Home

About me

Hiya!

I'm Ravensara S. Travillian, although most people call me Raven.

I'm a massage practitioner and biomedical informatician, and I divide my time between Seattle, Washington, and Cambridge, England. "Informatician" means "information scientist"--I study how information is gathered and collected, evaluated, stored, managed, and shared with others.

My doctoral dissertation was in comparative anatomy informatics, and I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to participate in research on promoting reproductive success in an endangered bear species--the sun bear--as well.

As secretary of Pwof Ansanm, an educational non-profit, I work to support teacher training in Haiti.

I practiced massage at the former Refugee Clinic at Harborview Medical Center (now International Medicine) from 1991-1998, and in private practice with people living with the sequelae of stroke, and with women in high-risk pregnancies, as well as veterans living with PTSD from 1992-present.

In addition to having taught massage research literacy at the Brian Utting School of Massage (now Cortiva Institute) from 1996-2002, I wrote the Somatic Research column for Massage & Bodywork Magazine from 2008 to 2009, and serve on the Best Practices Committee for the Massage Therapy Foundation.

 
 
 
 
 
See some of my published articles on research literacy:
 
  1. "Somatic Research: Research Perspectives", Massage & Bodywork magazine, January-February 2008
  2. "Somatic Research: Understanding Scientific Results: Fundamental Building Blocks", Massage & Bodywork magazine, March-April 2008
  3. "Somatic Research: Structure of a Research Article", Massage & Bodywork magazine, May-June 2008
  4. "Somatic Research: Evaluating Accuracy of a Hypothesis", Massage & Bodywork magazine, July-August 2008
  5. "Somatic Research: The Methods Section", Massage & Bodywork magazine, September-October 2008
  6. "Somatic Research: The Results Section", Massage & Bodywork magazine, November-December 2008
  7. "Somatic Research: Reading Charts and Graphs", Massage & Bodywork magazine, January-February 2009
  8. "Somatic Research: Approaching Graphics, Avoiding Pitfalls", Massage & Bodywork magazine, March-April 2009
  9. "Somatic Research: The Discussion Section", Massage & Bodywork magazine, May-June 2009
  10. "Somatic Research: Finding Relevant Research", Massage & Bodywork magazine, July-August 2009
  11. "Somatic Research: Evaluate Research Relevance", Massage & Bodywork magazine, September-October 2009
  12. "Somatic Research: A Map of Scientific Activity", Massage & Bodywork magazine, November-December 2009