Byron Perkins, D.O.

Byron Perkins, D.O. (left) from Anchorage, AK is the President of the AFDMA. He is a certified FDM instructor and he uses the FDM daily in his family practice at Cornerstone Clinic. Pictured here with Georg Harrer, M.D., founding president of the EFDMA, at our recent International Conference in Osaka, Japan, Dr. Perkins actively promotes the FDM to every resident who comes through his office, and he has brought the FDM to both Burkina Faso, West Africa and Mongolia in the past year.

Gene Lenard, D.O.

Gene Lenard, D.O. is from the San Diego area and is another enthusiastic advocate for the FDM.  He was introduced to the FDM by Ray Andreassen at an AKOMA conference and credits Stephen Typaldos and the FDM with giving him his wife back. He recently hosted the FDM Level 1 Seminar in San Diego and plans on opening an FDM manipulative practice in the near future.  In addition to attending several FDM Seminars, Lenard has also attended the FDM International Symposiums in Alaska, Hawaii and Japan.  He has begun assisting in Level 1 Seminars and is looking forward to instructing both medical students and physicans in the FDM on a regular basis. Dr. Lenard was just voted by the board to fill the position of Vice President/President-Elect.

John Kasten

John Kasten is a long time supporter of the FDM, having known Stephen Typaldos since 1997.  John has attended International FDM Symposiums in Bangor, Maine, Anchorage, Alaska and Hawaii.  A counselor by profession, he comes to the AFDMA board with a lay perspective but with significant knowledge of the FDM. He helped edit all four editions of the FDM text and has been an observer at the seminars in Hawaii and San Diego.  John is a founding board member and the current secretary of the FDM.

Ann Shea, S.O.

Ann Shea was introduced to the FDM through her relationship with Stephen Typaldos.  She is another lay member of the board who is a strong advocate for the FDM  An audiologist by profession, Ann is just finishing up her doctorate.  She brings many talents and ideas with her and serves on the board as the Treasurer.  Ann has attended International FDM Symposiums in Hawaii and Japan and sat in on FDM seminars in Hawaii, San Diego and Japan.  In this photo Ann is sitting outside Keisuke Tanaka's office in Fukuoka, Japan. Although our lay members are not FDM practitioners, they have a strong background and commitment to the model and to Stephen Typaldos' vision.

Ray Andreassen, D.O.

Ray Andreassen, D.O. lives and works in Delta Junction, AK and was a founding member of the AFDMA and our first president. Andreassen is credited with bringing the FDM to Alaska, after attending an FDM Seminar in Portland, OR in March of 2002. Stephen Typaldos taught in Alaska three times in 2004 and 2005 and loved the enthusiasm with which Andreassen enticed his peers to come and learn about the FDM. Although the two men only knew each other for a few years, there was a strong bond between them, perhaps fostered by the many years that Andreassen's father had encouraged him to go find out what Stephen Typaldos was doing.  Although isolated in northern Alaska, Ray Andreassen remains a strong advocate for the FDM and an avid FDM practitioner.

Todd Capistrant, D.O.

Our newest board member, Todd Capistrant, D.O., originally hails from Wisconsin, but moved his family to Alaska to avoid the inevitable burnout of working three jobs, raising a family and pursuing his new passion of dog sled racing. Once in Alaska he learned about the FDM at AKOMA meetings and has attended FDM seminars in Hawaii and San Diego.  He has competed in and completed the famous Iditarod Sled Dog Race and continues in this sport. He is currently the director of a walk-in clinic in Fairbanks where he uses the FDM on a daily basis in his practice of medicine and now also sits on the board of directors for the clinic.  He is particularly excited about the freshness that the FDM brings to his practice of medicine, enabling him to fix injuries that eluded him previously.  Dr. Capistrant is also very interested in teaching the FDM to medical students and physicians.

Marjorie Kasten, P.T.

Marjorie Kasten, P.T. has been working to advance the FDM from behind the scenes since early 1997 when she started asking Stephen Typaldos "What can I do to help you?" That help included editing his books, taking photographs and videos to be used in his seminars, webmaster, bookkeeper, and assisting in any way possible to bring Dr. Typaldos' vision forward.  She started the AFDMA in motion and is now the Executive Director.  She developed FDM Inversion Therapy based on Typaldos' model and taught for the first time in Osaka, Japan in September 2009.  She enjoys teaching and looks forward to more opportunities because "The FDM has truly changed my life." (Pictured here with Keisuke Tanaka in San Diego in April 2009.) Her private practice physical therapy office offers only FDM treatments.