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Healing Hands
Lorraine integrates conventional and holistic/homeopathic medicine in an effort to better understand symptoms, including one's physical, mental, and emotional state. As a pediatrician, Diana works closely with young mothers and their children, with a special emphasis on chronically ill children. "I want to be an advocate for them," she says of her patients. At UMBC, the sisters took classes together, sitting side by side in cell biology and genetics. "The curriculum was very challenging," says Diana, who, along with Lorraine, majored in biological sciences. "And very cutting-edge," adds Lorraine, who transferred to UMBC "because Diana kept telling me what a great program it was."
"I know what I can do using conventional medicine," she says. "But by adding holistic medicine, I go beyond everything I've used before. The results are better than conventional medicine alone." Lorraine has studied Native American healing and attitudinal healing, participated in homeopathy groups, and taken professional courses at the National Center of Homeopathy. She also teaches homeopathy courses and plans to write a book. "I want to teach people how to empower themselves," she says. After graduating magna cum laude in 1982, Diana earned a Ph.D. in immunology and briefly considered a career as a researcher. "But I wanted to work with people," says Diana, a member of UMBC 's Alumni Board of Directors and an active participant in a committee on career development. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins and completed her pediatric residency there. She is now a partner with Dundalk Pediatrics Associates, located in what she describes as an "area of great need." "I chose to be here," says Diana, who is also involved with the grassroots lobbying group, RESULTS, which addresses issues of poverty and hunger. And in her practice Diana has used homeopathic medicine from time to time -- no doubt, inspired by her sister -- for treating colic, teething, and warts. "Lorraine and I are colleagues, sisters, and friends," says Diana. "And we're very respectful of what the other is trying to do." "The future is exciting for both of us," adds Lorraine. |
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As physicians, sisters Lorraine '81 and Diana Fertsch '82 are deeply committed to the needs of their patients, each in her own way.
Lorraine graduated first, summa cum laude, with a degree in both
biological sciences and philosophy in 1981. She went on to receive her
medical degree from the University of Maryland Medical School with
a residency in family practice, and is an alternative health practitioner
at the Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center in Baltimore City.
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