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Sincerely,
Main Painting Medium In 2009, Suzanne completed certification as a Neuro-Art Therapist from Del Giacco's Creative Arts Therapy Institute. Her final paper and artwork involving young adults with disabilities was so well regarded, she was soon elected to the Art Therapy Institute's Professional Peer Review Committee. Currently Suzanne tutors in holistic art therapy and continues to create commissioned paintings and prints of nature, pets and children, and also medical illustrations. Suzanne is a member of the Kalamazoo Institute of Art (teacher status), and she has been a member of local, regional and national fine art societies throughout the years. Her artwork can be found at various art shows and art galleries and on occasion, at outdoor art fairs, especially along the shores of Lake Michigan. 
"A Ruby in the Thistle" |
Suzanne also completed an addition one year medical laboratory internship in cytotechnology at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. Shortly after, she became ASCP certified in the field, scoring 5th highest on the national board of registry examination which included over 250 candidates. Suzanne has been a long-standing associate member of the American Society of Cytopathology (ASC) and The American Society of Clinical Pathologists (ASCP). In 1999, Suzanne, along with her former supervisor and artist friend at Beaumont Hospital, helped start the ASC Art for Advocacy Auction to raise funds for cancer charities and research. It is now a global event and includes more than ust artwork. Between 1998-2007, Suzanne embarked on a mission to write and illustrate a cytology study guide book on nutrition, disease processes, and cancer called The Art of Cytology: An Illustrative Study Guide with Micronutrient Discussions. The third edition was finally published in 2007 and is now available at bookstores worldwide such as Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble). Her book has been well received by some of the most prominent cytopathologists at highly regarded medical institutions, such as Johns Hopkins (see reviews). Several of Suzanne's cytology research and writings, along with her color pencil illustrations, such and human papilloma virus and folic acid deficiency, have been published in medical articles, used in educational literature, displayed at national cytology meetings, and featured on laboratory magazine covers HPV-DNA testing vials (see published cytology work). After screening thousands of Pap Tests of women on hormones in the cytology laboratory over the years, Suzanne was first in her field to alert her peers as well as clinicians and women of their dangers (eg: cancer and heart disease), especially when coupled with micronutrient insufficiencies such as folic acid. That is one of the main reasons she created her website on cytology and nutrition and wrote and illustration her book, The Art of Cytology. Suzanne has been a constant advocate for quality cancer screening for over 30 years. For more than 10 years, she worked to help initiate and pass The Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act of 1988 (CLIA '88) which mandated federal regulatory guidelines for cancer screening in cytology laboratories. Suzanne believes that cytology can be used to detect micronutrient insufficiencies, such as folic acid, B12, and vitamin A, and that these initial cell changes are associated with early oncogenesis. She believes further that these changes, often reported as "benign cellular changes" or "atypical cells of undetermined significance" can be observed 8-10 weeks sooner on routine Pap Tests (eg: cervical, lung sputum, or gastic wash) than standard blood tests now used to detect such deficiencies. Studies long ago proved this to be true, (see an excerpt from her book: The Cervical Pap Test: A Built-in Existing Too ). Suzanne would like to see cytology used to detect and report early micronutrient deficiencies to not only help prevent opportunistic organisms, such as HPV as well as cancer, but also devastating birth defects such as spina bifida resulting from insufficient micronutrients, in particular folic acid. She believes reporting folic acid deficiency on Pap Tests is especially important in vulnerable populations and in women of child-bearing age who might unexpectedly conceive a child. Suzanne has worked long and hard promoting folic acid awareness with the March of Dimes, the CDC, and the NIH, attending health fairs and meetings, and distributing information about birth defects, HPV, and cancer and their prevention through optimal nutrition. She recently composed a booklet and Powerpoint presentation on the subject called, Folic Acid and HPV Awareness: Combating Birth Defects and Disease Processes filled with original color illustrations and research. She also has a cytology website, The Art of Cytology, and another on Holistic Nutrition, both of which are constantly updated with new research studies and reports on nutrition, disease processes, and cancer. She has maintained a specific web page dedicated to her diet, coined in 1998 in her first edition of The Art of Cytology book called, "The Color Diet" . Suzanne currently consults with cytology professionals regarding folic acid deficiency, HPV, and look alike malignant changes on difficult cytology cases in emails and on Dr. Guido Nicolo's (pathologist and former head of the Cancer Institute in Genoa, Italy) Professional Cytology Online Forum. Holistic Health Care Background In recent years, Suzanne received certification as a Clinical Nutrition Consultant from The Blue Heron Academy of Healing Arts and Sciences. In her graduate course work at WMU, she designed a Nutrition and Wellness Assessment that she now performs on clients to take to their physician for further evaluation. Suzanne has independently researched nutrition and cellular health and has been an advocate for proper nutrition care and education for over 30 years. She was recently elected as a Research Collaborating Member of Natural Standard, the authority on integrative medicine. |
As
an artist, I like to stir emotion in people. It is through children,
animals, and nature that I get most of my inspirations for they are subject
to mankind's inventions and dilemmas and have no control over the results
of "progress." I like to think that we can someday be in harmony
with nature and create future generations that care about all living things.
