Chakras for Balance

I’m Khadijah Hewitt-Nelson, a licensed massage therapist and esthetician, board certified in oncology massage and certified in oncology skincare.

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I spent 19 years at Memorial Sloan Kettering. For nearly 15 of them I coordinated patients’ tests, chemotherapy, and surgeries. Then I joined MSK’s Integrative Medicine Service as a massage therapist. I worked with adults and teens in active treatment and after it: in outpatient sessions, at the bedside, and in the chemo suite at the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast & Imaging Center.

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I was also the Massage Therapy Lead for IMPACT, a national clinical trial comparing massage and acupuncture for pain in people with advanced cancer. The results, published in JAMA Network Open in 2023, found that massage relieved pain as well as acupuncture did, and also eased fatigue and sleep problems. I helped create the course that trained other massage therapists in the techniques we used in the study.

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My path into this work is personal. When my father was ill with pancreatic cancer, massage was the one thing that eased his pain and helped him sleep. Since then, I’ve given my career to bringing that kind of relief to people living with and after cancer.

Every session is oncology-safe, in a private, calm room just off Madison Square Park.

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Sources:

• Acupuncture vs Massage for Pain in Patients Living With Advanced Cancer: The IMPACT Randomized Clinical Trial