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Welcome to our Sunday Student Spotlight series, where every other week we share the story and accomplishments of a Rockwell student or graduate.

Our community is filled with extraordinary healers doing inspiring work in the world, and we're thrilled to share their stories with you. 

Meet Dr. Khristina Raess

New Jersey | Class of 2025 | DFM

"Thinking positive is not optional. It's mandatory." - K. Raess

For Khristina Raess, medicine has never been an abstract pursuit. It is personal, embodied, and deeply informed by lived experience. A breast cancer survivor, licensed massage therapist, medical school student, and soon-to-be founder of Neurotherapion, Khristina’s work is guided by one central question:

What does true healing look like when someone is most vulnerable?

Her answer has taken shape through her studies at Rockwell School of Holistic Medicine, where she completed the Doctor of Functional Medicine (DFM) program with a focused practice specialty in Cancer Prevention & Risk Reduction.

Rockwell provided the missing framework she had been searching for, one that honors both the science of the body and its innate capacity to heal when properly supported.

Medicine, Reimagined

Before Rockwell, Khristina was already immersed in medicine. As a medical school student, she completed the foundational sciences and began to feel a growing unease. “Something was missing,” she recalls.

“We learned how to diagnose and treat disease, but not how to prevent it, and not how to support the whole person.”

That realization became even more urgent after her own experience with breast cancer and chemotherapy. She knew firsthand what it felt like to move through a system that treats illness aggressively but often leaves patients emotionally unheard and physically depleted.

Holistic medicine, for Khristina, was not an alternative. It was a necessity. She was drawn to Rockwell specifically because of its commitment to root-cause medicine, prevention, and integrative thinking.

“I wanted to understand the body beyond the conventional model,” she says. “Not only for myself, but for my future clients.”

Her training at Rockwell affirmed what she already believed at a cellular level: that the body is capable of healing when given the right support, and that medicine must extend beyond protocols to include listening, presence, and compassion.

A New Path Forward

The turning point in Khristina’s Rockwell journey came through the Cancer Prevention & Risk Reduction specialty, a course of study that fundamentally reshaped how she understood both illness and recovery.

“It changed my way of thinking completely,” she explains. “For the first time, prevention felt central, not optional.”

The program gave her the language, structure, and clinical insight to connect what she had lived through personally with what she wanted to offer professionally.

Today, Khristina is building a multidisciplinary path forward, grounded in prevention and whole-person care.

She is a Licensed Massage Therapist (LMT) in the state of New Jersey, specializing in medical massage and advanced lymphatic drainage, modalities especially supportive for oncology patients and survivors.

She is also training as a certified coach, with a focus on hypochondria and health anxiety—an area she understands deeply through both her own journey and the clients she hopes to serve.

An Integrated Vision for Healing

Her upcoming healing studio, Neurotherapion, reflects this integrated vision.

It will be a space rooted in functional medicine principles, bodywork, nervous system regulation, and deep listening, designed especially for women navigating breast cancer and cancer survivorship.

“My goal,” she says, “is to be the doctor I wish I had when I was going through chemotherapy.”

Rockwell’s education has given her the confidence to step into that role. As she prepares for board certification and continues her medical training, she feels more ready than ever to support clients with clarity and competence.

“I feel grounded,” she says. “I know what I bring, and I know why I’m here.”

A Full Circle Journey

Perhaps what makes Khristina’s path especially powerful is that it represents a full-circle transformation.

Before medicine, she earned a master’s degree in law, a rigorous field that sharpened her intellect but never fully satisfied her sense of purpose.

Choosing to begin medical education later in life, and then pursuing functional medicine through Rockwell, was an act of courage.

“I started over in my 40s,” she says. “And for the first time, I feel exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

Looking ahead five years, Khristina sees herself fully immersed in cancer care and education, supporting those with breast cancer as well as survivors with skill, empathy, and unwavering attention. She envisions teaching, mentoring, and building a practice rooted in trust.

“I want my clients to feel heard,” she says. “I want to listen to them, and I want them to know I’m doing my absolute best for their well-being.”

Her advice to students just beginning their journey reflects that same intentionality:

“Don’t just go through the videos. Listen to them twice. There is so much to learn.” It’s a reminder that real mastery comes from presence, not speed.

Grounded in Healing

To stay grounded, Khristina practices daily meditation and self-reflection, listening inward before offering support outward.

Her guiding mantra is simple but uncompromising:

“Thinking positive is not optional. It's mandatory.”

For Khristina Raess, healing is not a concept. It is a lived commitment.

Through her education at Rockwell School of Holistic Medicine, her ongoing medical training, and her deeply personal understanding of cancer survivorship, she is shaping a practice defined not just by knowledge, but by love, listening, and the belief that healing is always possible.

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