About Lena

Lena DeGloma, MS, LMT, CD, CLC, CCCE

Lena is the founder and director of Red Moon Wellness in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She is a clinical herbalist, licensed massage therapist, certified birth doula, certified lactation counselor and certified childbirth educator. Lena offers individual herbal consultations for adults and children at her clinical center in Park Slope. She began studying medicinal herbs 15 years ago, first through two apprenticeships (one at Alba Nueva herb farm in Costa Rica and another at the Heartstone Herbal School near Ithaca, NY) and then went on to receive a Master of Science in Clinical Herbal Medicine from Maryland University of Integrative Health (MUIH). She also completed a one-year post-graduate clinical internship at MUIH's Natural Care Center as well as an internship in the university's renowned herbal dispensary.

Teaching

Lena is currently a part-time faculty member at the ArborVitae School of Traditional Herbalism located in Brooklyn where she teaches about herbal therapeutics for female reproductive health as well as the musculoskeletal system. Lena is also on faculty part-time at Pacific College of Health and Science in Manhattan (formerly Pacific College of Oriental Medicine). She frequently gives workshops, lectures and talks throughout NYC, including at the NY Open Center, on topics ranging from circadian rhythm disruption in night shift workers to supporting the menopausal transition with herbs and nutrition. She also teaches Optimal Nutrition for the Childbearing Cycle for the Childbirth Education Association of Metropolitan New York (CEA/MNY)'s Teacher Certification Program. She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors of the CEA/MNY. She is also on faculty part-time at several different professional massage therapy training programs in NY where she has taught therapeutic massage courses, supervised student clinics, and written prenatal massage curriculum.

Research & Publications

Lena's integrative whole-person approach to inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions is illustrated in her case study that was published in the Spring 2018 edition of the Journal of the American Herbalists Guild titled "The Link between Gut and Autoimmunity: Treatment of Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Colitis with "Weeding and Feeding" Approach." Most recently, Lena presented a case report at the 2019 American Herbalist Guild Symposium on a client who suffered from a neurological disorder that she assessed and developed a successful protocol. In her award-winning graduate research while at MUIH, Lena developed a new theoretical model of uterine contractility states and its relationship to herbal therapeutics by integrating a traditional herbal approach to uterine tone with biomedical evidence on uterine contractility. One of her core clinical interests involves the relationship between herbs, nutrition, and the microbiome (especially concerning early microbial establishment through practices surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, and infant feeding) and the potential long term implications for disorders related to immunity/inflammation, metabolism/digestion, and neuroendocrine function.

Lena enjoys working with clients of a variety of backgrounds to help them find practical and effective tools to support their health and wellness. She currently lives in Park Slope with her husband, a sociologist at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center, and their daughter, Juniper.