Gayle MacDonald, MS, LMT, is the author of Medicine Hands: Massage Therapy for People with Cancer, 3rd Ed. (2014, Findhorn Press) and Massage for the Hospital Patient and Medically Frail Client (2005, Lippincott Williams and Wilkin). It was after suffering ill health herself that she became the health and physical educator that she always wanted to be. She has made numerous television and radio appearances, demonstrating how “touch exercises” between two people can relax, ease, and make huge differences in their physical and emotional well-being. She is a veteran massage therapist and health educator, teaching in Oregon.
Her original expertise comes from massage with oncology patients at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. Since 1994 she has taught and supervised massage therapists on the oncology medical/surgical in-patient units, in the chemo infusion clinics, radiation oncology, apheresis and the bone marrow transplant unit. She has been able to share and exchange knowledge with therapists around the United States, Scotland, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, and Holland. She is a founding member of the Society for Oncology Massage and the Iris Cancer Partnership in Scotland, as well as the creator of the Oncology Massage Healing Summit and Oncology Massage Education Associates. The creation of and involvement with communities is one of the things that makes her heart sing. She also desires to support therapists and teachers in finding their work in the world.