolate & other Creative Solutions to Stress,” and saw clients with health issues related to heart disease, diabetes, immune deficiency disorders, depression, anxiety, and aging. She began to recognize the need for a non-judgmental, comprehensive wellness program that integrated post-modern psychology, stress management, and targeted lifestyle habits that could reverse and prevent disease. The RENEW Program was designed to use telemedicine (delivered face-to-face over the internet) in order to reach more people before this practice became popular. After developing RENEW, she teamed up with Re-Engineering Healthcare as Director of Behavioral Health to study the effectiveness and sustainability of the program when combined with a full body scan. The Re-Engineering Healthcare team consulted with experts from Harvard, Stanford, UCI Preventive Cardiology, Brown, the Behavioral and Alternative Medicine divisions at the National Institutes of Health, the American Psychiatric Association practice guideline team, and Walter Reed/USUHS and subsequently received a grant from the Department of Defense to conduct a randomized clinical trial with high stress populations to test its efficacy, including the fire service, police and first responders.
The RENEW Program has the distinction of being the first telemedicine study of a stress management-based wellness program. The study yielded clinically significant results. See the Proven Results page.
Alisa has authored and co-authored numerous scientific publications and articles, including “Efficacy of a Cardiovascular Behavioral Intervention Program on Measures of Stress” published in The Journal of Heart Disease, “Efficacy of a Cardiovascular Behavioral Intervention Program and Full Body CT Scanning on Changes in Coronary Artery Calcium, Thoracic and Epicardial Fat” published in the International Heart and Vascular Disease Journal and was invited to present her research at the 2016 and 2017 World Congress of Cardiology. For a current list of publications please go to the Home page.
Alisa has lectured at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, the University of California, Irvine Medical School, and the UC Irvine School of Public Health. She taught her lifestyle workshop, “The Power of Lifestyle” at the UC Irvine School of Business Continuing Education and was invited to UCI Medical Center to help educate physicians on targeted lifestyle changes as a viable solution to current escalating diseases and as alternatives to pharmacological solutions.
Alisa has been a regular guest on Sirius Radio hosted by Dr. Robert Epstein, the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine, discussing resilience, creativity, health, and wellness issues including humor and healing.
Alisa has worked with firefighters and police throughout California including members of: the Los Angeles Police Department, LA County Sheriffs, OC Sheriffs, San Jose PD, Association of OC Deputy Sheriffs, Association for LA Deputy Sheriffs, the Police Protective League, Peace Officers Research Association of California, United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, LA County Fire, CAL FIRE, Palo Alto Fire, Camp Pendleton Fire, OC Fire, San Diego Fire, Santee Fire, Lemon Grove Fire, Heartland Fire, Vista Fire, National City Fire, El Cajon Fire, Chula Vista Fire, Oceanside Fire, Carlsbad Fire, Corona Fire, Santa Cruz Fire, and more.
She’s worked with personnel in Homeland Security, as well as a diverse community of physicians, renowned composers and musicians, leaders in business, lawyers, physicians, political lobbyists, electricians, and many others.